Product Description

Earth's climate has always varied, but it is now changing more rapidly than at any other time in recent centuries. The climate is very complex, and many factors play important roles in determining how it changes.

Customer Reviews (4)

Wonderful!!!
My daughter and I both love this book. It answered so many questions for us in a very easy to understand read. We have many of Seymour Simon books. My daughter adores his books and so do many of her friends. This book Global Warming helped my 10 year old to finally understand climate change and what this means to the future of this planet.

The Facts about Global Warming for Kids
Wow! This is an amazing information book because it tells the facts about climate change in a straightforward manner with magnificent, telling photos as support. Once again Seymour Simon takes a complex subject and writes about it in language that children can understand without diluting the science.Simon provides an understandable explanation of global warming followed by evidence of its effects. At the conclusion he adds a page telling what nations and governments can do to slow down climate change along with another page on what families can do. A glossary, index, and websites for more information round out this fine book.

This amazing book gives the young reader a close look at climate change and the reasons behind this startling phenomenon!
It is very easy to see changes in the weather.Perhaps you've noticed that rain and overcast skies can quickly change to sunny ones in the course of an afternoon.Climate change, however, is much more subtle and difficult to spot as "climate is the average weather over a period of years."Our climate has begun to change and the average temperature is beginning to rise. The term "global warming" has been coined to describe some of the changes in our climate.If you think about a greenhouse, you realize that the glass will allow sun to enter, but "keeps warm air from escaping."If you think of earth as a type of greenhouse, the effect is similar.

Environmental changes are not totally the result of human folly, but if we examine our behavior, or lack of it, we must acknowledge our responsibility.One very interesting fact since weather records have been kept is that "nineteen of the twenty hottest years ever have happened since 1980."In this book you will learn about the greenhouse effect, how the Arctic is revealing the effects of global warming, the startling erosion of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, the impact global warming has on animals, the alarming disappearance of glaciers in Alaska and Montana, the effect of ocean levels as temperatures rise, and many more interesting facts.The reader will also learn what everyone from the individual to the entire nations can do to help slow this process.

This amazing book gives the young reader a close look at climate change and the reasons behind this startling phenomenon.The text is very well written and researched, thereby making it an easy task for students to understand global warming without becoming overly alarmist.The photographs were well chosen and give the book an additional voice.The book is not overly technical, but will assist the young reader draw his or her own conclusions with its general overview.This type of book can provide an excellent stepping stone to a school report.In the back of the book is an index, a glossary and additional website resources to explore.

All about global warming
Reviewed by Evan Weldon (age 7) for Reader Views (03/10)

"Global Warming" by Seymour Simon talks about what global warming is, what causes it, and what can happen because of it.There might be a giant snowstorm today but that doesn't mean global warming isn't happening.Global warming is a very gradual warming trend over a really long time.Global warming happens because carbon dioxide and other pollutants collect in the atmosphere and don't let heat escape.

Global warming can cause big floods to happen, polar bears to not be able to get food, and coral reefs to die.Rising oceans could cause millions of people to have to move.

The book gives lots of ideas of things people can do to slow global warming.People can walk and use bikes instead of driving cars.People can plant trees and use efficient light bulbs.People can use renewable energy from wind or the sun.

Like most Seymour Simon books, there are lots of good pictures.My favorite photos were the ones of polar bears, coral reefs, trees in autumn, and butterflies.In general the photos in this book weren't as exciting as those in some of his other books, but they were still pretty good.

I would recommend "Global Warming" by Seymour Simon to people who are interested in global warming and who want to try and slow global warming.It will help kids be able to explain global warming better.

... Read more

Product Description
Climate, sea level, and ice sheets have always changed, and the changes observed today are less than those of the past. Climate changes are cyclical and are driven by the Earth's position in the galaxy, the sun, wobbles in the Earth's orbit, ocean currents, and plate tectonics. In previous times, atmospheric carbon dioxide was far higher than at present but did not drive climate change. No runaway greenhouse effect or acid oceans occurred during times of excessively high carbon dioxide. During past glaciations, carbon dioxide was higher than it is today. The non-scientific popular political view is that humans change climate. Do we have reason for concern about possible human-induced climate change?

This book's 504 pages and over 2,300 references to peer-reviewed scientific literature and other authoritative sources engagingly synthesize what we know about the sun, earth, ice, water, and air. Importantly, in a parallel to his 1994 book challengingcreation science, Telling Lies for God, Ian Plimer describes Al Gore's book and movie An Inconvenient Truth as long on scientific misrepresentations. Trying to deal with these misrepresentations is somewhat like trying to argue with creationists, he writes, who misquote, concoct evidence, quote out of context, ignore contrary evidence, and create evidence ex nihilo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (114)

This really is a dreadful book.
Ian Plimer has done something that I thought was impossible; got so many science facts wrong in such little space.

Did you know that:

The Sun is a pulsar?The sole reference is a 1977 paper of 2 pages in Nature entitled "Is the Sun a pulsar?"Well, is it?What has been written since then?

"The transition from a global ice age to global warming at about 250 Ma" (million years ago) "was characterised by huge rises (to 2000 ppmv) and falls (to 280 ppmv) in the amount of atmospheric CO2.During this time plant and animal life thrived".250 million years ago was the time of the end of Permian mass extinction, the greatest mass extinction known.

The non-avian dinosaurs weren't done in by the asteroid off Mexico 65 million years ago?Actually, there is a respectable minority scientific opinion that the Deccan traps super-volcano in India had a major role, and that the Mexican meteorite was just the coup de grace.But it is a minority opinion, although one that still gets respect, as being one that can be argued.

And Ian Pilmer makes many, many more mistakes of this nature.

In the chapter on the Earth, Plimer has a section entitled "Milanokovitch wobble theory wobbles".He concludes;"Climate is related to Milankovitch cycle wobbles-we just don't know how".Actually, it would have been more accurate to have written "Climate is related to Milankovitch cycle wobbles-Ian Plimer just doesn't know how".

Actually, I suspect that he knows it perfectly, but wants to buttress his argument that it's solely the variable energy output of the Sun that drives climate variation, using apparent climate change on Mars, Jupiter and Pluto.If he admits Milankovitch cycles as being significant, it raises the question whether other planetary bodies also have something similar to Milankovitch cycles.If so, then Ian Plimer would need to give reasons why he doubts this possibility.Mars for example tilts through 90 degrees on its axis frequently and abruptly.Pluto, before it stopped being a planet, used to be the 8th planet from the Sun because its orbit is so eccentric.

Milankovitch cycles are actually very simple:

There's a 100,000 year cycle of orbital eccentricity; the orbit goes from being more circular to being more eccentric with greater difference between perihelion (the closest distance and strong heating) and aphelion (furthest distance and less heating).
There's a 41,000 year cycle of axial tilt from 24.5 to 21.5 degrees.When the angle of tilt is greater, more heat is received at the poles in Summer, because the Solar rays are striking the Earth more vertically.
There's a 21,000 year cycle of precession (the wobble, currently Polaris is the polestar, 1n 11,000 years, the axis of Earth's rotation will be pointed directly at Vega).Precession doesn't directly affect climate (in-spite of what Plimer says).It just affects the timing of Summer;currently the Summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is in June.In 11,000 years it will be in December, and if the orbit and tilt is much the same, precession indirectly will affect climate because the Northern hemisphere Summer will be hotter (currently perihelion is in January) and shorter (Kepler's laws of planetary orbit).

Ian Plimer has come up with a marvellous howler;"In about 9,000 years, perihelion will occur in the Northern Hemisphere and aphelion in the Southern Hemisphere, the reverse of today".I think I know what he was trying to say, but what he has written is that the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are separated by the difference in distance between perihelion and aphelion, currently about 5,000,000 kilometres (I knew that flying from America to Australia takes a long time, but I didn't know that it was that far ...)

In another part he writes;"Furthermore, although the increased ice and snow"(in an ice age)"would reflect reflect more energy back into space the increased amount of land exposed"(in the continental shelves)"would result in less reflection of energy back into space from the enlarged land masses".This is actually a monumental fail;the albedo of oceans is the minimum (that's the reason why oceans warm the climate-the Sun's rays penetrate water and heat it at depth.Land has a greater albedo and reflects more light.Exposing more land will also increase not lessen reflection of energy into space and increase cooling.

And he makes many similar errors throughout the book.

To save your time reading it, in summary, Plimer argues that in the past, the climate has been hotter or colder.The carbon dioxide levels have been higher or lower, and often increasing carbon dioxide levels follow rather than precede global warming.Computer climate models are inaccurate.

Actually, I wouldn't disagree with any of these assertions.

I also agree with his statement that to understand the present and future, you have to understand the past, and it's my understanding of the past that worries me about the future.

We are currently in an ice age which has existed for around 3 million years, in an interglacial which has lasted for at least 10,000 years.The previous 3 or 4 interglacials lasted only 1-2,000 years, before abruptly diving back into glacial periods (and that's one of the lessons I take from the past; climate is chaotic non-linear with a lot of abrupt changes, what I'd call 'tipping points').The current interglacial is different in that it has lasted much longer and has been very kind to humans, Little Ice Age here and there notwithstanding, in that the human population has increased from a few million to almost 7 billion.William Ruddiman in "Plows, Plagues and Petroleum" (an authority cited several times in Plimer's book) has argued that the present interglacial is different because humans wrested control of climate from nature 8,000 years ago with agriculture and land clearing, and the past 200 years of the Industrial Age is only different in degree not nature.

I agree the IPCC is primarily a political body.I agree that scientists shouldn't play politics;they should just report the facts and indicate the uncertainties (and there are a lot of uncertainties) and leave it to the politicians to set policy (that's what they are paid to do, to decide on courses of action when the facts are not definitely known; consider George W Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq on the basis of "weapons of mass destruction".

A useful principle to apply to difficult problems such as global warming is to ask; are there any other reasons for action?

The reason usually given for action is that climate change will be disastrous for humans.I personally agree with this;the present global climate is very benign, and any change is much more likely to be a deterioration rather than an improvement.

Mitigation (decarbonising the economy) is going to be very difficult and expensive, but it's going to have to be done eventually, because fossil fuels are finite (even coal is going to run out in 200 years), and global energy needs will only increase because the growing world population and the desire of people in the developing world to improve their living standards (currently 1.5 billion people don't even have access to electricity).If we are going to have to mitigate, now is the time to do it, while we still have (relatively) cheap energy.

Adaptation may be even more difficult.With 7 billion humans, mass-migration will be impossible, our crops are selected to be suited to the present climate and genetic engineering may not succeed, and many of the countries most threatened by climate change have nuclear weapons, and know where we are ...

Another thing (in conclusion) I didn't like about Ian Plimer's book was the insulting tone he adopted throughout, even when not necessary and only in an attempt to get cheap laughs;one example is when he writes;"In 2008, a somewhat naive and enthusiastic Englishman almost perished trying to paddle a kayak to the North Pole to highlight the effects of human induced global warming.He could only paddle to 960 km from the Pole.In 1893, Nansen was able to Kayak to 800 km from the North Pole.The pathetic Pythonesque paddle was to prove global warming had reduced the extent of sea ice.It demonstrated the exact opposite".

Well, actually no.Not only is it snide but it's also not factual.

In a stunt (and I'd describe it as a stunt), Lewis Gordon Pugh attempted to paddle 1200 km from Svalbard accompanied by a ship, on which he was going to sleep (doesn't sound particularly dangerous to me), but it was abandoned after 135 km because wind had blown pack ice south making it impossible for the ship to find a path through the ice (I have been on a ship in that area, and I tell you, you don't want to get caught in the ice, because you may be there for days or weeks).The reference to Nansen is about the very famous 'Fram' expedition, when Nansen wanted to see if he could reach the North Pole by lodging his ship the 'Fram' in the polar ice north of Siberia and emerging north of Svalbard (that's the direction the ice takes).When it became apparent that he'd misjudged the entry point and that they were going to miss the North Pole, he and a companion took a sled and kayak to attempt to trek across the icecap to the Pole (the kayak was necessary, because once they left the ship, they'd never be able to find it again).They were kayaking 800 km AWAY from the Pole not TO the Pole (the alternative to failure would have been death, the possibility of death is ALWAYS a very powerful motivating force to make you do things that you would otherwise avoid; also they were real men back in the 19th century ...).

Heaven and Earth: Global Warming, the Missing Science
Is a well constructed and writen book with scientifical support. It is a brave text that is based on real information. It is an independent and honest vision of the Climate change and of the global warming without complexes or concessions opportunists. Well writtenand with an accessible language to all the public . Many authors as this are needed to finish with the current unreasonableness at the momentinterpreting the change of the climate with a base of real information and that have been twisted by other investigators but that the author treats with honesty and clarity.

