Coming Climate Crisis?: Consider the Past, Beware the Big FixDecisively cutting through the hyperbole on both sides of the debate, distinguished NASA climatologist Claire L. Parkinson brings much-needed balance and perspective to the highly contentious issue of climate change. Offering a deeply knowledgeable overview of global conditions past and present, the author lays out a compelling argument that our understandings and models are inadequate for confident predictions of the intended and unintended consequences of various projects now under consideration to modify future climate. In one compact volume, Parkinson presents a coherent synopsis of the 4.6-billion-year history of climate change on planet Earth—both before and after humans became a significant factor—and explores current concerns regarding continued global warming and its possible consequences. She ranges over the massive geoengineering schemes being proposed and why we need to be cautious about them, the limitations of current global climate models and projections, the key arguments made by those skeptical of the mainstream views, and the realistic ways we can lessen destructive human impacts on our planet. While discussing all of these polarizing topics, the author consistently shows respect for the views of alarmists, skeptics, and the vast majority of people whose positions lie somewhere between those two extremes. The book clarifies some of the most contentious points in the climate debate, and in the process treats us to a fascinating discussion interweaving Earth history, science, the history of science, and human nature. Readers will be rewarded with a genuine understanding of a complex issue that could be among the most important facing humankind in the coming decades. |
Contents
C H A P T E R 1 Introduction | 3 |
C H A P T E R 2 46 Billion Years of Global Change | 27 |
C H A P T E R 3 Abrupt Climate Change | 73 |
PART I I The Human Factor | 91 |
C H A P T E R 4 A Short History of Human Impacts | 93 |
Why Some People Are So Concerned while Others Arent | 125 |
PART I I I Good Intentions and Geoengineering | 149 |
C H A P T E R 6 Good Intentions Gone Awry | 151 |
Model Limitations | 235 |
C H A P T E R 1 1 Compounding Social Pressures | 259 |
PART V Avoiding Paralysis despite Uncertainty | 293 |
C H A P T E R 1 2 What Are the Alternatives? | 295 |
C H A P T E R 1 3 Closing Plea | 323 |
Abbreviations | 337 |
Notes | 341 |
References | 359 |
Other editions - View all
Coming Climate Crisis?: Consider the Past, Beware the Big Fix Claire L. Parkinson No preview available - 2010 |
Coming Climate Crisis?: Consider the Past, Beware the Big Fix Claire L. Parkinson No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
abrupt climate change aerosols albedo American Meteorological Society Antarctic ice sheet approximately Arctic sea ice atmospheric CO2 benefit Broecker carbon dioxide cause chapter climate system cloud seeding consensus consequences cooling cycles damage decrease difficult early twenty—first century Earth system effect emissions energy eruption estimated event extinctions feedback fields first flood flow gases GCMs geoengineering geoengineering schemes Geophysical glacial glaciers global warming greenhouse gas Greenland ice sheet Heinrich events Hemisphere hence human activities hurricane ice age ice core ice cover impacts increased instance IPCC kilometers land least mainstream major meters methane million years ago Monbiot North Atlantic occurred ocean conveyor ofthe oxygen ozone Pacific Parkinson period plants polar polynya potential predictions projections reduced reflective regions Research Schneider Science scientific scientists sea level rise significant significantly simulated skeptics Snowball Earth solar radiation species specifically stratosphere sufficiently suggest tion today’s volcanic weather modification Younger Dryas