LibGuides: Climate Change: Books &amp; eBooks

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Atlas of Climate Change This highly acclaimed atlas distills the vast science of climate change, providing a reliable and insightful guide to this rapidly growing field. Since the 2006 publication of the first edition, climate change has climbed even higher up the global agenda. This new edition reflects the latest developments in research and the impact of climate change, and in current efforts to mitigate and adapt to changes in the worlds weather.
Boiling Point In Boiling Point, Ross Gelbspan argues that, unchecked, climate change will swamp every other issue facing us today. Indeed, what began as an initial response of many institutions -- denial and delay -- has now grown into a crime against humanity. The fossil fuel industry is directing the Bush administration's energy and climate policies-payback for helping Bush get elected. But they're not the only ones to blame: the media and environmental activists are unwittingly worsening the crisis. In his new introduction, Gelbspan reveals that the outlook isn't getting better. The climate continues to change with increasing acceleration: hurricanes devastated Florida; rainfall patterns left two million people starving in Kenya; 2004 was the fourth hottest year on record. At the same time, the coal industry was planning to sabotage an effort in the Senate to begin to regulate carbon dioxide. Officials of Switzerland, France, and Canada said last year that, when the Kyoto Protocol takes effect, they intend to take the United States to court under the World Trade Organization, reasoning that the U.S.'s refusal to lower their carbon emissions amounts to an illegal subsidy-a "carbon subsidy"-on its exports. With the reelection of George W. Bush and a Republican-controlled congress, Boiling Point is more imperative than ever. Both a passionate call-to-arms and a thoughtful roadmap for change, Gelbspan reveals what's at stake for our fragile planet.
Climate Change: Extreme Weather, Risks and Costs Chapter 1 examines the state of the science related to extreme weather events. It will provide an opportunity to examine the role of climate change and other weather and climate factors in causing and exacerbating extreme weather events, to discuss economic and other societal impacts of extreme weather, to explore the state of forecasting and prediction of extreme weather with a focus on how to communicate uncertainty, and to identify gaps in the science. Chapter 2 reports on the kinds of climate risk information standards and tools that communities need to reduce the risks and costs of climate change, including more extreme floods and wildfires.
Encyclopedia of Climate Change This third edition of the Encyclopedia of Climate Change comprises more than 500 essays and extensive back matter written specifically to provide students at high school and undergraduate levels with a comprehensive and convenient source of information on the fundamental science, sociopolitical issues, and controversies surrounding climate change.
The Environmental Debate: A Documentary History This unique collection of Primary Documents examines the evolution of concern about environmental degradation, pollution, climate change, and resource conservation in America from the Colonial period the present.
Environmental Issues Surrounding Human Overpopulation There are many factors to be considered when examining the current state of environmental problems in the modern world. By addressing these causes, the preservation of ecosystems and environmental resources can be maintained. Environmental Issues Surrounding Human Overpopulation is an authoritative reference source for the latest scholarly research on the depletion of natural resources due to overpopulation and presents insights on how these environmental threats can be addressed. Highlighting technological, economic, and social perspectives, this book is ideally designed for policymakers, researchers, academics, students, and practitioners interested in better understanding the current state of the global environment.
Global Warming : A Very Short Introduction Global Warming is one of the most controversial scientific issues of the twenty-first century. This is a problem that has serious economic, sociological, geopolitical, political, and personal implications.This Very Short Introduction is an informative, up-to-date, and readable book about the predicted impacts of global warming and the surprises that could be in store for us in the near future. It unpacks the controversies that surround global warming, drawing on material from the recent report ofthe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a huge collaborative study drawing together current thinking on the subject from experts in a range of disciplines, and for the first time presents the findings of the Panel for a general readership. The book also discusses the politics of globalwarming, and looks at what we can do now to adapt to climate change and mitigate its worst effects.