Full of errors
Warning: do not believe anything you read in this book without checking it out. I had heard that this was a well-researched book with tons of footnotes by a respected scientist, but to say I was extremely disappointed with the quality of the work is an understatement. It is very biased and full of claims that are not true. Even the charts and graphs are misleading and full of mistakes or distortions. For example, he claims or infers that climate scientists say things that they don't say (such as "CO2 is pollution"). He also claims that there is "little or no geological, archaeological and historical input into discussions about climate change." The reality is that an entire sub-field (paleoclimatology) is devoted to these things. In fact, their work indicates the world will probably warm faster than the models do. When he makes claims that contradict what the climate scientists are saying, he usually doesn't back them up, either with footnotes or with logic.

Many of the mistakes are so basic and so huge that I can only conclude that Plimer is deliberately trying to mislead people. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people will never take the time to check up on what he writes, and they will probably just accept his conclusions as truth. This book is often touted as the best scientific retort to the climate scientists. If so, there is no question which side is correct and is really trying to discover the truth.

I will give one example of the horrible quality of the scientific work, but the book is full of things like this. The very first graph, Figure 1, says that it "shows the hypothesis that human emissions of CO2 create global warming is invalid." Even if the graph didn't have huge problems, it would not prove that at all. It would only show that the temperature did not rise as quickly as the IPCC predicted over a short period of time. But I have looked at graphs of recent temperature before, and something didn't look right: he shows the temperature dropping sharply the last year he covers. Another thing I noticed was that even though the graph shows relative temperature (not absolute), you can't tell where the baseline is. The baseline is the comparison point, where the temperature change is zero, and all of the lines should meet at this point. Any scientist knows that when you are comparing relative temperatures, you need to show the baseline. As I investigated more, I realized why he didn't show it.

As usual when he made important claims, he did not say where he got the data. But I knew that B1, A1B, and A2 were scenarios the IPCC used in its predictions, and it was not too difficult to find the official data by searching on the web for the IPCC reports, then searching inside those PDFs. The baseline was clearly shown. I also knew that HadCRUT stood for Hadley CRU Temperature, and it was easy to find that data on the web too (search for "Global Temperature Record" "Climatic Research Unit", click on the "Comma-Separated Values" link, if you want the raw data). First of all, as I suspected, the temperature did not drop nearly as much in 2008 as it shows on Plimer's graph. His graph shows the Hadley numbers dropping 0.33 degrees, when they really only dropped 0.077 degrees. In other words, he multiplied the change by more than 4 times! (The next year the temperature went up 0.113 degrees.)

Others have caught this error too (if you search the web, you can find long list of errors that others have found in this book). But I don't know if anyone else caught an even worse problem. The reason he didn't say what the baseline was is that he used different baselines for the temperature and the IPCC predictions! He shifted the temperature down 0.15 degrees compared to the predictions in order to make it look like the predictions were off. If you think these distortions are minor, then try plotting the graph using the same baseline and the real temperature change for 2008. You'll see that the predictions match the temperature very well. In fact the temperature has risen slightly FASTER than the predictions. An accurate graph would show exactly the opposite of what Plimer says his graph shows.

If Plimer cared about the truth, or if he was a good scientist, he never would have published a book like this, and he certainly would have published corrections to at least some of the hundreds of errors and distortions that people have found. If anyone can find this let me know, but I've searched very hard and have found nothing. I can only conclude that Plimer is not trying to educate people, that he has an agenda and is trying to sway public opinion by publishing propaganda (or his "beliefs") and pretending that it is science. If he did this deliberately, that is dishonest. If not, he is incompetent. Either way, why would you want to read this book?

Great Book
I liked this book a great deal despite it's sometimes technical aspects. It showed how simplistic, ideological and political the IPCC is when it comes to science. I have read alot about Michael Mann's and hockey stick chart and it's good to know there are many serious scientists out there diligently working away.

"Consensus" Clobbered by Pugnacious Aussie
What I did not like:

1)Too disjointed in parts; could have been boiled down a bit in places.
2)Occassional assertions that while editorially entertaining are not fully substantiated by the data.

What I did like:

1)Excellent and comprehensive deconstruction of the premises of anthropogenic global warming from the perspective of a variety of physical sciences.
2)Insistence on the scientific method - and his scathing dressing down of those who push "the science is settled" line. ... Read more

Product Description

Bjorn Lomborg argues that many of the elaborate and staggeringly expensive actions now being considered to meet the challenges of global warming ultimately will have little impact on the world’s temperature. He suggests that rather than focusing on ineffective solutions that will cost us trillions of dollars over the coming decades, we should be looking for smarter, more cost-effective approaches (such as massively increasing our commitment to green energy R&D) that will allow us to deal not only with climate change but also with other pressing global concerns, such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. And he considers why and how this debate has fostered an atmosphere in which dissenters are immediately demonized.

Amazon.com Review
Amazon.com Guest Reviewer: Michael Crichton
In his many science-themed bestsellers--including The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Prey, and most recently, Next--Michael Crichton has covered everything from genetically engineered dinosaurs to time travel to nantechnology run amok. Having cast his own views on the dangers and hysteria surrounding global warming with State of Fear, he turns his pen toward the often controversial Bjørn Lomborg and his latest book, Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming.

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Bjørn Lomborg is the best-informed and most humane advocate for environmental change in the world today. In contrast to other figures that promote a single issue while ignoring others, Lomborg views the globe as a whole, studies all the problems we face, ranks them, and determines how best, and in what order, we should address them.His first book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, established the importance of a fact-based approach.With later books, Global Crises, Global Solutions and How to Spend $50 Billion to Make the World a Better Place, this mild-mannered Danish statistician has steadily gained new converts.Not surprisingly, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming will further enhance Lomborg’s reputation for global analysis and thoughtful response. For anyone who wants an overview of the global warming debate from an objective source, this brief text is a perfect place to start.Lomborg is only interested in real problems, and he has no patience with media fear-mongering; he begins by dispatching the myth of the endangered polar bears, showing that this Disneyesque cartoon has no relevance to the real world where polar bear populations are in fact increasing.Lomborg considers the issue in detail, citing sources from Al Gore to the World Wildlife Fund, then demonstrating that polar bear populations have actually increased five fold since the 1960s.

Lomborg then works his way through the concerns we hear so much about: higher temperatures, heat deaths, species extinctions, the cost of cutting carbon, the technology to do it.Lomborg believes firmly in climate change--despite his critics, he's no denier--but his fact-based approach, grounded in economic analyses, leads him again and again to a different view.He reviews published estimates of the cost of climate change, and the cost of addressing it, and concludes that "we actually end up paying more for a partial solution than the cost of the entire problem.That is a bad deal."

In some of the most disturbing chapters, Lomborg recounts what leading climate figures have said about anyone who questions the orthodoxy, thus demonstrating the illiberal, antidemocratic tone of the current debate.Lomborg himself takes the larger view, explaining in detail why the tone of hysteria is inappropriate to addressing the problems we face.

In the end, Lomborg’s concerns embrace the planet.He contrasts our concern for climate with other concerns such as HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, and providing clean water to the world.In the end, his ability to put climate in a global perspective is perhaps the book’s greatest value. Lomborg and Cool It are our best guides to our shared environmental future.

--Michael Crichton

(photo credit: Jonathan Exley)

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... Read more

Customer Reviews (134)

An Excellent, Logical Viewpoint that Isn't Voiced Often Enough
This is one of the few books that I think everyone should read. Global warming has become such an incredibly irrational issue, and this book brings a rational, objective voice to the debate. Basically, this book is meant to cool everyone's temper on the issue (hence the name "Cool It"), and provide logical solutions to the problem.

Lomborg's main argument is the following: global warming is caused at least partially by humans, but dealing with it by means of extreme CO2 cuts it not a viable solution. Instead, he argues that using our world's resources to solve other world problems, such as disease and poverty, will have an incredibly larger benefit to the world in the long-term, and will in turn put us in a better position to deal with a world that is slightly warmer than it is now. He argues that we should continue making our technology more environmentally-friendly, but that suddenly making all technology have no environmental impact (as some environmentalists want) is completely unreasonable. In addition, Lomborg argues that the effects of global warming will not be nearly as apocalyptic as most media sources would have us believe, and hence completely preventing the slight temperature increases that it will bring is not necessary.

Lomborg supports his position with a tremendous amount of evidence, cost-benefit analyses, and references. To give an idea of how much his argument is supported, this book has 164 pages of actual content, and there are approximately 450 citations and 400 references. Of course I can't browse through all of them to see how valid they are, but of the few dozen that I checked they seemed quite reliable. However, there are some claims that I found somewhat hard to believe, such as what is predicted by the various models of climate and human condition that Lomborg references. For example, Lomborg claims that humans will be richer in general over the coming century, which I find somewhat believable, but I find it hard to believe the precise numbers that he gives from the models of the worldwide economy that he references.

As I mentioned, I recommend this book to EVERYONE. You might not believe all the claims made in the book, but it definitely provides an excellent viewpoint on the subject. The book is short enough to be accessible to almost anyone, yet it doesn't miss any important aspect of the issue.

Hardly Sceptical
I finally got around to reading this book, several years after its hey day. Of course, with topical books one often wants to read 9or reread) them several years after their time has passed to see how they hold up. In the case of this book, then answer is not well.

Mr. Lomborg likes to present himself as a reasonable sceptic who tends towards support for the environment. In his first project/book, Global Crises / Global ollutions, he proposed an interesting and sometimes useful approach to ordering how we attack the many thorny problems that we face (there are fundamental flaws in his approach there, in that it discounts the deep connections of the problems, but at least it sparked some good dialog). That was a valuable contribution.

Close reading of his more recent books, The Sceptical Environmentalist and Cool It show a less attractive side to his thought. Mr. Lomborg does not seem to be an environmentalist or an ecologist by an useful definition. Nowhere in either book does he demonstrate even a basic understanding or current ecology or resilience. Nor does he come to grips with the natture of modeling and climate science. Instead he patches together misquotes from other writers (usually not populists such as Al Gore) and then selectively quotes the literature (usually the sceondary literature) in an attempt to suggest that key climate change issues are either irrelevant or exagerated.

There are three main problems with Mr. Lomborg's approach:

1. He picks apart straw men. If you go back an read the books he is criticizing he frequently misquotes them.

2. He is selective and inaccurate in how he uses source material (see the book The Lomborg Deception for details, or even better, pick one of his references and trace it back yourself).

3. He is over reliant on projections and does not seem to understand the difference between projections and scenarios. When dealing with phase shifts in natural or economic systems, basing decisions on projections is almost certain to constrain exploration of alternatives and blind one to what is really happening. This leads Mr. Lomborg to many errors. He underestimates the chances of 'black swan' phenomena and over estimates the likely economic costs of adaptation. There are many books available on scenario thinking and it is increasingly being applied to questions on how to think about climate change.

Note 1: I do not believe that 'the science is settled' in regard to climate change. Indeed, I am suspicious of the notion of 'science' being 'settled'. (Read Thomas Kuhn on this.) But I believe it is foolish to base policy on statistical and economic methods that are known to fail in situations where the base structure are shifting, and that it is just plain dumb to pretend we know what the scope of climate change will be or what policies or technologies we need to apply. We need to be open to explore different possibilities. In Cool It, Mr. Lomborg is attempting to shut down discussion, not open it up. He plays fast and loose with the data and is lazy in his research and thinking. I hope his next book will be better (and I will read it).

Note 2: I generally only give one star reviews if I think I writer has (i) written something worthwhile in the past or (ii) may write something worthwhile in the future. If a book is just poor I don't usually make the effort to review it.

Informative and Sensible
The "Global Warming" (or as it is now known "Climate Change") has become a major source of fascination, political friction, and scientific inquiry. There hardly passes a week without some major new doom-and-gloom headline warning us that we are about to destroy the Earth and everything that is on it. And yet most of us, true believers and skeptics alike, still live in fairly normal that doesn't seem to have any of the dramatic changes that the radical environmentalists have been warning us about. Meanwhile some major big issues are dominating our news reports, and equally big ones are dominating policy summits and top-level conferences. It turns out that most of these pressing issues are much easier to tackle, and the amount of money necessary for their solutions is much smaller than the enormous amounts that are constantly being requested of us to sacrifice in order to prevent the climate catastrophe. This, in a nutshell, is the gist of this short book by the famous environmental skeptic Bjorn Lomborg. In it he makes many concessions to the most dire climate change scenarios, and argues that even under those extreme conditions the health of the planet Earth would not be all that bad, and assuming the present rates of economic growth most countries would be more than capable of handling all the eventualities. Meanwhile we can concentrate many of our resources for the purpose of handling many more pressing problems that beset the World today.

One of the more interesting tidbits of information in this book is the fact that over the past century and a half the World oceans have already risen by the amount that even the most dire climate scenarios are predicting for the upcoming century. And yet we don't feel like we have witnessed a major catastrophe, and it is very likely that our descendents will be even more capable of handling the future rises of the sea levels.

Author Now Dis-Owns This Book and Reverses Decision
It's true!Bjorn just released a statement that global warming is a "challenge humanity must confront."

