An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It

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An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It

Customer Reviews:

Oh, see Al........2007-09-27

Oh, see Al. See Al run. Run, Al, run!

See Al smiling. See Al smiling in the Artic. See Al smiling in the boat in the water.

See Al run from the critics. See Al run from the facts. See Al run from the debates. Run, Al, run!!!

After hearing all of the furor over the book, I expected a book of science. What I found was a picture book with big print. If you're looking for a serious book on the science of climate change, there are many good ones out there. If you want a book of propaganda written at a 3rd grade level, with lots of pretty pictures and little reading required, then you're in the right place.

whoops.......2007-09-24

I was devastated when I receievd the book - I thoguht I was buying the DVD!!!

As a public awareness campaign AIT gets an A+, but the science is just a work in progress, so it gets a C-.......2007-09-14

First, I have to clarify that I strongly believe we have a moral obligation to take good care of our Pale Blue Dot, not only for us but to preserve our planet environment and natural resources for future generations.

In general terms, the scope of the book is around 80% the same of the film/documentary, and most of the new material is presented in the final section. The information is presented is a very friendly matter, full of pictures, info boxes and graphs, following Carl Sagan's style for explaining science to the general public, even with resemblance to Sagan's first successful book, Cosmos. After watching the film I bought the book expecting more detailed information. Because of the logical time constraints of a film, I thought much information was left out of the documentary. I wanted to look at all the graphs presented by Gore in detail, and above all, I wanted to follow up and read the scientific sources. But to my disappointment, Gore did not use the conventional reference system, so follow up is made difficult. Real references are presented only in the last section of the book, web addresses are presented to follow up after each tip on what we can do about it. This brings me precisely for the second reason I bought the book. The film presented too little about what can be done, so when I saw the title of the companion book, I was expecting a detail discussion, and particularly, specific recommendations. But again, disappointment, only around 15 pages are devoted to the can do's, and around a third of that section is actually spent on ten boxes debunking equal number of supposed misconceptions, myths or common mistakes or disinformation regarding Global Warming (GW).

The lack of rigorous scientific debunking presented in these boxes is really frightening for a book supposedly based on scientific studies. As an example, on box number 6, the thickening of Antarctica's ice cap is confusedly presented as not truth, when NASA's satellite measurements show that actually Antarctica is warming only on the perimeter of the Antarctica Peninsula, but the rest of the continent shows a cooling trend and the ice cap is indeed getting thicker. This trend has been going on for 20 years now. Antarctica has 13 billion km2, the glaciers falling to the sea shown by Gore represent just a fraction of 1% of Antarctica's ice. In one of NASA's sites there is a very nice composed picture showing this trend, go to the web and check the facts by yourself. Actually the only completely bogus assertion is presented in box number 9, regarding GW being caused by Tunguska event, the meteor or comet that hit Siberia in 1908. Interestingly, several explicit references are made to the fiction novel "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton (he has been one of the most skeptical and outspoken critics of GW theory). Also, throughout the book, Gore asserts so many times that what is presented is the truth and nothing but the truth, no doubts prevail, so no skepticism is allowed. And the subtle association is made than those still skeptical are like the tobacco lobbyists trying to defend smoking as a harmless habit. Since GW is a scientific issue, this attitude is regrettable and completely unscientific. Gore's style is good only as public awareness campaign about the importance of taking care about the environment, which he does very well, but unfortunately, a serious topic is being dealt with the tone and tactics of a political cause, and even worst, with the typical inflexibility of religious fundamentalist defending their dogmas.

Please, don't be so gullible, go to the site of the IPCC and look for the now famous UN 2007 Report on Climate Change. Chapter 8 for example lists all the limitations of the models used, including their inability to reproduce the climate process taking place in the Southern Ocean (this is Antarctica). Also check on the problems with cloud feedbacks, a key variable in any weather forecast. There are plenty of uncertainties. The book "The Future of Everything: The Science of Prediction" (Apollo's Arrow in the Canadian version) by David Orrell is an objective critical analysis of climate modeling for future predictions in the fields of climate, health and economics. If your are genuinely interested in the limitations of the science behind the consensus theory explaining the causes of Global Warming, this book is a must-read. The Northern Hemisphere is certainly getting warmer, the info for the tropics has larger margins of error than for the Norther Hemisphere, and we are trying to explain the process with an oversimplified version of science (bad or incomplete science), and putting on the blame only on CO2. There might be other processes at work. This is irresponsible, we have to complete the homework first, with good objective science, and then we will have the necessary information to manage this crisis. But since the environmental movement decided to go ahead as if this is a religious cause, even if it had to politicize the science, then you get a state of confusion, and insults, and no critical analysis is allowed. Check history, Copernicus and Darwin hold publication of their works because they were afraid of the consequences, since their theories were against the scientific and religious consensus of their times. Are we back to times of the Holy Inquisition?