Global Warming Gridlock Global warming is one of today's greatest challenges. The science of climate change leaves no doubt that policies to cut emissions are overdue. Yet, after twenty years of international talks and treaties, the world is now in gridlock about how best to do this. David Victor argues that such gridlock has arisen because international talks have drifted away from the reality of what countries are willing and able to implement at home. Most of the lessons that policy makers have drawn from the history of other international environmental problems won't actually work on the problem of global warming. Victor argues that a radical rethinking of global warming policy is required and shows how to make international law on global warming more effective. This book provides a roadmap to a lower carbon future based on encouraging bottom-up initiatives at national, regional and global levels, leveraging national self-interest rather than wishful thinking.
Global Warming in the 21st Century Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that most of the observed temperature increase since the middle of the 20th century was very likely caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases resulting from human activity such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation. This book presents current research in the study of global warming, including climate change and its impact on agriculture; global warming and coral reefs; and climatic change due to clusterisation of atmospheric water vapor.
The Impact of Global Warming on Texas When The Impact of Global Warming on Texas was first published in 1995, it discussed climate change as a likely future phenomenon, predicted by scientific studies. This entirely rewritten second edition presents evidence that early climate change impacts can now be observed and identifies the threats climate change will pose to Texas through the year 2050. It also offers the hopeful message that corrective action, if taken now, can avert unmanageable consequences. The book begins with a discussion of climate science and modeling and the information that can be derived from these sources for Texas. The authors follow this with an analysis of actual climate trends in the various Texas climate regions, including a predicted rise in temperatures of 5.4 degrees F (plus or minus 1.8 F) by the end of the century. This could lead to less rainfall and higher evaporation, especially in regions that are already dry. Other important effects include possible changes in El Ni#65533;o (climate variability) patterns and hurricane behaviors. Taking into account projected population growth, subsequent chapters explore likely trends with respect to water availability, coastal impacts, and biodiversity. The authors then look at the issues from a policy perspective, focusing on Texas's importance to the national economy as an energy producer, particularly of oil and gas. They recommend that Texas develop its own climate change policy to serve the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy independence, ensuring regional security, and improving management of water, air, land, and wildlife.
Local Climate Change and Society Although the impacts of climate change are certainly global, its manifestations and subsequent consequences begin locally. Local Climate Change and Society examines how climate change has altered society's relationship with the environment and particularly local communities to adapt to and mitigate climate change. The book analyzes the principles, practices and local responses to micro-level climate policies and interrogates the increasing role of local governments and local climate social movements induced by transnational corporations' activities both above and below the equator. This book contains country and cross-country case studies and inter-disciplinary contributions written by academics, researchers and policy makers at the cutting edge of climate change knowledge. It aimed at students of environmental and climate change in the social sciences, academics, climate change public. Local climate change and society has direct appeal to professional staff concerned with environmental management, and policy makers supporting communities and municipalities in climate change adaptation and mitigation processes and activities at the at local level.
Reconsidering the Impact of Climate Change on Global Water Supply, Use, and Management Changes in the planet's climate in recent years have led to significant impacts on natural resources and ecosystems. New strategies must be adopted in order to support the protection and continued development of numerous natural resources. Reconsidering the Impact of Climate Change on Global Water Supply, Use, and Management is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly material on the relationship between global climate changes and the planet's water ecosystems. Highlighting relevant environmental, social, and economic issues, this book is ideally designed for academics, researchers, policy makers, students, and practitioners interested in the impacts of climate change on global water resources.
Tourism and Climate Change : Risks and Opportunities This book discusses the tourism-climate system and provides a sound basis for those interested in tourism management and climate change mitigation, adaptation and policy. In the first three chapters, the book provides a general overview of the relationships between tourism and climate change and illustrates the complexity in four case studies that are relevant to the wide audience of tourism stakeholders. In the following seven chapters detailed discussion of the tourism and climate systems, greenhouse gas accounting for tourism, mitigation, climate risk management and comprehensive tourism-climate policies are provided. This book compiles and critically analyses the latest knowledge in this field of research and seeks to make it accessible to tourism practitioners and other stakeholders involved in tourism or climate change.