He is now urging the governments of the world to spend billions of dollars annually to fight the planet's slide into a disaterously hotter (and higher energy) climate situation.

He was not ever in the camp that said global warming didn't exist, or that it wasn't influenced by man.His reversal is that of the dire urgency of the situation.He used to preach that there were many other world problems that were much more worthy of attention.Now, after so much scientific data has been gathered, he has changed his tune drastically.Global warming is a problem worthy of urgent and significant attention after all.

Almost all that's left in the anti-global-warming camp are a handful of PR firms with scientists from disrelated fields on payroll to issue statements that cast doubt on the hard evidence that now exists.I believe these 'scientists' have suborned their scientific truths to their particular political patronization.

Two stars for this book.Five stars for Bjorn's about face.Let's see if he can undo some of the damage he has done after his decade of vocal denouncements.

Decent enough
As Lomborg says, there has been a breakdown in our sense of proportion regarding climate change.People treat global warming as absolutely the most pressing problem, whose solutions must be implemented before anything else (poverty, hunger, disease) can be addressed.Lomborg disagrees, believing that the most pressing goals should be to improve conditions for humans AND the environment.

Check out Lomborg's themes on pages 8-9 of the book.If you aren't with him there, then the book is basically meaningless to you.His points:

1) Global warming is real and manmade.
2) The consequences of global warming are wildly exaggerated in the media.
3) We need to tackle simple, smart solutions to global warming, not focus on cutting carbon emissions.
4) MANY other issues are more important than global warming.
5) The quality of life for the people on this planet should be the real goal of those who want to do good.

If these points strike you as heretical, then spare yourself the stretch of new ideas.

Personally, I don't go with him on point one -- I think there is plenty of room to question the man-made-ness of global climate change.

I go even further --
A) if the climate IS warming, is that necessarily bad? -- Lomborg does cover that point
B) how do we pinpoint an "ideal" global temperature -- who decides? And on what criteria?
C) The greatest force for improving human lives is the spread of free market economies.How do we unleash that force worldwide?

This book was written in 2007, before "hide the decline" shredded the credibility of the environmental doomsayers, and before "peer reviewed" became a punchline.

Lomborg develops his themes well, gives us a decent notes section and a good index, and produces a clear, well-written, concrete book.It's refreshing that not every environmentalist is a catastrophically pessimistic loather of mankind. ... Read more

Product Description
Do you believe that man s use of hydrocarbon fuels like coal, oil and gasoline is causing global temperatures to rise, and that this man-made global warming will have catastrophic consequences on our world and mankind? Yes or No If you said, Yes, you are among a sizable majority of people who believe that man-made global warming is real. In fact, to this day, 75 percent of the population continues to believe that man-made global warming is THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ISSUE THE WORLD FACES. The problem is that you and the rest of those who believe in man-made global warming are WRONG! There is irrefutable scientific evidence that global temperatures are NOT; rising (in fact, temperatures have dropped slightly since 1998), that man is NOT affecting climate change, and that all of the implausible and overheated projections of environmental disaster are completely FALSE. Yet, the hoax persists. WHY? The reason is a severe lack of RELATIONAL INTELLIGENCE among the public as to the truth about man-made global warming and the devious agenda behind legislation to fight climate change. A lack of RELATIONAL INTELLIGENCE is an inability to connect the dots and people continue to cling to their myopic beliefs about man-made global warming, despite the recent exposure of Climategate and other similar scandals proving how pseudo-scientists with the blessing and support of both the government and the media have been manipulating data to keep the hoax of man-made global warming alive. This book presents the most up-to-date and concise summary of the science, economics and politics behind the man-made global warming hoax with only one goal to give people the opportunity to THINK better about this issue. Only with enhanced RELATIONAL INTELLIGENCEcan the government be prevented from FLEECING AMERICAN TAXPAYERS OUT OF TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF ADDITIONAL TAXES AND FEES. OPT NOT TO READ THIS BOOK AT YOUR OWN PERIL... AND THE PERIL OF OUR NATION'S FUTURE. Relational Intelligence is a register trademark of Richard C. Huseman, Ph.D. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Global Warming I$ Good for Business
"Global Warming I$ Good for Business" should be on the bookshelf of anyone concerned about the environment and should be the textbook for entrepreneur programs and business schools.

Keilbach's vast amount of research could have resulted in an unbearable tome - dry and boring and tedious - but instead has been woven into a completely readable volume that is not just educational; it's fascinating.

I appreciate that the book presents no political agenda on the issue of "global warming," but rather, deals positively with the indisputable fact of climate change. Bright, industrious people with good ideas and initiative can really make a difference!

Best of all, "Global Warming I$ Good for Business" shows that individuals and companies can create positive change for the planet and make a buck at the same time.

Global Warming is good for business
This book is a great resourse for professions and individuals.The chapters are short and entertaining as well as educational.There is a glossary of "GREEN" terms in the back that is linked to internet sites. The author did extensive research and interviews.It is easy to understand.This book gives a great overview of emerging clean technologies and it shows how we can "SAVE" the planet without a lot of rules and regulations.Excellent seem to inadequate a word to describe this book.

Reading this Book I$ Good for You
I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but this book caught my eye. It is not a preachy, gloom and doom tale of a bleak future. Instead, it is a refreshing approach to improving the environment and the economy at the same time.

This is a great resource for anyone who is interested in learning about what the "green" business movement is really all about and how emerging technologies can be a real boon for our economy. I especially liked the glossary of terms in the back of the book, with links to sites on the Internet.

I look forward to other titles by K. B. Keilbach.

Recommendation for Kimberly's book.
Loved this book!!It shows how we can "save" the planet by the use of emerging clean technologies.It was educational, entertaining and easy to understand.

Entrepreneurs and business people can easily make money while conserving the environment
Entrepreneurs and business people can easily make money while conserving the environment: this isn't just theory but fact, based on the stories of successful endeavors presented here. From researchers into the latest 'clean' technologies to the corporate entities using them to advantage, Global Warming is Good for Business: How Savvy Entrepreneurs, Large Corporations, and Others are Making Money While Saving the Planet is a winner.
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

BUY IT!! It's an amazing resource. We CAN stop global warming!!
This is a superb reference book about the Climate.
Its section on climate science is easy to read, with clear explanations to all your questions, and websites for additional information.
Most of the book is stories about people helping the Earth. Pick a page or two, whatever your interest - art, radio, architecture, gardening, recycling, aviation, forests, solar energy, politics, building, school etc etc,and read about what other people are doing. You will find weblinks to people and organizations that are reducing carbon emissions. Learn what they tried, how they succeeded,and what else can be done.
"Many of us can visualize a peaceful, sustainable climate-friendly world, but it's not happening as fast as it needs to. Something more is needed. We need a movement that unites people all over the world."
Be a part of the solution. Buy this book for yourself and for everyone you know.
Thank you for caring.


... Read more

Product Description
When the weather changes daily, how do we really know that Earth's climate is changing? Here is the science behind the headlines - evidence from flowers, butterflies, birds, frogs, trees, glaciers and much more, gathered by scientists from all over the world, sometimes with assistance from young "citizen-scientists." And here is what young people, and their families and teachers, can do to learn about climate change and take action. Climate change is a critical and timely topic of deep concern, here told in an age-appropriate manner, with clarity and hope. Kids can make a difference!

This book combines the talents of two uniquely qualified authors: Lynne Cherry, the leading children's environmental writer/illustrator and author of The Great Kapok Tree, and Gary Braasch, award-winning photojournalist and author of Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

read the book and decide for yourself
)."Global warming" and "climate change" are terms related to a subject that has been in the news quite a bit lately.After a brief discussion of "What is Science?" with an explanation of hypotheses, theories, facts, and belief, authors Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch present evidence from birds, flowers, butterflies, tropical rain forests, trees rings, boreal forests, the tundra, the North and South Poles, glaciers, the ocean, coastlines, carbon dioxide measurements, mud layers, and ice cores, gathered by scientists all over the world, sometimes with assistance from young "citizen scientists," regarding our changing climate.Subsequent sections present what can be done to learn about climate change and to take action to make a difference.
In doing some background research for this book review, I found that there really is no argument regarding the evidence so ably presented in How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate.The facts are there for all to see.It is hard to deny that our climate is somewhat warmer right now than it has been at various times in the past.The debate rages over the interpretation of the evidence.Many scientists believe that our current climate change is the result of human activity and must be reversed by taking steps to lower our "carbon footprints."Other equally qualified, reputable, and serious scientists are convinced that the present "global warming" is simply part of a natural cycle of earth's meteorological patterns and there is really not much that we can do to alter it.Whatever one's opinion of global warming is, the book does raise some important questions, so each person can read it and decide for himself.

This book is an AAAS top pick for 2008
b.elsewhere,

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publisher of the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Science, strongly disagrees with your opinion.The AAAS just released its list of top science books for children and teens, and this book was on it.
See http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/aaft-aat120508.php

A book that's good enough for the AAAS is good enough for any kid interested in science.I'm ordering this one for my niece.

Global Warming for Kids
This is a great book for kids, especially, but for adults as well; I read it and enjoyed it and learned some things I didn't know about our changing climate. It is loaded with facts and information about climate change and global warming. The tightly written text is accompanied by a host of beautiful, glossy photographs as well as numerous charts and graphs. Science terms are both italicized and well defined in the text.

The book is set up in four sections. "Section one: Where We Find Clues About Climate Change" shows how data has been collected and research is being done about the changes in bird, butterfly and penguin populations as well as the changing tundra and landscapes in different parts of the world. "Section two: Fitting the Clues Together" tells how the facts and data collected in Section One are used to create models and computer programs showing changes that have already occurred and modeling and predicting what other changes will take place if the trend in global warming continues. "Section Three: What Scientists and You can Do" lists a whole array of things that can be done to reduce our "climate (carbon) footprint". "Section Four: Resources" gives all the resources used in the book and tells where readers can go for more information.

A Teacher's Guide is available from the publisher for teachers who would like to use this book in their classrooms. I believe this book would make an excellent classroom resource. There's lots of information about student groups worldwide that are helping scientists with their data collections.

There are so many good things to say about this book I hate to even mention the bad ones. But, alas, almost every book seems to have at least one thing about it that could be improved; this book has three. Let's not call them bad things, though; let's just say there are a couple of things I would do to improve the book.

First, I would correct the typo on page 39. (See if you can find it!). Then, I would add a glossary to the end of the book. There are a lot of science terms that are used throughout the book that are both italicized and defined in the text, keeping the text flowing and the narrative going. But, I think a glossary would be an added bonus for both students and teachers. If you want to find the meaning of a term, say tree cookies, you could leaf through the pages until you came to it on page 22; but, wouldn't it be easier to just go to a glossary at the back of the book and find the term listed there? Just a thought. . .

Even if you don't believe in global warming, you should appreciate the beautiful photos and the rich text of this fact-filled book. I give it 4 stars.

A little balance, please
Very nice composition, art work and presentation.A beautiful book.

Unfortunately, herein is a lot of valid science that is irrelevant to the central thesis.Yes, climate change is probably real.Yes, humanity is contributing to the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.However, together these observations do not scientifically demonstrate that humanity is destroying the earth and must retrogress civilization or die.In fact, there are other potentially valid explanations and possible outcomes.

I wish all the kids subjected to this stuff had the insight to parse it properly.Without that, charting when the leaves turn, or when birds migrate, could make many young minds paranoid.

(real name withheld to avoid the inevitable "Denier" flaming)

Science, Service, Global Warming
One of the worst things about reading global warming books is that feeling of helplessness that sets in as statistic is added to statistic. Now, at last, Lynne Cherry has produced a well illustrated text that tells us how we can help by observing and documenting changes in the world around us. There are no grand claims, no easy solutions, but the hope that as we know more about what is happening, the better we will know what to do. At the back of the book, Cherry lists where we can submit our observations. As one who works in community service, I am impressed at how this book takes education into the real world. I have given it to our 5th grade faculty for service learning.

How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate is highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description

A non-heated discussion on global warming and climate change

Interested in getting to the core of the reasons for the Earth's changing climate? Want an accurate reading on the science behind global warming? Here's your gauge! This easy-to-follow guide offers a temperate view of this hot topic.

Global Warming & Climate Change Demystified starts by looking at scientific data gathered from weather instruments, satellite telemetry, ice cores, and coral sections that reveal how the Earth's temperature is changing. The book goes on to examine the causes of climate change, including both natural processes and human-generated greenhouse gases. Finally, the consequences of global warming are discussed and a wide variety of viable solutions that can be implemented by individuals as well as society as a whole are presented. Complete with end-of-chapter quizzes and a final review to test your knowledge, this book will teach you the fundamentals of global warming and climate change in an unbiased and thorough manner.

This fast and easy guide offers:

• A thorough review of scientific data
• Details on the evidence of global warming worldwide
• Information on the origin and impact of greenhouse gases
• Explanations of alternatives to carbon-based energy sources
• Suggestions for local and global solutions

Simple enough for a beginner, but challenging enough for an advanced student, Global Warming & Climate Change Demystified is your shortcut to understanding this important and timely issue.