In order to discover the real reasons for most of the world being warmer and Antarctica colder (yes that's a fact) we need to follow the good old procedures of the scientific method, and leave political agendas out, no matter how noble or politically correct the cause is. All theories regarding climate change must be considered (1000 yr cycles, solar activity, cosmic rays, CO2, etc.), they must be objectively scrutinized and the most promising hypothesis should be prioritized and funded for more serious research. What if all factors are playing a significant role? Meanwhile, no catastrophic end-of-the world scare theory is necessary for us to take care of the pale blue dot we all share. The Global Warming media frenzy was good for public awareness, but it is about time we let scientist do they work. Hard science is the only answer and lots of rational criticism.

And since Gore introduced in the book plenty of quotations, let me reinforce my point with several famous quotations from well known and influential scientists, philosophers of science, and why not, from Michael Crichton, since he is the only critic mentioned by name in the book.

Anecdotal evidence is not proof---"No matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not justify the conclusion that all swans are white". Karl Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934).

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", Carl Sagan, Cosmos (1980).

"If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look away from, and not see, whatever might be dangerous to our pet theories. In this way it is only too easy to obtain what appears to be overwhelming evidence in favor of a theory which, if approached critically, would have been refuted". Karl Popper, The Poverty of Historicism (1957) Ch. 29 The Unity of Method.

"Let's be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period". Michael Crichton in "Aliens Cause Global Warming" - A lecture at the California Institute of Technology (17 January 2003).

"We need to get environmentalism out of the sphere of religion. We need to stop the mythic fantasies, and we need to stop the doomsday predictions. We need to start doing hard science instead".
..."Environmentalism needs to be absolutely based in objective and verifiable science, it needs to be rational, and it needs to be flexible. And it needs to be apolitical". Michael Crichton, in "Environmentalism as a Religion", Speech in San Francisco, California, Commonwealth Club (15 September 2003).

"There is an almost universal tendency, perhaps an inborn tendency, to suspect the good faith of a man who holds opinions that differ from our own opinions. ... It obviously endangers the freedom and the objectivity of our discussion if we attack a person instead of attacking an opinion or, more precisely, a theory". Karl Popper, "The Importance of Critical Discussion" in On the Barricades: Religion and Free Inquiry in Conflict (1989) by Robert Basil

"...There is no need to know the truth of the actual matters, but the rhetorician merely needs to have discovered some device of persuasion which will make him appear to the ignorant that he has more knowledge than those who know" Socrates (in Plato's Gorgias)

And now, some fine examples of rhetoric and attacks on the persons rather than on the opions, from some defending the consensus on manmade Global Warming as a dogma instead of as a scientific question:

"Going to `State of Fear' for any facts on Global Warming is like going to `The Da Vinci Code' for facts on the life of Jesus". Unknown author, picked in a discussion blog.

"I have learned that, beyond death and taxes, there is at least one absolutely indisputable fact. Not only does human-caused global warming exist, but it is also growing more and more dangerous, and at a pace that has now made it a planetary emergency". Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, 2006.

"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, `Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action". Al Gore, Testimony before Congress, 21 March 2007 (Senate Environment Committee hearing on global climate change)

And finally, I rest my case with a very honest confession from a climate scientist:

"On the one hand, as scientists we are ethically bound to the scientific method, in effect promising to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but -- which means that we must include all the doubts, the caveats, the ifs, ands, and buts. On the other hand, we are not just scientists but human beings as well. And like most people we'd like to see the world a better place, which in this context translates into our working to reduce the risk of potentially disastrous climatic change. To do that we need to get some broadbased support, to capture the public's imagination. That, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. This 'double ethical bind' we frequently find ourselves in cannot be solved by any formula. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest. I hope that means being both". (Dr. Stephen H. Schneider as quoted in Discover, pp. 45-48, Oct. 1989, see also American Physical Society, APS News August/September 1996.

You are free to do your homework and make your own judgment. Rational criticism please, that's how science makes progress.