Uncharted Waters: The New Economics of Water Scarcity and Variability The 21st century will witness the collision of two powerful forces -- burgeoning population growth, together with a changing climate. With population growth, water scarcity will proliferate to new areas across the globe. And with climate change, rainfall will become more fickle, with longer and deeper periods of droughts and deluges. This report presents new evidence to advance understanding on how rainfall shocks coupled with water scarcity, impacts farms, firms, and families.

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1,001 Voices on Climate Change: Everyday Stories of Flood, Fire, Drought, and Displacement from Around the World Join journalist Devi Lockwood as she bikes around the world collecting personal stories about how flood, fire, drought, and rising seas are changing communities. It's official: 2020 will be remembered as the year when apocalyptic climate predictions finally came true. Catastrophic wildfires, relentless hurricanes, melting permafrost, and coastal flooding have given us a taste of what some communities have already been living with for far too long. Yet we don't often hear the voices of the people most affected. Journalist Devi Lockwood set out to change that. In 1,001 Voices on Climate Change, Lockwood travels the world, often by bicycle, collecting first-person accounts of climate change. She frequently carried with her a simple cardboard sign reading, "Tell me a story about climate change." Over five years, covering twenty countries across six continents, Lockwood hears from indigenous elders and youth in Fiji and Tuvalu about drought and disappearing coastlines, attends the UN climate conference in Morocco, and bikes the length of New Zealand and Australia, interviewing the people she meets about retreating glaciers, contaminated rivers, and wildfires. She rides through Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia to listen to marionette puppeteers and novice Buddhist monks. From Denmark and Sweden to China, Turkey, the Canadian Arctic, and the Peruvian Amazon, she finds that ordinary people sharing their stories does far more to advance understanding and empathy than even the most alarming statistics and studies. This book is a hopeful global listening tour for climate change, channeling the urgency of those who have already glimpsed the future to help us avoid the worst.
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis NATIONAL BESTSELLER . Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward. "A powerful read that fills one with, dare I say . . . hope?"-The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE There is a renaissance blooming in the climate movement- leadership that is more characteristically feminine and more faithfully feminist, rooted in compassion, connection, creativity, and collaboration. While it's clear that women and girls are vital voices and agents of change for this planet, they are too often missing from the proverbial table. More than a problem of bias, it's a dynamic that sets us up for failure. To change everything, we need everyone. All We Can Save illuminates the expertise and insights of dozens of diverse women leading on climate in the United States-scientists, journalists, farmers, lawyers, teachers, activists, innovators, wonks, and designers, across generations, geographies, and race-and aims to advance a more representative, nuanced, and solution-oriented public conversation on the climate crisis. These women offer a spectrum of ideas and insights for how we can rapidly, radically reshape society. Intermixing essays with poetry and art, this book is both a balm and a guide for knowing and holding what has been done to the world, while bolstering our resolve never to give up on one another or our collective future. We must summon truth, courage, and solutions to turn away from the brink and toward life-giving possibility. Curated by two climate leaders, the book is a collection and celebration of visionaries who are leading us on a path toward all we can save. With essays and poems by- Emily Atkin .Xiye Bastida .Ellen Bass.Colette Pichon Battle .Jainey K. Bavishi .Janine Benyus .adrienne maree brown .Regine Clement .Abigail Dillen .Camille T. Dungy .Rhiana Gunn-Wright .Joy Harjo .Katharine Hayhoe .Mary Annaise Heglar .Jane Hirshfield . Mary Anne Hitt .Ailish Hopper.Tara Houska, Zhaabowekwe .Emily N. Johnston .Joan Naviyuk Kane .Naomi Klein .Kate Knuth .Ada Lim n .Louise Maher-Johnson .Kate Marvel .Gina McCarthy .Anne Haven McDonnell. Sarah Miller .Sherri Mitchell, Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset .Susanne C. Moser .Lynna Odel.Sharon Olds.Mary Oliver .Kate Orff .Jacqui Patterson .Leah Penniman .Catherine Pierce . Marge Piercy .Kendra Pierre-Louis .Varshini . Prakash .Janisse Ray .Christine E. Nieves Rodriguez .Favianna Rodriguez .Cameron Russell .Ash Sanders .Judith D. Schwartz .Patricia Smith . Emily Stengel .Sarah Stillman .Leah Cardamore Stokes .Amanda Sturgeon .Maggie Thomas .Heather McTeer Toney .Alexandria Villasenor .Alice Walker. Amy Westervelt .Jane Zelikova