Customer Reviews (2)

The most factual and understandable book on global warming.
Many books written on the topic of global warming and climate change. However, this one stands out as being especially helpful in understanding this complex issue that I think has confused a lot of people. For one thing it lays out the science in a clear and understandable way. It can be read by someone who does not have a strong scientific backgroud or interest. But it can also gives a reader enough detail to go beyond the simple assertions of fact found in other books and articles. The book is honest and direct with the facts. It does not over-dramatize the problem as some other books have done. It retails a lot of crediblity by stating but not overstating the scientific data that has been gathered in recent years. The reader is given the opportunity to respond to the issue without being beaten over the head with a political agenda. The case for global warming caused by humans burning fossil fuels however is made clear to the reader. Its effects in terms of impact on the planet are also spelled out in convincing detail. What I like best is the section on solutions. This is not a lets-be-green for a day feel good book. The solutions go well beyond just screwing in more efficient light bulbs or everyone doing their part. Specific changes to how we generate energy and transport people are spelled out. Coal will be a dominant and unavoidable source of electric power for the next several decades. This book provides a very practical and realistic insight into what needs to be done to reduce the impact of coal on climate while searching for longer term renewable sources of power. I also like the fact that this book is up to date in that it includes the most recent results from the IPCC and the Bali confernece held this year. There are several good books coming out on the subject of climate change (and some not so good ones), but I think this one should be on everyone's list.

Awesome book!
This book was very informative, especially for people who don't fully understand science. Full of great examples and pictures! Highly highly recommended! ... Read more

Product Description
Global warming is arguably the most critical and controversial issue facing the world in the twenty-first century, one that will affect every living creature on the planet. It is also an extraordinarily complex problem, which everyone needs to understand as clearly and completely as possible. This Very Short Introduction provides a concise and accessible explanation of the key aspects of global warming. Mark Maslin discusses how and why changes are occurring, sets current warming trends in the context of past climate change, examines the predicted impact of global warming, as well as the political controversies of recent years and the many proposed solutions. Fully updated for 2008, this compelling account offers the best current scientific understanding of global warming, describing recent developments in US policy and the UK Climate Change Bill, where we now stand with the Kyoto Protocol, and the latest findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Maslin also includes a chapter on local solutions, reflecting the now widely held view that, to mitigate any impending disaster, governments as well as individuals must to act together. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Everything but the kitchen sink
I'll start this review by an admission: I am a global warming skeptic. To be a skeptic does not mean that I am unwilling to be persuaded by good arguments and well presented facts. To the contrary, as a scientist I am trained to be skeptical all the time and yet be willing to go out of my way to see all sides to a reasonable argument and if proven wrong to accept what the arguments establish. With that attitude in mind I have approached this little book as well: so far I have not been persuaded with most arguments on behalf of global warming proponents, and the recent spate of scandals that revealed some big holes in their arguments has only reinforced my skepticism. Nonetheless, I wanted to see what the experts in the field have to say about global warming, and I figured out this book would be as good of a starting point as they come. And if this is indeed a definitive introduction to the subject, then I am afraid that my previous skepticism will remain largely intact.

The very opening of the book is extremely unpromising. The author in no uncertain terms says in the preface what Global Warming in his opinion is all about: redistribution of wealth and resources from the wealthy western industrial powers to the underdeveloped third world countries. I have never seen as a tendentious opening of a book about what really should be a scientific topic. It puts most of the scientific consideration herein in question.

It takes 40 pages before we even get to the science behind global warming, which is almost a quarter of the entire book. This part of the book is actually the most interesting and certainly worth reading. It presents some interesting science behind climate and how it has changed over time. It describes the state-of-the art measuring and theoretical work that is ongoing in the field of climatology. Any science buff out there will certainly appreciate these chapters. Even so, there are several sleights of hand that had been utilized to skip over some more contentious topics. For instance, the evidence that in the past increase of CO2 in the atmosphere preceded the increases of global temperature is anything but watertight. And speaking of water, it is also well known that water vapor is the single most potent greenhouse gas, and yet it is hardly mentioned in this book. At the few places where it is mentioned it is dismissed by saying that the effects of the increased water vapor in the atmosphere are "poorly understood." This in itself raises a red flag in my eyes.

There are a few other sentences that trouble me to say the least:

In discussing satellite date the author says "The final problem with satellite data is that 20 years is just too short a time period to find a temperature trend with any confidence." And yet, throughout this book 20 year (and shorter) trends have been used as definitive proofs of certain aspects of global warming.

In dismissing the critics' suggestion that a lot of global warming predictions are very imprecise, the author suggests that we don't expect much precision from other walks of life, like from predicting which horse will win the race or which football team will win the match. I personally cannot imagine any serious scientist who would be willing to dismiss criticism of their work by comparing it to horse races or football matches.

The worst parts of the book are the ones that deal with social, political and economic issues. The author is completely out of his depth when it comes to these topics. In fact, many of his statements about economic considerations make me wonder if he even understands such elementary concepts as supply and demand, or if he does if he really cares about them and considers them relevant.

As some other reviewers have remarked, this book is not likely to win over the skeptics. And if there is any merit to the direst predictions of the global warming researchers, that is a crying shame to say the least. If the sky really is about to fall, it would serve us all to have a measured, succinct and to the point book that presents all the best science and evidence without devolving in all sorts of tangential directions.

An advanced and complete introduction to global warming
This book deserves much pride for putting so much good, varied and accurate information in so few pages. This edition has been updated in 2009.
The author covers several aspects of the global warming theory and of its political, social and economic implications. The scientific part of the book is of a quite high level (I am thinking about the ocean circulation perturbations that would follow a melting of either Greenland or the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. I had to read this part a couple of times to grasp it). That's maybe a problem in that this book is not really a "short introduction" but rather an "advanced introduction" to global warming. I would recommend another book to start with, for example Mann's Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming for those who do not know much about the field.
This book is however an excellent further reading. I like a lot the short history of global warming that starts the book, the parts about the disinformation campaigns orchestrated by fossil fuel lobbies and the Republicans in the 1990's and when G.W. Bush was at the White House. This puts the "skeptics" movement into the right perspective. I have also enjoyed a lot the Chapter about "surprises" (tipping points), although as mentioned above this part is sometimes too advanced for the book to pretend to be a "short introduction".
The author provides many references and does a great job of objectivity by acknowledging the limitations of our current knowledge of the climate system. He answers specifically to some classical "skeptics" thesis, which might help clarify some extremely outdated (but still repeated today) critics.
I have skipped the last chapters about solutions to global warming because I find them too much "classical". These parts are nice browsing through if you have never read about these aspects previously.
A very nice book that is perfectly suited as a second reading to the global warming issue, full of precious information and references for further reading.

Super knowledge related to climate change.
This is the International Year of Biodiversity:2010.Having said
that, what about the UK Climate Change and the recent developments of other Countries' Policies?

A very short introduction to a very long problem potentially.

The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) website is suggested.

Where does the buck stop; does it with governmental power and
authority? To a large extent, but what about ever so many people
all around the planet.

"The European Union has maintained a coordinated position on
climate change, usually speaking through its presidency."

In this book the author offers the latest word in advanced sustainable development implementation.

Mark Maslin has written a very important book.

I strongly recommend this book.

Dag Stomberg
St. Andrews, Scotland

Good intro to global warming; unlikely to convince skeptics
As a novice to almost all of the issues surrounding the global warming debate, I found this book to be an informative read. The primary purpose of the book is to introduce many issues surrounding the warming of the planet, not simply the issue of the causal link between Co2 emissions and temperature change. Chapters center around issues such as the history of the debate surrounding the warming of the planet, future projections of our climate, possible surprises to the climate (e.g., adjustments in deep-ocean circulation), and political solutions to the problems created by global warming. As a result of this multifarious approach, the skeptic will not find much to assuage his doubts on the subject.

Maslin explains that the prevalence of the global warming theory was engendered by a sharp upsurge in the global annual mean temperature, what is referred to as the "hockey stick" because charts of recent temperature trends resemble a hockey stick. Yet the theory of human induced climate change was first propounded in the late 19th century but was dismissed because other factors were believed to be the source of climate adjustments. Such vacillation from climatologists over the years surely contributes to some of the skepticism regarding climate change, and their promotion of global cooling in the 70s doesn't help their case. But Maslin believes that the short period of cooling which gave rise to the theory can be explained under the broader theory of global warming, explaining the cooling as a product of "the decadal influence of the sunspot cycle and that pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide aerosols, cooled the industrial regions of the globe" (29-30). Skeptics also purport that the correlation between Co2 and temperature is one in which rises of Co2 _precede_ a temperature rise. Maslin responds to this by referring to the work of Sir Shackleton, whose study of the last four glacial-intergalacial cycles exhibited Co2 spikes prior to increases in temperature. (I should note that this is of course an instance in which Maslin responds to skeptics, but these are unlikely to fully persuade skeptics because of the lack of specificity.)

Maslin references the IPCC report on the future impact of climate change. They project that sea levels will rise approximately 18-59cm and that the temperature will rise 1.8-4 degrees Celsius by 2100. This is the area in which there are the most uncertainties. For instance, climatologists are unaware of how much galactic cosmic rays and clouds will effect the development of the climate, a point acceded by Maslin. Maslin also discusses what he calls "suprises" that global warming could present. Gas hydrates, a greenhouse gas 21 times as strong as Co2, which are stored below the world's oceans and permafrost could be released as a result of the heating of these latter entities. Other examples are reviewed including the potential for a transformation of the Amazon into a Savannah environment.

This is a good book on the topic. It covers a lot of information in a small amount of space. But this may be a source of one of the problems I had with the book: too much convoluted material for an introduction. At times the book's perpetual references to geological and scientific terminology and theory can be overwhelming for someone without a background in the field. A reduction of the issues covered, in favor of further explanation of those covered, may have made for a better introduction. Furthermore, the charts and diagrams in the book are sometimes extraordinarily difficult to understand in their present context; surely, he could have done a better job with these. Also, Maslin didn't dive into the issue of Co2/temperature link as much as I would've liked him to. Others have complained about the inanity of the last chapter--his vision of a zero-carbon world. The complaints, I believe, are justified, but the chapter is only 6 pages, so don't avoid the book on account of this!

A comprehensive introduction to the issues surrounding global warming
If you are looking for a brief, but thorough survey of the issues surrounding, this should do ya.Maslin covers the wide range of concepts touching the subject in a clear, if sometimes technical, manner.As he demonstrates, while the fact of global warming is beyond dispute, there are a host of issues about which there is uncertainty.Maslin presents each of these issues, states clearly what the arguments for and against are, and clarifies what scientists need to know to understand it with greater precision.Ocean currents, the capacity of forests to absorb greenhouse gases, the political difficulties surrounding doing something to forestall serious environmental catastrophe -- all of these are dealt with fairly and honestly.

Maslin is clearly worried about the prognosis for planet earth.He presents a range of either possible or probable scenarios if some kind of global and organized cooperation between nations is not undertaken to deal with global warming.He cites scientific and economic studies showing that as much of 20% of the global GDP going towards the effects of global warming by the end of the 21st century (as opposed to 1%-2% now) if something is not done to counter the effects of global warming.

The only part of the book that I disliked was the closing section, which presented a fantasy of the green city of the future.It isn't merely that the picture presented seems unlikely, it was written in a sappy prose style that reminds me of some of the simplistic social service cartoons that were made in the 1950s.In Maslin's defense, he took that section from another scholar, which he plainly admits.The book would have been stronger without it.

Apart from that one section I found this to be an accessible, if sometimes technical, introduction to what is the dominant issue of our age. ... Read more

Product Description
In this groundbreaking, global analysis of the relationship between climate change and human health, Hans Baer and Merrill Singer inventory and critically analyze the diversity of significant and sometimes devastating health implications of global warming. Using a range of theoretical tools from anthropology, medicine, and environmental sciences, they present ecosyndemics as a new paradigm for understanding the relationship between environmental change and disease. They also go beyond the traditional concept of disease to examine changes in subsistence and settlement patters, land-use, and lifeways, throwing the sociopolitical and economic dimensions of climate change into stark relief. Revealing the systemic structures of inequality underlying global warming, they also issue a call to action, arguing that fundamental changes in the world system are essential to the mitigation of an array of emerging health crises link to anthropogenic climate and environmental change. ... Read more

Product Description
More than a warning, Earth under Fire is the most complete illustrated guide to the effects of climate change now available. It offers an upbeat and intelligent account of how we can lessen the effects of our near-total dependence on fossil fuels using technologies and energy sources already available. A thorough revision and a new preface for the paperback edition bring the compelling facts about climate change up to date. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Our Future is at Risk
Along with the development of modern technology, the quality of life has changed significantly. However, what has also changed is the global temperature, which is rising mainly due to human activities. Most of us already have information about global warming which is changing the ecological balance on earth, but how many of them us exactly how serious the problem is?