Gore's take on global warming.......2007-07-15

Global warming isn't anything new, but it's an issue that becomes more pressing each and every day. Al Gore's book, "An Inconvenient Truth," along with the documentary with the same time, attempt to bring the global warming issue to the forefront of discussion.

A large portion of this book is taken from the environmental slideshows that Gore has presented around the world for many years. "An Inconvenient Truth" isn't super text heavy: instead, Gore relies on numerous photographs and charts to illustrate the climate crisis for him. The end result is both effective and terrifying. The book explains the basic process of global warming; examines different causes of this phenomenon; shows how many different things are affected by global warming (including weather, wildlife, food production, the economy, etc.); shoots down skeptics' claims that global warming doesn't even exist; and offers suggestions of how individuals can help make a difference in the environment.

There wasn't a great deal of information in this book that I didn't already know, but I'm sure a lot of people aren't very familiar with the realities of global warming. Also, even though I'd heard a lot of this information before, seeing everything presented in this way was simply mind-boggling. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after seeing the photos of the melting ice masses and the photos depicting what would happen to major cities across the globe if sea levels worldwide increased by 20 feet (an all-too-real possibility that's almost too scary to think about, but is something that we MUST think about if we want our planet to survive).

Gore made a brief comment in the book comparing terrorism to global warming, and it really struck home with me. He basically asked how we can be so obsessed with preventing terrorism (and rightfully so), but yet the majority of people do little or nothing to try and combat global warming, which threatens the existence of our entire civilization. That's a very good question.

I think Gore did an excellent job of explaining global warming in a way that's easy for everyone to understand. Hopefully the people who read this book will be inspired to "go green" and will encourage their family and friends to do the same.

A Message to the Planet [again].......2007-07-12

Do photographs lie? If these had been doctored, we'd all know about it. And is a photograph worth 1,000 words? That is a truth pretty universally acknowledged. This book is a graphic depiction of the fate that is overtaking us, and not as slowly as we'd like to think.
To the reviewer who objected to the pages focusing on the Gore family, I respond that I think that those pages put a human face on all of this -- and show the changes that have occurred in just a part of a lifetime.

The Weather Makers : How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth

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A tale of global warming that gave me chills
Disappointed
Boo Hoo
Thought provoking!
The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth

The Weather Makers : How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth
Tim Flannery
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0871139359

Book Description

Sometime this century the day will arrive when the human influence on the climate will overwhelm all other natural factors. Over the past decade, the world has seen the most powerful El Niño ever recorded, the most devastating hurricane in two hundred years, the hottest European summer on record, and one of the worst storm seasons ever experienced in Florida. With one out of every five living things on this planet committed to extinction by the levels of greenhouse gases that will accumulate in the next few decades, we are reaching a global climatic tipping point. The Weather Makers is both an urgent warning and a call to arms, outlining the history of climate change, how it will unfold over the next century, and what we can do to prevent a cataclysmic future. Along with a riveting history of climate change, Tim Flannery offers specific suggestions for action for both lawmakers and individuals, from investing in renewable power sources like wind, solar, and geothermal energy, to offering an action plan with steps each and every one of us can take right now to reduce deadly CO2 emissions by as much as 70 percent.

Customer Reviews:

A tale of global warming that gave me chills.......2007-09-20

Tim Flannery's "The Weathermakers" is not only an eloquent plea for the industrialized world to deal with the problem of climate change, but provides the science needed to understand this huge and vital topic. The book is spooky great fun too, with frights and chills enough to get the attention of any thrill seeker. Except that the thrills here come from contemplating near-irreversible global cataclysms that would wipe out humanity or make life darned near intolerable for us.

Flannery is terrific at making difficult science easy to understand, without dumbing it down or condescending to his audience. This was greatly aided by the narrator of the audio book, Drew De Carvalho, whose wide-eyed Aussie delivery was akin to the joy and wonder of that other fine Down-under naturalist, Steve Irwin. Flannery discussed the Earth's tumultuous climactic past, using data obtained from tree rings and ice cores, to paint a picture of a dynamic planet whose climate and biota have varied wildly over its existence. Glaciers advance and retreat. Gargantuan upwellings of methane overwhelm the biosphere. Oceans rise and fall hundreds of feet. Changes in atmospheric gases permit or debar shellfish from secreteing the carboniferous husks that pull CO2 out of the atmosphere. The message: what Earth has done, it can do again.