The Battle for Yellowstone : Morality and the Sacred Roots of Environmental Conflict Yellowstone holds a special place in America's heart. As the world's first national park, it is globally recognized as the crown jewel of modern environmental preservation. But the park and its surrounding regions have recently become a lightning rod for environmental conflict, plagued by intense and intractable political struggles among the federal government, National Park Service, environmentalists, industry, local residents, and elected officials. The Battle for Yellowstone asks why it is that, with the flood of expert scientific, economic, and legal efforts to resolve disagreements over Yellowstone, there is no improvement? Why do even seemingly minor issues erupt into impassioned disputes? What can Yellowstone teach us about the worsening environmental conflicts worldwide? Justin Farrell argues that the battle for Yellowstone has deep moral, cultural, and spiritual roots that until now have been obscured by the supposedly rational and technical nature of the conflict. Tracing in unprecedented detail the moral causes and consequences of large-scale social change in the American West, he describes how a "new-west" social order has emerged that has devalued traditional American beliefs about manifest destiny and rugged individualism, and how morality and spirituality have influenced the most polarizing and techno-centric conflicts in Yellowstone's history. This groundbreaking book shows how the unprecedented conflict over Yellowstone is not all about science, law, or economic interests, but more surprisingly, is about cultural upheaval and the construction of new moral and spiritual boundaries in the American West.
Climate Courage: How Tackling Climate Change Can Build Community, Transform the Economy, and Bridge the Political Divide in America A hopeful approach to climate change that offers us practical tools to band together across the political spectrum and create the green energy-powered sustainable world that's in our grasp There's a new way of approaching climate change that no one is talking about. It's empowering citizens, uplifting communities, and it's changing the fate of our planet. Moreover, it's helping us live happier, healthier, more fulfilled lives. Most importantly, it's working. The new approach to climate change recognizes that people, not politics, are the agents of change that can create a sustainable world. And that in order to engage people in climate solutions, we need a new way of framing the problem. The problem is not that climate change is an insurmountable challenge--it's that it can seem like it is. Instead of focusing on governmental gridlock and apocalyptic visions, Climate Courage emphasizes the rate of job creation in the green economy, introduces the reader to the growing number of conservatives and people of faith already engaged in climate solutions, and tells the stories of the many communities that have come together to brainstorm clean energy solutions and put them into place. And in coming together to solve the climate crisis, we just may rediscover community, gratitude, and service--values which help us live more fulfilling, less consumption-oriented lives. This book brings a hopeful message that we don't often hear about--we're actually already on our way to solving the climate crisis and with more people involved in both big and small ways we will have a chance at preserving our environment.
Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis Part memoir, part expert analysis, Disasterology is a passionate and personal account of a country in crisis--one unprepared to deal with the disasters of today and those looming in our future. With temperatures rising and the risk of disasters growing, our world is increasingly vulnerable. Most people see disasters as freak, natural events that are unpredictable and unpreventable. But that simply isn't the case - disasters are avoidable, but when they do strike, there are strategic ways to manage the fallout. In Disasterology, Dr. Montano, a disaster researcher, brings readers with her on an eye-opening journey through some of our worst disasters, helping readers make sense of what really happened from a emergency management perspective. She explains why we aren't doing enough to prevent or prepare for disasters, the critical role of media, and how our approach to recovery was not designed to serve marginalized communities. Now that climate change is contributing to the disruption of ecosystems and worsening disasters, Dr. Montano offers a preview of what will happen to our communities if we don't take aggressive, immediate action. In a section devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic, what is thus far our generation's most deadly disaster, she casts light on the many decisions made behind closed doors that failed to protect the public. A deeply moving and timely narrative that draws on Dr. Montano's first-hand experience in emergency management, Disasterology is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how our country handles disasters, and how we can better face them together.