"Earth Under Fire," by Gary Braasch is an impressive book that attempts to touch people's hearts about the impact of global warming. Mr. Braasch is a world environmental photojournalist and his photo-journalistic series "World View of Global Warming"recorded the effects of global warming in many countries of the world. According to Braasch, "Because many popular articles and books on climate change have been based on predictions, which are easily dismissed, I wanted to look at the Earth itself and report on the changes I saw already under way."

The book begins with the effects of global warming such as the melting of the ice shelf, the receding of mountain glaciers, changes in animal migration, and the strong impact on human life. The most significant characteristic of this book is that it is not similar to other books that also describe global warming. Mr. Braasch uses a number of shocking photos that help the readers understand the same problem more deeply. According to Vanity Fair Magazine, "This may be the most deeply researched photo book of all time."

Global warming is changing the earth that we are living in, and many of us already know that. However, what we lack is awareness of how serious this problem is. If human beings do not change the way they obtain energy, the earth will not be a comfortable place to live anymore. "Earth Under Fire" is an impressive, informative book that can help us realize the serious impact of global warming. As Al Gore so clearly stated "The power of Gary Braasch's personal witness to the climate crisis makes this essential reading for every citizen."

Comprehensive, readable, good for all audiences
My experience is that journalists often write the best books, because they know how to research and how to write. Gary Braasch's book is in this category, the result of 8 years' worldwide research with climate experts and regular people, and taking photos with impact. He has created the first "coffee table" book on global warming, which also contains A-Z information and essays by several top scientists.

I have followed this issue for years, and still learned from his "Global Warming and Climate Change Explained," and from his history of the UN Climate Treaty and Kyoto Protocol (two pages or less for each). Fully documented, one quarter of the book is about solutions. Suitable for everyone, experienced and new. I gave a copy to an environmental educator friend and to my 16 year old goddaughter.

A well-documented approach to global warming
This book shows photographic and published documents about global warming stemed from devastation, pollution, and careless attitude of humans concerning the exploitation of world natural resources. Photos and citations of data obtained from several publications make up a good source of information on this subject. Photos taken of the same natural locality aiming to compare the conditions of such areas after some period of time, should present specification of time of the year they were both taken (the reader supposes they were both taken in the same month or season!).This book would worth more in economical and ecological terms if it had come out in paperback!

So THAT'S what happened to the Hatteras lighthouse...
Did you know they've moved the lighthouse on Cape Hatteras 2800 feet back from the shore due to rising sea levels? Me neither, but this is one of a myriad of telling tales Braasch brings into play to sound the alarm about global warming. He literally circled the globe--east to west and north to south--to gather information and photos for this book. He then combines these with easy-to-read narrative in a large-format work to tell the tale of a changing world.

Braasch's research is meticulous, and he goes out of his way to note dissenting views, but the conclusions are crisp and clear as a warming Arctic winter day--the planet is getting hotter and this can only mean trouble. If you have time to read one book on the current reality and looming consequences of global warming, this is it.

Sample info from Earth Under Fire: Stand-by mode of electronic gadgets consumes 6 percent of US electricity--one coal-fired electrical generation plant produces as much CO2 as 1.5 million cars--coal power plant pollutants kill 24,000-30,000 US citizens every year--and 10 times that many Chinese.

Everyone should have this book
Very important topic clearly presented. Photographs prove the losses the planet is suffering and man's wanton disregard for the deterioration. The photographs are extraordinarily beautiful, the yin and yang of this issue. ... Read more

Product Description
Revisiting the most important topic of our time.

The rapid warming of the Earth's climate has been a concern for decades. Though many of us understand that temperatures will-on average-rise, the science and the resulting social, economic, and political implications of such a change are far-reaching and complex. This new edition has been completely overhauled, synthesizing the latest information into an easy-to-read reference that provides a fair assessment of climate change, its costs, and even its short-term benefits.
? Covers the newest science and issues surrounding global warming
? Written by a seasoned science/nature journalist
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Review from Someone who has NOT read the book
I feel silly writing a review of a book I have not read, but I read the other reviews which were completely bogus, which tried to give the impression that there is still controversy about global warming among the world's scientists, and that global warming is some left-wing conspiracy this book promotes.

Here is a simple experiment to see who is telling the truth.Go to your local library and ask to see some peer-reviewed technical magazines on global warming.The language will probably be way over your head, but you can categorise the abstracts as either:

1. presuming global warming as a fact

2. debunking global warming

3. you can't tell.

I predict you won't find a single scientific article debunking it.

"Many people have the impression that there is significant scientific disagreement about global climate change. It's time to lay that misapprehension to rest. There is a scientific consensus on the fact that Earth's climate is heating up and human activities are part of the reason. We need to stop repeating nonsense about the uncertainty of global warming and start talking seriously about the right approach to address it."
~ Naomi Oreskes, 2004-12-26, science historian
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26065-2004Dec25.html

A Good Starting Point
This book is a good introductory text for those who want to know more about the complex topic of climate change and "global warming".The book is easy to read and educational for those starting out in their examination of the field, though further reading on this topic will show that some of the core premises of the book are more contentious than the author seems to think.

A list of further readings is provided, though there are no sources listed for the arguments made by the aurthor, which can make it difficult for those who want to do their own fact-checking or to canvass alternative opinions.However, a whole (short) chapter is devoted to arguments against the impact of man and is consequences on the environment.

Unfortunately, like many modern texts on climate and the environment, the author seems wedded to the concept of biocentrality and "steady-state" systems, with no examination of the merits or pitfalls of such a position.

Still, overall, this book provides a good introduction to the general concepts and arguments around man's impact on global climate.

Some decent basic information but clearly biased.
This book has some good basic information but the author
isn't really interested in having anyone read views that
don't buy everything the leftist NGOs or the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations)
say (he states panelists are all "climatologists" which isn't true).He also states 100 Nobel Prize winners see global warming as a big problem caused by the "wealthy few." But most of these "winners" are not climate scientists and the Nobel Committee is very leftist oriented. In fact, the wealthier nations have the improving environments while poorer, socialist and communist nations (such as Zimbabwe) are usually worsening. His references for further reading don't include even one
so-called "skeptic" about global warming but includes Paul Ehrlich whose predictions have often been wrong. In the text, he briefly discusses Bjorn Lomborg with the clear implication he ISN'T an "environmentalist" which I doubt is true.He then doesn't bother to list Lomborg in the Index nor does he list the book as one to read though it has been widely praised.In his list of "Concerned Organizations," he lists every leftwing NGO but not one from those who have questioned the standard orthodoxy such as Cato or the American Enterprise Institute.

So, if you are interested in reading both sides of this issue,
here some suggestions for starters:

BOOKS: "The Collapse of the Kyoto Protocol," David Victor, Stanford University, published by the Council on Foreign Relations."The Satanic Gases" and "Meltdown"(2004), Dr. Patrick J. Michaels, Univ. of Virginia."The Environmental Case for Nuclear Power," Robert C. Morris."The Heated Debate," Dr. Robert C. Balling (also co-authored "Satanic Gases")."Ecoscam" and "Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths," Ronald Bailey. "Why Geography Matters" by Harm de Blij, noted geographer. "The Life and Death of Planet Earth" by Ward and Brownlee, Univ. of Washington. "Frozen Earth" by Douglas McDougall, U.C.-San Diego. "Hoodwinking the Nation" by Julian Simon and Lomborg's book which is simply amazing ("The Skeptical Environmentalist").

WEBSITES: www.sepp.org; www.worldclimatereport.com; www.techcentralstation.com/environment; www.envirotruth.org; www.lomborg.com; www.cato.org; Michael Crichton's website.There are many more but these are a good start.


... Read more

Product Description
Is the weather truly getting worse? When it comes to global warming, dire predictions seem to be all we see or hear. Climatologists Patrick Michaels and Robert Balling Jr. explain why the news and information we receive about global warming have become so apocalyptic. The science itself has become increasingly biased, with warnings of extreme consequences from global warming becoming the norm. That bias is then communicated through the media, who focus on only extreme predictions. The authors compellingly illuminate the other side of the story, the science we aren't being told. This body of work details how the impact of global warming is far less severe than is generally believed and far from catastrophic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

Couldn't finish the book ...
I wish I could say I read the entire book.But I didn't.I just couldn't.

It's entirely possible the authors have a point -- and that they make it in the book.

But because every page is FILLED with arcane numbers, stats and graphs, you'd never know it.

The first three chapters consume 100 pages, and in the first pages of Chapter 4, I realized I wasn't going to finish the book.I have no doubt the information is in there, and that the book can / will be useful to ... someone.But not me.

Good gracious.Life is too short!

Reality Check
Well, it seems now there are some people who cling to notions that the current global warming is nothing to be bothered about. We could argue about the science until the sun becomes a dwarf star, but the point we should keep in mind is that the overwhelming majority of the world's scientists do accept the "AGW" and consider it something to be greatly concerned about. But let me put it another way. I'm sure you've heard of "Pascal's Wager" regarding the existence of God. Well, think of this climate argument as "Gore's wager." If global warming is nothing to be concerned about, what have we lost by believing it is and taking the appropriate actions? We might clean up the air and the oceans, stop sending billions of dollars over to Muslim countries for oil, we might develop many new businesses and create lots of new jobs, and the only thing the world would lose is an unhealthy environment. If the doom-sayers are right, however, and we do nothing, then we might tip the planet into a runaway climate change that might destroy life on Earth and leave us smoldering like Venus. I personally don't want this, and hope we can stop fouling our own nest, but I say again, even if the predictions are too dire, what do we stand to lose except an unhealthy environment and a dependent relationship with an Arab country (Saudi Arabia) that is cranking our terrorists faster than we can even name them? Personally, I see no reason not to take the threat seriously. Exxon Mobil would have to move to alternate energy and give up their obscene profits, but somehow that doesn't bother me too much. (I agreed with another readers assessment so much, felt worthwhile to repost it)
Check out the following website, very interesting:
[...]

Well worth reading for anyone interested in the topic, regardless current opinion
This is a serious review of some of the most recent observational data in the context of how it conforms, or does not, to the various predictions made by prognosticators of serious environmental impacts associated with 'Global Warming', and with the predictions of climate change made by various 'Global Warming' models themselves.

Agree or disagree with the analysis of the authors, it raises serious questions that need to be addressed.

It's a reasonably well written treatment for such rather technical material, approachable without sacrificing too much technical detail, well organized and coherent.

I'd recommend it highly to anyone interested in Climate or Climate Policy regardless of one's particular perspective on the issues.

It's also excellent referenced for a popular treatment, and allows those interested to continue to investigate both the authors' arguments and their treatment of the information from their sources.

A damn good book!!!
Patrick Michaels and Robert Balling have done a great job of exposing the tripe, and worse, that have nearly overwhelmed all sectors of our nation.The authors should receive the Nobel Prize for Literature next year and the Pulitzer Prize as well."Then truth will out," and finally it has.

Graphs, Graphs, Charts, Charts, is that All You Can't Manage?
I get a little tired of people complaining that they have to read a chart or a graph to understand something, or that they have to wade through one while reading an important book.When I was in secondary school, you couldn't graduate without showing rudimentary ability to read a graph.

The writers have the credentials to tackle the subject and do it well.I'm reminded of the book "Silent Spring" (Ehrlich is still a tenured professor last I checked) that warned of global freezing in the early 1970s and influence the tail end of the hippie generation.

When it comes to verbal explanation of the man-made Armageddon through global warming hoax, I would send those who cannot read graphs to YouTube and listen to a brief lecture by Christopher Monckton, Prime Minister Marager Thatcher's science advisor, who debunks the false science well.And to think that exposure of the hoax through the publication of e-mails from the University of East Anglia came out after this book--what a shame.

Nonetheless, the case for climate cycles is irrefutable, and man's contribution to them is negligible.No, Mr. Glover, the "failure" of Copenhagen did not lead to the earthquake in Haiti.
If I ever hear Dennis Franz (the most believable cop I know of on film or TV) ever utters such gibberish I may have to seriously consider Hari Kari.

But, until that time comes, even with my Ph.D. in hand, I recommend this book to anyone interested in the TRUTH, which the scientific method helps us distinguish from fallacy, but a search for which is never entirely over.I write this after the election of Senator Brown in Massachusetts, so I don't have to rail against the insanity of Cap and Trade at the moment.The bumper sticker I have seen one of my neighbors put on his or her auto that they paid for their Carbon Dioxide emissions in advance, makes my laugh and cry.Where would the American breadbasket, that feeds the world, be without Carbon Dioxide.Thanks to the NEA, do the young "skulls full of mush" that Limbaugh refers to not even know basic physiology and plant physiology?

May God help us when scientific dialogue is completely silenced by the supporters of State decrees about the outcome of informed debate. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (112)

Sensible outlook
The writer presented his easy-to-understand comments on a complex topic without launching an attack on everyone who is concerned about warming of the planet and possible consequences. This book would be instructive, but gut-wrenching, reading for anyone who is 100% behind proposals to stop man-made global warming no matter what the effects on our economy.

MUST READ!!
Climate Confusion is a great book that will bring you back to the basics of the Global Warming phenomenon.

A real climatologist, not a former next president of the United States, takes you on a fact finding tour of science versus politics. Roy Spencer points out how economics plays a vital role in our decisions if in fact global warming is man-made but also provides plenty of evidence that there is simply proof that man has done this.

All it takes is a quick review of the constituents of the atmosphere and you find that H2O, not CO2, is the biggest contributor of global warming and this book goes to great length to show that science does not yet understand the H2O component enough to make any kind of interpretation on the impact of man.

My favorite quotes from the book relate the economics of Climate Change and the environment:

"But as long as the supposed "rights" of nature supersede the rights of the people to use the natural resources that they require to thrive, the United States will never approach energy independence."

"poverty in poor countries is not from a lack of natural resources" & "the biggest impediment to wealth building within a nation is governmental interference and control over people's lives"

A great book on a global fraud
I have studied the global warming / climate change issue for several years. This book is the best discussion on the warming that has taken place and how it fits in geologic time.

Funded by Exxon and the Heartland institute
This work of fiction has no place in the Science category.The author is funded through the Heartland Institute, an organization dedicated to defending Big Oil and sowing confusion about global warming for the sake of corporate profits.Time after time the author has been exposed as a charlatan and a mouthpiece for the oil industry.

Stay far, far away from garbage like this.

More disinformation masquerading as "balanced" science
Here is what the "most helpful favorable view" said: "He [Spencer]is clearly no biased partisan"

This subject is so manipulated and driven by ideology that Spencer, simply by acknowledging something that is basic science -- of course our activities affect climate -- is suddenly "no biased partisan."

The greatest threat to mankind is not climate change (mass warfare is probably a greater threat anyway in the big picture in terms of what it can do), but rampant ignorance.Spencer, someone with some knowledge on the subject who is to anyone who is both intimately familiar with the topic AND objective and can dissociate the politics from the science, is an ideologue.That is contributing to our ignorance on this topic.

I glanced through this, and it's the same Roy Spencer as most everywhere else. Making assumptions, postulating them as fact. Omitting key details.And presenting small facets of the actual relevance and issue, erroneously, as if it defines the whole.

On his rather disinformative website -- where he does exactly the same as described while of course, similarly mixing in just enough science -- Spencer made the grandiloquent case as to why climate change is "exaggerated" (despite the fact that we keep on burning fossil fuels at rapid pace, are not sufficiently adjusting methane output, and deforestation continues.)

His key basis was to attack computerized climate models. Which of course, even though they have been more accurate than not (sometimes by quite a bit) overall, are easy to poke many holes in. It does not mean they are worthless, or tell the real story (or even can tell the real story.)

And this attack upon how climate models are flawed was his key point, from which he was able to assert that climate change concern is overwrought."Since," as he put it:

"Computerized climate models are the main source of concern over manmade global warming."

They are the most popular. They are the easiest to grab a hold of. The most tangible, in some ways, since obviously something that is based in physics, geology and biology and concerns future effects, is otherwise abstract. But they are not the main source of concern. (Or "cause," which is the context Spencer used here, as his basis against the issue itself.) Anyone who writes that they are the main source or cause of concern, let alone uses it as the key basis for his case against climate change, either does not really understand the issue, or is an ideologue.

Spencer is one of the two. Take your pick.

Questions to Spencer pointing out, incidentally, that models are not the main cause for concern but a way for us to at least try and put a tangible handle on more specific (and often limiting) parameters, have never been answered by him, as they might upset his neat little over-simplistic and highly misleading take on the issue; a take which supports a predetermined view.This is something, despite constant protestation and assertions to the contrary, that is driving much of the analysis of the "work" and assertions on this issue today. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

Failed attempt to rubbish Bjorn Lomborg
This book is a failed attempt to rubbish Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool it!

In Chapter One Friel proves, unsurprisingly, that Lomborg is not part of the `consensus that projected unprecedented warming with potentially catastrophic consequences if green house emissions were not significantly reduced'.

Chapter Two looks at the numbers of polar bears. Lomborg claimed that their numbers have risen, from 5,000 in the 1960s to 25,000 today.Friel cites a 2001 report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Polar Bear Specialist Group that there are between 21,500 and 25,000. Then he berates Lomborg for writing of a `stable' bear population when the report said `stationary'.

Al Gore said, "polar bears have been drowning in significant numbers." Friel seems to think that the Center for Biological Diversity's 2008 report proves this true when it wrote, "polar bears are at risk of drowning in large numbers" and "polar bear drowning events are expected". But that is not the same as saying that they are currently `drowning in significant numbers'.

Friel often misreads Lomborg. For example, Lomborg wrote, "Some of the largest colonies contain more than twenty thousand pairs [of Emperor penguins] each, several of which may be increasing." Friel writes, "penguin colonies in one of the areas (and not `several', as Lomborg wrote) `may be increasing'". But Lomborg's `several' referred to colonies not to areas.

Lomborg cites the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 estimate that sea levels will rise about a foot by 2100: Friel calls Lomborg's statement `narrowly accurate' and `not wholly inaccurate'. Yet Friel then tries to justify Gore's 20-feet rise estimate as `a not entirely hypothetical possibility'. Again, Friel quotes reports saying that sea levels could rise by five feet by 2100, without assessing how likely this is.

Friel quotes a 2002 conference of the American Geophysical Union, "The melting of Greenland glaciers and Arctic Ocean sea ice this past summer reached levels not seen in decades." He can't see that this wrecks the case for `unprecedented warming'. (If these levels were seen decades ago, they are not unprecedented.) Nor can they be a `record', yet The New York Times headlined the conference, `Arctic Ice is Melting at Record Levels, Scientists Say' (8 December 2002). This is the kind of exaggeration that Lomborg criticises.

Other examples include a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which concluded that climate change is `largely irreversible' for the next 1000 years, and James Hansen writing, "If the present overshoot of this target CO2 [of 350 ppm] is not brief, there is a possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects."

Again, the Worldwatch Institute said that we will have to end `the emission of carbon dioxide by 2050 to avoid catastrophic disruption to the world's climate'. The Independent's Michael McCarthy reported, "Lord Stern said new research done in the past two or three years had made it clear there were `severe risks' if global temperature rose by the predicted 4C to 7C by 2100. Agriculture would be destroyed and life would be impossible over much of the planet, the former World Bank chief economist said."

But the IPCC said in 2007, "Globally, the potential for food production is projected to increase with increases in local average temperature over a range of 1 to 30C, but above this it is projected to decrease." Yet Friel concludes, "It is also fair to say that Lomborg's prognosis that `we will be able to feed the world ever better' because of global warming was not supported by either Lomborg's own sources or the 2007 IPCC assessment of the issue."

The IPCC also said in 2007, "Abrupt climate changes, such as the collapse of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet, the rapid loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet or large-scale changes of ocean circulation systems, are not considered likely to occur in the 21st century, based on currently available model results."

Take into consideration who the author is ...
The author, Howard Friel, should not be seen as an individual who approaches this subject with no bias, no political framework which might, might color his approach.With a quick Google search, I see that Mr. Friel was a research assistant to Edward Herman, who colloborated with Noam Chomsky - heard of him?These are people with very strong opinions.I'm not saying this makes Mr. Friel defacto wrong about his positions, of course not, just that be wary if you think he's a neutral source.And if I'm wrong, then I shouldn't have trusted [...]!This is an interesting debate, though, and I wish there was a Tim Russert - type author who would take it on.

Excellent.
The above one-starred review is misleading and false.The author of this book, Friel,traces Lomborg's mis-appropriations, diversions, non-sequitirs, and bald-faced lies through a myriad of references, not just IPCC reports.

These sources include:
ACIA Reports (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment)
British Antarctic Survey
Center for Biological Diversity
WHO
FAO
Earth Policy Institute
The Ebi Report
UNESCO
Foreign Affairs (Journal)
Global Environmental Outlook Report
Hadley Center Reports
IFPRI
IUCN
New Scientist
New York Times
US News and World Report
NASA ESSDS
NASA Goddard Institute
Science
Scientific American

plus dozens more.A well-researched book on a very poorly-researched one.But Friel makes very clear that Lomborg is much more than simply ill-informed.His selective and actively-misleading use of references was meant solely to deceive.Shame on Cambridge UP for publishing that garbage, even if it was their social sciences review division.

A field guide to falsification
Anyone who ever thought that Lomborg had anything useful to contribute to the debate about the state of the planet must read this book!

Its author provides a detailed page-by-page account of how Lomborg studiously overlooks all the key facts that do not fit his preconceptions, falsifies what the peer-review literature states, and fabricates material to his ends.No wonder the Danish Committee of Scientific Misconduct called him "dishonest."This is the book to show how Lomorg did it.Yes, it's an account of a sordid few years, but in detailing how Lomborg and his ilk produce this nonsense, there is no better guide. As a journalist who specializes in investigations -- and not a scientist with an axe to grind -- Howard Friel is the very best person to write this debunking.

Nothing New
I saw this book in Barnes & Noble and hesitantly bought and read it.If you are looking for scientific reasons as to why Lomborg is wrong and the IPCC is right, go search somewhere else.All this guy does is rewrite what so many have done before him.How this guy can criticize Lomborg and claim he is trustworthy is beyond me.This guy has NO scientific credentials whatsoever.Here's an example of the journalism-type investigating this guy did in regards to Lomborg's book: he has a chapter that criticizes Lomborg's claim that warming will not be catastrophic.His proof?He cites about 1.5 - 2 pages of predictions the IPCC made in it's last report.This guy apparently doesn't understand science or statistics or modeling in general, much less a topic as scientifically complex as climate.The book is boring beyond description and does nothing but nitpick through Lomborg's book in order to do a horrible job of showing how wrong he is and how right the IPCC and company are.This is another pathetic attempt by someone who has no business writing such a book to make a name for himself.There are already plenty of books out there whose authors claim they are right because they agree with the IPCC and the models, etc.Unforunately, these people don't understand that an argument from authority doesn't make their science right - especially for events that haven't occurred and which are being predicted by models that need a huge amount of refinement and additional physical processes!!This is the type of book that will make a lot of people falsley believe they are now amateur experts on global warming.But, if the author wants to make a name for himself, he surely knows how to do that! ... Read more

Product Description
Those now notorious intercepted emails documenting leading scientists conspiring to squelch global-warming skeptics and falsifying data proved exactly what Brian Sussman has been saying for years.Climategate is intended for anyone who has ever expressed skepticism about the clamorous environmentalist claims that the Earth is in peril because of mankind's appetite for carbon-based fuels.By tracing the origins of the current climate scare, Sussman guides the reader from the diabolical minds of Marx and Engles in the 1800s, to the global governance machinations of the United Nations today. Climategate is a call to action, warning Americans that their future is being undermined by a phony pseudo-science aimed at altering and dominating every aspect of life in the United States and the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (44)

Weak on Science, Lots of Ideology
As a physicist who has been long been interested in the climate change question I was delighted to hear that there was a book that presenting the contrary position.I seek to be open minded and receptive to the dissenting side of important issues, especially when well documented.

When I found "Climategate" on the shelf of the local bookstore I began to peruse it, looking at the table of contents and the index.Surprisingly the latter had no mention of Planck or Boltzmann whose theory of heat radiation is fundamental to any argument about the earth's thermal equilibrium.Neither did the word thermodynamics appear, nor did any of several other key scientific terms indispensable to a serious argument on the topic.

Thumbing through the book I saw no quantitative data tables, equations, nor rigorously derived graphs. What I did find is the preposterous claim that climate change is all a great Marxist conspiracy which somehow brought together thousands of otherwise reputable scientists from a hundred diverse (and even unfriendly) countries, all plotting to deceive the world.

I put the book back on the shelf and saved my money for something useful.

It is possible that I missed something, but a subsequent literature search on the author revealed no academic credentials in atmospheric science or meteorology, other than his being a TV weather announcer. This does not in itself make one a "meteorologist."

Could be better.
The book gives many arguments against the current global warming hysteria.
It is not an academic treatment of the material, and is more suited to the
layperson reader. It would be better if it was not quite as "preachy" and
referred to religion less. Often, the author gets on a soapbox.

Excellent and comprehensive.
I found Mr. Sussman's book to be excellent and comprehensive, answers all your questions.I passed the book along to my sister, she had me order two more for friends.

Sussman's "Climategate" is a must-read
In Climategate: A Veteran Meteorologist Exposes the Global Warming Scam, award winning meteorologist Brian Sussman tackles the issue of man-caused global warming.

Sussman questions the science, the "consensus," and the motives, both financial and ideological, of the politicians, scientists and opinion leaders who seek massive changes in how we all live so as to save the world from global warming.