Drought, Flood, Fire: How Climate Change Contributes to Catastrophes Every year, droughts, floods, and fires impact hundreds of millions of people and cause massive economic losses. Climate change is making these catastrophes more dangerous. Now. Not in the future: NOW. This book describes how and why climate change is already fomenting dire consequences, and will certainly make climate disasters worse in the near future. Chris C. Funk combines the latest science with compelling stories, providing a timely, accessible, and beautifully-written synopsis of this critical topic. The book describes our unique and fragile Earth system, and the negative impacts humans are having on our support systems. It then examines recent disasters, including heat waves, extreme precipitation, hurricanes, fires, El Niños and La Niñas, and their human consequences. By clearly describing the dangerous impacts that are already occurring, Funk provides a clarion call for social change, yet also conveys the beauty and wonder of our planet, and hope for our collective future.
Encyclopedia of Climate Change
Environmental Politics : A Very Short Introduction Environmental politics has many faces and operates at multiple scales: it preoccupies individuals as well as governments, drives local agreements as well as international treaties, results in minor business changes as well as wholesale business decisions, and fluctuates between a politics ofprotest and one of accommodation. In thisVery Short Introduction , Andrew Dobson offers a lively and comprehensive commentary on the many facets of environmental politics today. Looking towards the future, he asks whether environmental politics will be comfortably accommodated by mainstream politics, or whether the advent of theAnthropocene - a whole new geological epoch driven by human impact on the environment - will herald a break with the politics of growth that has dominated social life since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, andenthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Extreme Weather and Climate Change: What's the Connection? Hot weather is getting hotter while hurricanes, droughts, floods, and forest fires are increasing in intensity. Extreme Weather and Climate Change: What's the Connection? explores the science behind recent weather-related disasters and explains the role climate-changing emissions play in the recent record-shattering weather extremes.
The geography of risk : epic storms, rising seas, and the cost of America's coasts This century has seen the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history--but who bears the brunt of these monster storms? Consider this: Five of the most expensive hurricanes in history have made landfall since 2005: Katrina ($160 billion), Ike ($40 billion), Sandy ($72 billion), Harvey ($125 billion), and Maria ($90 billion). With more property than ever in harm's way, and the planet and oceans warming dangerously, it won't be long before we see a $250 billion hurricane. Why? Because Americans have built $3 trillion worth of property in some of the riskiest places on earth: barrier islands and coastal floodplains. And they have been encouraged to do so by what Gilbert M. Gaul reveals inThe Geography of Riskto be a confounding array of federal subsidies, tax breaks, low-interest loans, grants, and government flood insurance that shift the risk of life at the beach from private investors to public taxpayers, radically distorting common notions of risk. These federal incentives, Gaul argues, have resulted in one of the worst planning failures in American history, and the costs to taxpayers are reaching unsustainable levels. We have become responsible for a shocking array of coastal amenities: new roads, bridges, buildings, streetlights, tennis courts, marinas, gazebos, and even spoiled food after hurricanes.TheGeography of Risk will forever change the way you think about the coasts, from the clash between economic interests and nature, to the heated politics of regulators and developers.
The New Map : Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations The 'shale revolution' in oil and gas made possible by fracking technology, but not without controversy, has transformed the American economy, giving the United States unprecedented leverage in the world while putting an end to the 'era of shortage'. Almost overnight, and without many Americans realising it, the United States has become the world's number one energy powerhouse. Yergin brilliantly reveals and explains the 'new map' to show the great energy and geopolitical transformations looming for Americans and the world -- at the very moment they influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
No miracles needed : how today's technology can save our climate and clean our air The world needs to turn away from fossil fuels and use clean, renewable sources of energy as soon as we can. Failure to do so will cause catastrophic climate damage sooner than you might think, leading to loss of biodiversity and economic and political instability. But all is not lost! We still have time to save the planet without resorting to 'miracle' technologies. We need to wave goodbye to outdated technologies, such as natural gas and carbon capture, and repurpose the technologies that we already have at our disposal. We can use existing technologies to harness, store, and transmit energy from wind, water, and solar sources to ensure reliable electricity, heat supplies, and energy security. Find out what you can do to improve the health, climate, and economic state of our planet. Together, we can solve the climate crisis, eliminate air pollution and safely secure energy supplies for everyone.
Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation A radically new understanding of and practical approach to climate change by noted environmentalist Paul Hawken, creator of the New York Times bestseller Drawdown Regeneration offers a visionary new approach to climate change, one that weaves justice, climate, biodiversity, equity, and human dignity into a seamless tapestry of action, policy, and transformation that can end the climate crisis in one generation. It is the first book to describe and define the burgeoning regeneration movement spreading rapidly throughout the world.   Regeneration describes how an inclusive movement can engage the majority of humanity to save the world from the threat of global warming, with climate solutions that directly serve our children, the poor, and the excluded. This means we must address current human needs, not future existential threats, real as they are, with initiatives that include but go well beyond solar, electric vehicles, and tree planting to include such solutions as the fifteen-minute city, bioregions, azolla fern, food localization, fire ecology, decommodification, forests as farms, and the number one solution for the world: electrifying everything.   Paul Hawken and the nonprofit Regeneration Organization are launching a series of initiatives to accompany the book, including a streaming video series, curriculum, podcasts, teaching videos, and climate action software. Regeneration is the inspiring and necessary guide to inform the rapidly spreading climate movement.
Rising : Dispatches from the New American Shore FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE IN GENERAL NONFICTION WINNER OF THE NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARD ACHICAGO TRIBUNE TOP TEN BOOK OF 2018 AGUARDIAN, NPR'sSCIENCE FRIDAY,PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, ANDLIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2018 Hailed as "deeply felt" (New York Times), "a revelation" (Pacific Standard), and "the book on climate change and sea levels that was missing" (Chicago Tribune),Rising is both a highly original work of lyric reportage and a haunting meditation on how to let go of the places we love. With every passing day, and every record-breaking hurricane, it grows clearer that climate change is neither imagined nor distant--and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways. InRising, Elizabeth Rush guides readers through some of the places where this change has been most dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and from New York City to the Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places, the options are stark: retreat or perish in place. Weaving firsthand testimonials from those facing this choice--a Staten Islander who lost her father during Sandy, the remaining holdouts of a Native American community on a drowning Isle de Jean Charles, a neighborhood in Pensacola settled by escaped slaves hundreds of years ago--with profiles of wildlife biologists, activists, and other members of these vulnerable communities,Rising privileges the voices of those too often kept at the margins. In a new afterword for the paperback edition, Rush highlights questions of storytelling, adaptability, and how to powerfully shift conversation around ongoing climate change--including the storms of 2017 and 2018: Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, Irma, Florence, and Michael.
Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World NATIONAL BESTSELLER "An optimistic view on why collective action is still possible--and how it can be realized." --The New York Times "As far as heroic characters go, I'm not sure you could do better than Katharine Hayhoe." --Scientific American "A must-read if we're serious about enacting positive change from the ground up, in communities, and through human connections and human emotions." --Margaret Atwood, Twitter United Nations Champion of the Earth, climate scientist, and evangelical Christian Katharine Hayhoe changes the debate on how we can save our future. Called "one of the nation's most effective communicators on climate change" by The New York Times, Katharine Hayhoe knows how to navigate all sides of the conversation on our changing planet. A Canadian climate scientist living in Texas, she negotiates distrust of data, indifference to imminent threats, and resistance to proposed solutions with ease. Over the past fifteen years Hayhoe has found that the most important thing we can do to address climate change is talk about it--and she wants to teach you how. In Saving Us, Hayhoe argues that when it comes to changing hearts and minds, facts are only one part of the equation. We need to find shared values in order to connect our unique identities to collective action. This is not another doomsday narrative about a planet on fire. It is a multilayered look at science, faith, and human psychology, from an icon in her field--recently named chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy. Drawing on interdisciplinary research and personal stories, Hayhoe shows that small conversations can have astonishing results. Saving Us leaves us with the tools to open a dialogue with your loved ones about how we all can play a role in pushing forward for change.
Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States In 1999, Texas passed a landmark clean energy law, beginning a groundswell of new policies that promised to make the US a world leader in renewable energy. As Leah Stokes shows in Short Circuiting Policy, however, that policy did not lead to momentum in Texas, which failed to implement its solar laws or clean up its electricity system. Examining clean energy laws in Texas, Kansas, Arizona, and Ohio over a thirty-year time frame, Stokes argues that organized combat between advocate and opponent interest groups is central to explaining why states are not on track to address the climate crisis. She tells the political history of our energy institutions, explaining how fossil fuel companies and electric utilities have promoted climate denial and delay. Stokes further explains the limits of policy feedback theory, showing the ways that interest groups drive retrenchment through lobbying, public opinion, political parties and the courts. More than a history of renewable energy policy in modern America, Short Circuiting Policy offers a bold new argument about how the policy process works, and why seeming victories can turn into losses when the opposition has enough resources to roll back laws.
The Uninhabitable Earth : Life After Warming NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending Armageddon."--Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible. In California, wildfires now rage year-round, destroying thousands of homes. Across the US, "500-year" storms pummel communities month after month, and floods displace tens of millions annually. This is only a preview of the changes to come. And they are coming fast. Without a revolution in how billions of humans conduct their lives, parts of the Earth could become close to uninhabitable, and other parts horrifically inhospitable, as soon as the end of this century. In his travelogue of our near future, David Wallace-Wells brings into stark relief the climate troubles that await--food shortages, refugee emergencies, and other crises that will reshape the globe. But the world will be remade by warming in more profound ways as well, transforming our politics, our culture, our relationship to technology, and our sense of history. It will be all-encompassing, shaping and distorting nearly every aspect of human life as it is lived today. Like An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring before it, The Uninhabitable Earth is both a meditation on the devastation we have brought upon ourselves and an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation.
Water 4.0 : The Past, Present, and Future of the World's Most Vital Resource Turn on the faucet, and water pours out. Pull out the drain plug, and the dirty water disappears. Most of us give little thought to the hidden systems that bring us water and take it away when we’re done with it. But these underappreciated marvels of engineering face an array of challenges that cannot be solved without a fundamental change to our relationship with water, David Sedlak explains in this enlightening book. To make informed decisions about the future, we need to understand the three revolutions in urban water systems that have occurred over the past 2,500 years and the technologies that will remake the system. The author starts by describing Water 1.0, the early Roman aqueducts, fountains, and sewers that made dense urban living feasible. He then details the development of drinking water and sewage treatment systems—the second and third revolutions in urban water. He offers an insider’s look at current systems that rely on reservoirs, underground pipe networks, treatment plants, and storm sewers to provide water that is safe to drink, before addressing how these water systems will have to be reinvented. For everyone who cares about reliable, clean, abundant water, this book is essential reading.
The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World What if Atlantis wasn't a myth, but an early precursor to a new age of great flooding? Across the globe, scientists and civilians alike are noticing rapidly rising sea levels, and higher and higher tides pushing more water directly into the places we live, from our most vibrant, historic cities to our last remaining traditional coastal villages. With each crack in the great ice sheets of the Arctic and Antarctica, and each tick upwards of Earth's thermometer, we are moving closer to the brink of broad disaster. By century's end, hundreds of millions of people will be retreating from the world's shores as our coasts become inundated and our landscapes transformed. From island nations to the world's major cities, coastal regions will disappear. Engineering projects to hold back the water are bold and may buy some time. Yet despite international efforts and tireless research, there is no permanent solution-no barriers to erect or walls to build-that will protect us in the end from the drowning of the world as we know it. The Water Will Come is the definitive account of the coming water, why and how this will happen, and what it will all mean. As he travels across twelve countries and reports from the front lines, acclaimed journalist Jeff Goodell employs fact, science, and first-person, on-the-ground journalism to show vivid scenes from what already is becoming a water world. "An immersive, mildly gonzo and depressingly well-timed book about the drenching effects of global warming, and a powerful reminder that we can bury our heads in the sand about climate change for only so long before the sand itself disappears." (Jennifer Senior, New York Times)