On the scientific front, Sussman attacks from several directions, pointing out large flaws in not only the climate models, but also the way temperatures have been collected (many monitoring stations have been encroached by urbanization, thus rendering their temperature records useless).

Regarding scientific "consensus," Sussman helpfully reminds non-scientists that consensus has no purpose in science, which is only concerned with fact, not opinion. For instance, the Italian physicist Galileo promulgated theories that were contrary to the "consensus" of the day.He was right and all of his critics were wrong.

Lastly, Sussman demolishes the promoters of global warming, from Al Gore on down the line, detailing how they stand to personally profit from government intervention in the global energy markets.He also carefully documents how many proponents of significant government interference in the use of energy are simple disciples of big government using global warming as their latest tool to force Americans to relinquish their liberty.

Reviewer: Chuck DeVore is a California State Assemblyman. He served as a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Department of Defense from 1986 to 1988, is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, and is the co-author of "China Attacks."

Clear, readable, good citations
Sussman reminds us of what the scientific method really is, and then lays out how poorly it's been followed by those promoting AGW.This is a well-written, logical, and surprisingly readable book given the subject matter. ... Read more

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"Clear, analytical and compelling." -The Economist

In this well-informed and hard-hitting response to the scaremongering of the climate alarmists, Nigel Lawson, former Secretary of State for Energy under Margaret Thatcher, argues that it is time for us to take a cool look at global warming. Lawson carefully and succinctly examines all aspects of the global warming issue: the science, the economics, the politics, and the ethics. He concludes that the conventional wisdom on the subject is suspect on a number of grounds, that global warming is not the devastating threat to the planet it is widely alleged to be, and that the remedy that is currently being proposed, which is in any event politically unattainable, would be worse that the threat it is supposed to avert. Argued with logic, common sense, and even wit, and thoroughly sourced and referenced, Lawson has written a long overdue corrective to the barrage of spin and hype to which the politicians and media have been subjecting the public on this important issue.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

An excellent overview of Climate Policy considerations
Not an especially technical tome, Lawson does an excellent job of asking some fundamental questions about the rationality of our current approach to Climate Policy and our announced reasons for it.

It would be advisable for those who are convinced urgent action, even if costly, should be directed toward altering human impacts on Climate to read this book.If for no other reason, to consider whether or not the questions and concerns raised by the author have been considered and should be.Those who do so and conclude these concerns do not justify less reckless urgency will at least do so with an improved understanding of the objections of many who do not agree.

Lawson, as always, is an excellent writer and his material is concise, coherent, approachable, and even entertaining.

I'd recommend this one in particular to 'convinced' climate activists and advocates of urgent action on climate matters.

Concise and Well-Reasoned
Mr. Lawson admits that he is not a scientist, and therein lays his greatest strength in writing this book.Although he points out several flaws in the research supporting global warming, he spends most of the book assuming that the data as presented is true.From there he takes a rational look at exactly how much global warming we are told to expect, how much the damage is predicted to be, and how much it would cost the world to implement plans to reduce carbon emissions (which is a goal distinctly different from reducing global temperatures).One doesn't have to be a scientist to understand the questions he raises; and these are reasonable questions we should all be asking before committing to the path of increased regulation and taxation proposed by the proponents of climate change.At just over a hundred pages, this book is a short but essential read.

An Inconvenient Truth Or An Inconsistent Theory?
Nigel Lawson (or Lord Lawson of Blaby, as he now is) is probably more well known on the American side of the pond for being the paterfamilias of a family which spawned a certain voluptuous celebrity television chef; In the UK however, he was a well-known figure in his own right in his respective capacities as a parliamentarian, chancellor of the exchequer and secretary of state for energy in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet during the nineteen eighties.

His book, "An Appeal To Reason" is an excellent, incisive and purely pragmatic look at the controversial subject of anthropogenic global warming and I defy even the most ardent exponent of the theory that man is contributing in any significant degree to climatic change to tell me that they're not even slightly worried that they're backing the wrong horse, after reading it.

Lawson's book is eminently accessible, blessedly brief (the essay itself runs to 106 pages - the rest is given over to footnotes and a scrupulously indexed bibliography of research materials) and takes a long, pragmatic and even-handed look at the alarmist conclusions of the IPCC/Stern reports and then sets about them with an incisive logic which reveals that many of the conclusions reached are erroneous, incorrect, politically motivated and based on extremely questionable science and test cases. More alarming still is the fact that it is these extremely unlikely "worst case scenario" conclusions which are being used to shape the social, financial, industrial and economic policies which will shape the 21st century - most likely to the detriment to much of the developing world. Lawson's keen economic insight into the inherent un-workability of "emissions trading schemes" should be a wake-up call for many of the governments of the world who have put so much stock into them. He also rather cannily describes the newly adopted 'carbon offsetting' policies undertaken by many companies as being little more than a contemporary revision of the mediaeval religious practice of buying and selling "indulgences".Similarly, Lawson's argument that the world's time and energies would be far better served by embarking on a policy of adapting to a climate which has always been subject to inevitable (non-anthropogenic) variation, rather than attempting to stave off the inevitable through "mitigation", smacks of the kind of refreshing common sense that you never hear from the AGW proponents such as Al Gore (whose notorious "Hockey Stick" graph has since been widely discredited) and German chancellor, Angela Merkel(who rather definitively put her foot in it at the G8 summit when she suggested a 50% global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Bearing in mind that water vapour is generally agreed to contribute to roughly two thirds - to carbon's one third - of the greenhouse effect, Lawson is given to wonder, quite properly, how Merkel is going to fit a dimmer switch to the sun in order to achieve this?)

I can't recommend "An Appeal To Reason" enough. If you, like I, have more than a few misgivings about questionable science and dubious prognosticative climate modeling being used to determine the social, economic and industrial future of our planet, I highly recommend you pick it up, read it and make up your own mind before politicians are allowed to do it for you based on the prevarications of politically motivated alarmists or lazy soundbite media.

Brief but effective
An Appeal to Reason is a devastating critique of global warming alarmism. Lawson makes a number of legitimate points, to mention just three: global warming isn't going to be a catastrophe, large CO2 cuts won't happen because of China and India's desire to grow their economies, and the science of global warming has been politicized and corrupted (and this book was published before Climategate). Lawson argues, the warming that has happened has been moderate, mostly confined to certain areas of the world, and has not increased in the last ten years. Lawson takes apart the unjustified alarmism of the mainstream media, the Stern Report and the IPCC, among many others. For another rational evaluation of global warming, see Bjorn Lomborg's Cool It.

Ammunition for climate change sceptics
Depite having a hard time finding someone prepared to publish this book Lawson has prepared a very readable and logical summary of the limitations of climate change science and the damaage that could be caused by many of the proposed policy changes.And it has been updated for 2009 - and his message hasn't changed. ... Read more

Product Description
Booker focuses his attention on the mother of all environmental scares: global warming. This original book considers one of the most extraordinary scientific and political stories of our time: how in the 1980s a handful of scientists came to believe that mankind faced catastrophe from runaway global warming, and how today this has persuaded politicians to land us with what promises to be the biggest bill in history. Christopher Booker interweaves the science of global warming with that of its growing political consequences, showing how just when the politicians are threatening to change our Western way of life beyond recognition, the scientific evidence behind the global warming theory is being challenged like never before. The book exposes the myth that the global warming theory is supported by a 'consensus of the world's top climate scientists'. It shows how the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is run by a small group of 'global warming' zealots, who have repeatedly rigged evidence to support their theory. But the politicians, pushed by the media, have so fallen for its propaganda that, short of dramatic change, our Western world now faces an unprecedented disaster. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

One sided but with a few legitimate points
I should first lay out my bias: I believe that climate change/global warming is partially caused by humans. I disagree with a lot of what Booker says. (Example: contra Booker there is a consensus--according to the Wall Street Journal and other sources climate scientists overwhelmingly believe global warming is caused by CO2 emissions). Nevertheless,I still recommend reading the book. Booker does a good job of presenting his side, and he does make some stinging critiques of scientists like Michael Mann who fudged the data. (Go to the index and look up hockey stick).I would love to see a debate between Booker and Al Gore.

Good news on Global Warming!
This books documents the history of the global climate as a major public policy issue beginning with concerns about global cooling in the 70's and continuing on to the political concensus that the science is settled. Note this is a political and not a scientific concensus! The good news is that global warming is not a major problem and we do not need to commit mega dollars on carbon dioxide reduction. However, this good news about global warming does not reduce the need for better engergy efficiency and environmental responsibility as the world population continues to grow rapidly.

A Conspiracy Theory Among Global Change Scientists Asserted, but Not Proven
Perhaps the most systematic historically-focused book on the right of the historical debate over global climate change is Christopher Booker's "The Real Global Warming Disaster: Is the Obsession with `Climate Change' Turning Out to Be the Most Costly Scientific Blunder in History?" published in 2009. Taking as a given that climate change is neither the result of human action nor that it is as devastating as the wide majority of scientists have asserted, Booker offers an historical account of how scientists came to believe that global warming as a result of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions had brought the Earth to this point in time.

Booker questions the catastrophic nature of this global climate change, and draws a stark portrait of conspiracy among scientists to foist questionable scientific evidence on governments that are seeking to respond, some with radical changes in policies that will severely affect the status quo. The book offers an outline of the history of climate change since the 1970s that calls into question every piece of evidence offered by scientists, including that from space-based remote sensing satellites.

As journalist Philip Ball commented in "The Observer" (London, UK), November 15, 2009, "The Real Global Warming Disaster" offers "just about every criticism ever made of the majority scientific view that global warming, most probably caused by human activity, is under way" without offering any countervailing evidence despite its abundance. I agree.

Truthseeker
You'd think this would be a dry read, but it reads like a novel.I wish every world citizen could read this book.The author documents his sources at the end of each chapter so you can verify what you are being told if you so desire.He presents the facts in great detail and leaves little doubt what is really going on with global warming.What has been going on in the scientific community is nothing short of unbelievable.It will change the way you evaluate things scientists say, particularly if the subject has political ties.I've recommended this book to many friends and relatives.You NEED to read this book!I couldn't put it down.Normally it takes me six months to read a book, but I read this one in a week.The time to read it is now, before the world wastes trillions of dollars on the wrong technologies.

Long, But Good Read - Worth It
This book is a long read, but well worth it. It is very well written and very readable.It is meticulously researched.Christopher Booker is not a scientist, and makes no claims of such.Rather he is a last surviving example of a nearly extinct species in today's media world: he is an INVESTIGATIVE journalist.He digs very deep - well beyond the superficial, sensationalist hype that masquerades as "news" in much of today's shallow media.He takes no one's word for anything - pro or con.He takes the news of the day then researches it - where did it come from?Who said it, and what is their authority?What and where is their evidence?Is the evidence compelling?Who disagrees with them, and WHY?Based on WHAT?Can they demonstrate in a practical way why their viewpoint and evidence should be considered credible?What motivations might these various players have for their viewpoint - pro or con?He also recognizes the difference between science and politics.Consensus is an appropriate tool in the political arena. It has no credible place in science.Credible science depends on the discovery of what actually is and is not in the world and universe. And it must be backed up by a rigorous process of verification that allows one scientist to take the inarguable facts and analyze them with the known and proven scientific methods and arrive at substantially the same conclusion of the first scientist who makes the original claim of discovery.

Credible scientists are doubters.Unless they can prove a hypothesis to themselves, they remain in doubt until such time as they can prove the hypothesis - even when said hypothesis is their own. In fact as I learned in my days as an engineer analyzing manufacturing and quality problems with statistical analysis, you must use the techniques of experimental design.Your first step is to develop a likely hypothesis based on your observations and all facts known to you at the time.The second step is to design an experiment.And you do not design the experiment to prove your hypothesis, but rather to DISPROVE your hypothesis.After you have made exhaustive attempts to disprove your hypothesis with everything you know and every thing you can learn from working with others who are also investigating the problem and you still fail to disprove your hypothesis, you then accept it with a defined degree of confidence (expressed as a percentage) based on your experimental design and the amount of data you have analyzed.

Mr. Booker uses a similar mindset in his investigation of the science behind the global warming hoopla.The inescapable conclusion is that for every ounce of science there seems to have been a pound of sensationalism, theatrics and drama since the original theories of anthropogenic global warming emerged in the early 1980's. And this has lead many perhaps well meaning but completely technically illiterate people to propose some of the most outrageous, even comical yet highly destructive "solutions" to the perceived problem imaginable.In some cases these solutions have been akin to chopping one's arm off to prevent possible infection from a sliver in the pinkie finger.Additionally, as is always the case in such far reaching situations, there have been the swarms of parasitic opportunists swimming like hungry sharks around the masses of disinformation, confusion and ignorance looking for opportunities to "cash in" on what appears to be the most sensational scare in all of mankind's history.The result has been billions of dollars spent to discover that the fox in the hen house was only the neighbor's Chihuahua or less.

The book also is a serious slap in the face to the so called "news media" that has had access to the same information that Booker had, and they have had that access all along had they bothered to make even a modicum of effort to look.But they apparently did not want to do their job. Maybe they instead saw a better opportunity for themselves in fanning the flames of ignorant hysteria, fear and superstition.In the end, the "news media" should be the biggest loser of all in this despicable chapter of human history. They have well earned it, and are still working hard at earning it. (That is, if you can consider taking dictation from the shady operatives and opportunists as hard work.)
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Product Description

Global warming is the story of the twenty-first century. It is the most serious issue facing the future of humankind, and American energy and environmental policy is driving the whole world down the path of global catastrophe. Hell and High Water is nothing less than a wake-up call to the country. It is a searing critique of American environmental and energy policy and a passionate call to action by a writer with a unique command of the science and politics of climate change.

We have ten years, at most, to start making sharp cuts to our greenhouse gas emissions or we will face catastrophic consequences. The good news is that there is something we can do—but only if the leadership of the U.S. government acts immediately and asserts its influence on the rest of the world—in particular such emerging powers as China and India—to join an international effort to stop global warming.

Joseph Romm, an expert in the science, business, and politics of climate change, lays out a plan of action that involves:

• reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by midcentury
• adopting a California-style energy-efficiency effort nationwide
• embracing high-mileage, advanced "hybrid" cars that can run on both electricity and biofuels

Unfortunately, the required government policies and spending are strongly opposed by conservatives, who have blocked serious action on climate change and continue to publicly deny the dire warnings of scientists. Never before has there been such a sharp divergence between what top scientists know and what policymakers, the general public, and the media believe. And, sadly, never has so much been at stake.

Romm, who ran the largest program in the world that was concentrated on climate solutions, offers an authoritative dissection of this disastrous policy. Hell and High Water goes beyond ideological rhetoric to offer pragmatic solutions to avert the threat of global warming—solutions that must be taken seriously by every American.

Customer Reviews (26)

A description of our potential future
"Hell and High Water" describes what our future will be if we don't act or act soon enough to reverse global warming.(Perhaps this bears repeating: there is almost uniform scientific consensus on the matter, and the "almost" is a reflection of individual scientist's projection of degree or intensity, not whether warming is happening at all.)

High Water refers to the monstrous rise in sea level we can see- 10 feet per decade, or 100 feet per century- and Hell refers to the very high temperatures we'll see inland.(Note: most of the discussion is confined to the United States; Romm wants to drive the point home that prosperous nations will not be exempt from the effects of global warming, nor will they be able to buy themselves out of it.) The figurative Hell of Romm's description is that we will face this transformation even if we do act but act too late.Thanks to the sensitive "positive" feedback loops in the climate system, once we reach a certain threshhold, both the concentration of CO2 and the temperature will rise, regardless of what we do about emission levels.

Some of the scariest information was about the ice sheets and glaciers.We had previously been told by the scientific community that it would take thousands of years for those to change or melt; now, based on new evidence, it looks like that process can be accelerated to decades- or less.Not only can this lead to a rise in sea level, it can also release even more CO2, further condemning us to high atmospheric concentrations.

This is all preventable (or at least was at the publication of this book a few years ago).The author seems to alternately scratch and bang his head as he compares the regulation of greenhouse gasses to the regulation of chloroflouro carbons almost 20 years ago.There, although there was some grumbling about developed versus developing nations, at least the process began.Once in motion, the momentum built positively and the continuing depletion of the ozone layer was stopped.Now, it seems that the United States and China are locked in an epic game of chicken over being the first to agree to regulation.Remarkably, most of the rest of the world has decided not to play along.

This was a good book, but not perfect.If I could give in 3.5 stars I would.He uses the "wedge" paradigm first published in, I believe, Scientific American several years ago.Unfortunately, one of those wedges is Carbon Capture and Sequestration, which many now believe is as lucky to be seen as a unicorn.While Romm includes that asa s potential solution, he spends more than a few pages outlining its drawbacks, particularly where the carbon would be stored underground.He also notes that it will take two decades before these are built, which is odd, to say the least, when he continuously advocates for immediate action.He also includes the nuclear power wedge.I, like many, feel that's a bad idea, and he also mentions the high cost and potential inefficiencies.Finally, he doesn't include anything about agriculture, which we now know is a large contributor of greenhouse gases.

He is also not the clearest of writers.I had to re-read several of his paragraphs to understand what he was trying to get across.While I do not have a scientific background, I'm pretty sure I'm the audience he's writing for.Better explanations would get his point across more quickly; not everyone is going to re-read to understand.

He also doesn't fully close the loop on the Delayers and Denyers (why he chooses to misspell the latter word, I have no idea) and what their motivations are.Read Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming for more on that.However, he does rightfully spank the media for burying the seriousness of the issue under the guise of "fairness" and "balance".His comparison to the bird flu scare was classic.

What is painful about all of these pre-2010 books is that a lot of them seem to believe that "the next President" would have a better chance of remedying this situation, if only in funding priorities.Thus far, he hasn't been.

Romm ends with the hope that his readers have their hair on fire when they're done.In that, he is successful.

A must read for anyone interested in the global warming debate
Hell and High Water is a must-read book for everyone interested in global warming and climate science.Joseph Romm holds a PhD in Physics from MIT, was acting assistant secretary at the Department of Energy in the Clinton Adminstration (in which he headed the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy), and founder of the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions.Many will be familiar with Romm's writing in the blog, Climate Progress, who Time Magazine has called "the Web's most influential climate-change blogger."

As the title of this 2007 book suggests, the contents are split into two main parts.In Part I, Romm tells us the state of the current science, and then takes us through the likely scenarios for the near future (2000-2025), the intermediate near future (2025-2050), and the slightly further near future (2050-2100).As time passes - and as inaction continues - we advance through increasingly frequent and severe climatic events to what Romm calls "planetary purgatory" in which intense drought is seen in some areas while other areas (e.g., coastlines) experience intense flooding.Finally, barring significant action that begins now, we face "hell and high water," irreversible global warming and sea level rise.Romm supports these scenarios with facts and the full backing of the scientific consensus.

In Part II, Romm takes us through the politics and the solutions.He informs us that we already have the technology to begin dealing with the situation, and to do so before the situation worsens to the point where solutions are much more difficult to initiate.So we can solve this problem.What is missing is the political will.Confounding this is the intentional disinformation being forwarded by free market lobbying groups whose masterful use of rhetoric confuses the public and makes it incredibly difficult for policy-makers to take the needed action.Take this advice from Frank Luntz in his infamous 2002 "straight talk" strategy memo to conservatives wishing to deny and delay action on global warming:

"It can be helpful to think of environmental (and other) issues in terms of a story.A compelling story, even if factually inaccurate, can be more emotionally compelling than the dry recitation of the truth." [my emphasis added]

In other words, lying is okay if it gets your desired point across.And according to Romm this is exactly what the global warming deniers and delayers have been doing.The goal is delay, delay, delay.

But Romm also offers solutions.A lot of solutions.And most are based on technologies that already exist today and can be carried out if policy-makers are allowed to put them into practice.Solutions that include putting a price on carbon that can be traded in such a way that companies that reduce their emissions will make money.Solutions like plug-in electric cars (not hydrogen fuel cell cars, which Romm suggests is more of a shell game to delay action than a viable technology).And many more.

In his concluding chapter, "The End of Politics," Romm says that the public - you and me - need to demand change.He notes that everyone must become a "climate champion" that will take whatever action we can to put policy-makers in a position where they can honestly implement adequate policies.Romm says that he does "believe that if we fail to act in time, it will be the single biggest regret any of us has at the end of our lives."

This book is a powerful look at the problems we face with global warming, the solutions that already exist to deal with it, and the politics that keeps us from implementing them.It is a easily readable book for everyone, whether scientifically trained or not.I highly recommend this book for all to read.Readers can also keep up with Romm's continuing efforts to debunk climate change deniers [...].

False Information
This book contains false information leading to a false premise, that we (mankind) can even change the temperature. The truth is, do the math! IPCC's own numbers, of a trillion tons of CO2 removed equals only one degree change. Well? The problem is, the whole planet burns only 30 billion tons per year. OK, for those who actually believe in this nonsense, I'll do the math for you. That's about 33 years of no, nada, and zero movement on the planet to lower one degree! Ugggggg. But buy the book if you want a good laugh.

Global Warming - A Very Sobering Outlook
Joseph Romm is a physicist and founder and director of the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions. Romm presents a very sobering outlook on the consequences of failing to act on global warming. His book is divided into two parts. The first, The Science and the Future of Global Warming contains a wealth of information about how human emissions are causing global warming and the likely best-case and worse-case scenarios of action vs. inaction. The notes that go along with this chapter are invaluable. The second section, The Politics and the Solution details how politics have trumped science and why this rhetoric has allowed people to believe that technology will save us so no actions to prevent climate change are required.

Global Warming Skeptics, Beware!
Global warming skeptics, beware! Joseph J. Romm's insightful book Hell and High Water is an excellent source for any person looking to become better informed on the issue of climate change. In the book, Romm provides an in-depth look into the proven science of global warming, his proposed solutions to the problem, and the misinforming political rhetoric that has prevented further action in eliminating the problem.
The first half of Romm's book delivers a shocking glimpse into how global warming has already affected our lives, and also what to expect in the future. If we do not act now, Romm argues we may cross a "point of no return," where Earth's sensitive feedback loops will lose control beyond fixing. Romm presents these frightening consequences in three stages of the 21st century. He projects the years 2000-2025 will have higher global temperatures and increased sea surface temperatures, which will cause (and has already caused) a drastic increase of destructive hurricanes. 2025-2050, cleverly titled "planetary purgatory" describes inevitable drought, water shortages, and extensive deforestation caused by wildfires and pine beetle infestations. Romm claims that CO2 sinks will be of major concern in the future. This is especially true of tundra and permafrost, because if it melts, it has the potential of releasing large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. 2050-2100 is called "hell and high water." By this time, nearly the entire Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will have melted, causing sea levels to rise 40-80 feet. Romm argues that this catastrophic event has the potential to displace over a billion people.
The second half of Romm's book is a detailed look into the politics surrounding climate change. He argues that politicians have an advantage over scientists when it comes to rhetoric. He frequently blames the Bush Administration and many others for delaying the action of lowering emissions. This is commonly caused by the claim that we do not have the present technology and that we need to wait.
I believe that this book presents an unprecedented amount of information that needs to be told to any uninformed citizen on the urgent issue of climate change. Romm presents a series of eight solutions that he believes can set us on the right path as a country if we act now. Many of them, including enabling every car to run on electricity for short distances and building 1 million wind turbines seem like plausible solutions. However, I am very skeptical of his push for 700 new nuclear-power plants. Overall, Romm is most concerned with the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions. He is a strong advocate against coal, which continues to be the number one producer of energy in the United States.
More than anything, Romm encourages his readers to become passionate and politically active in the push for action on climate change. I strongly recommend this book to anyone: skeptics, uninformed citizens, and even experts will learn astounding things by reading this book. After all, it is the power of informed and passionate citizens that will save us from the devastating future of hell and high water.
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Product Description
This book tells the story of the global warming challenge, the possible dramatic change to the Earth's Climate, and some of the things we all can do to meet it, such as altenative means of generating electricity. This book is for an elementary school audience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Interesting facts without hysteria
It is refreshing to see science and engineering presented to children with the aim of interesting children in science and engineering, rather than trying to get them to adopt some particular point of view.This book is not at all a "scare story" about global warming, but instead is something much more interesting and much more valuable: an explanation that children can understand about what happens (good and bad) when we burn fuel, and attempts to engage their interest in the fact that science and engineering are the only real path to understanding and improvement.

An inconvenient fraud
While I will agree that the earth may be warming slightly, it is part of the ever changing planet on which we live.I don't believe for one minute that any change is due to humans and emmissions.It is fine for kids to want to explore new and better alternatives to help us in the future, but please stop making it sound like the planet will be ending soon.

Excellent Resourse for Science Teachers
As a parent of a 14 year old, I feel this book would be a wonderful addition to the library of a Junior High School level science class.This book is very informative and would definately spark young minds to take action and would also be an excellent resourse to suggest science projects.Children these days are definately in tune with these global issues and this book provided some answers and suggestions on how we can help the state of our planet.

Great for kids
A great book for children. Clearly illustrates the science of global warming in a way that is easy for children to understand. A Clean Sky shows children what is happening to our planet and gives many positive solutions to solving this growing issue. Highly Recommended!

A Better Understanding of What We Can All do About Global Warming
My 11-year old daughter is discussing global warming in school and what we can do about it as individuals, a family and as a school.I was amazed to read about the kinds of things that are being done, including this whole idea about generating electricity using hydrogren and then capturing carbon dioxide.This makes so much sense, I don't understand why we aren't doing this everywhere. Thank you for your book, which was very informative and helpful -- for both me and my daughter.I think we both better understand about using hydrogen, capturing carbon dioxide and what we can all do about global warming. ... Read more