Flannery does a wonderful job of explaining the large weather phenomena known to most laymen -- carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, changes to the Gulf Stream, warming trends, etc. But he is equally good at describing the lesser-known but important elements that factor into climatic equations. I was not aware that transpiration -- the release of moisture from Amazonian trees -- was a main cause of precipitation in the region. I had never heard of clathrates, huge fields of methane-infused ice that underlie the oceans. And I had never thought of climate change literally chasing certain heat-sensitive species up into alpine regions, until they run out of room and become extinct. Flannery is also wonderful at explaining the feedback loops that, once triggered, can accelerate certain climatic trends. Air conditioning powered by burning coal can increase levels sulfur dioxide in rain, acidifying the oceans, making it harder for shellfish to secrete shells, thus leaving more CO2 in the atmosphere, causing further warming and leading to the need for more AC, and so on.

Climate change to Flannery is not a theoretical possibility, but a certainty whose effects are visible today. He tells of the now-extinct South America Golden Toad, whose habitat was fed by moisture in low-lying clouds, being wiped out when a Pacific ocean hot spot caused mist-giving clouds to form just slightly higher up the mountainside than usual. His tale of the bleaching of the reefs like Great Barrier Reef -- in which huge swaths of coral reefs ejected their symbiotic algae, then bleached and die in a single season -- was frightening and sad. His discussion of the measurable changes in salinity in the Gulf Stream -- changes that could imperil its flow with deleterious effect on climate -- was terrifyingly plausible. Most chilling of all, Flannery's telling of the planet's near-miss with significant ozone depletion (due to industry's fortuitous use of chlorine rather than hyper-reactive bromine in aerosol cans and refrigeration systems) underscored how easy it is for humanity to fatally foul our nest without even realizing we are doing it.

The book is alarming, but not alarmist. It does not seek the cheap thrill of scaring us to sell copies, but to educate and forewarn. Flannery is not afraid to call out the human practices that are warming our planet. Transportation needs (which account for 30% of CO2 emissions), accelerating burning of carbon-rich fossil fuels, and shortsighted self-interest are high on the list of culprits. Flannery points the finger at the big coal-gorging countries in the world -- the US and Australia among them -- for significant criticism. Neither does he spare the industrial giants who use deceit, misinformation and political contributions to steer politicians (and the public) away from limiting profitable, planet-damaging enterprises.

I came away from the book with a new appreciation for the complexity and the fragility of the Gaia -- the living organism that is the Earth. "The Weathermakers" increased my appreciation of the path on which we have put our world. If Flannery's descriptions and predictions are true, our fossil-fuel-burning habits have already committed us to significant extinctions of species and significant discomfort for ourselves. As Flannery states, future generations will curse ours if we see the looming problem and fail to take action to correct it. Flannery is hopeful (else, why write such a book?) about our ability to turn things around. He evaluates technological and political solutions to the problems he poses, which not all will like, for carbon-low solutions include wind, geothermal, solar and (gasp!) nuclear power generation. And Flannery dismisses certain hopeful technologies like hydrogen and biomass. Flannery is also hopeful that past global cooperation -- of the type that limited the production of ozone-killing CFCs -- will be repeated, as human beings band together to save their world.

"The Weather Makers" is a wonderful book that can open your eyes to the complexity of our world, of the difficulties of addressing climate change without wrecking economies, and of our responsibility to pass our planet, reasonably intact, to our children. Its stacks of facts can sometimes numb the mind, but they are the data needed to combat ignorance and deceit one often encounters when trying to persuade our friends and neighbors about the possibility of anthropogenic climate change.

Disappointed.......2007-08-07

I bought the book on the basis it would be an objective and well structured argument explaining how scientists had negated natural influences on climate change - Milankovich cycles, solar activity and plate tectonics - and isolated the anthropogenic influences.

However, I discovered the book is written in a mildly hysterical tone common to environmental activists. If you want to read a scientific account of climate change and how human activity is affecting the climate, read the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report.

Boo Hoo.......2007-07-27

"Well done China for improving the lives of your citizens" This is one of the many quotes that you will NOT find it Tim Flannerys book. Others include "Before the industrial revolution, average life expectancy was about 36 years of age" and finally "You can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs". However if you want to know how every living thing on the planet would be better off if we disapeared, you are on the right track.

Thought provoking!.......2007-07-25

This book is great reading in conjunction with Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. The author convincingly demonstrates that global warming is real, and that terrible consequences loom ahead if nothing is done about it.

I was very surprised to read how the Australian government bullies its neighboring islands in the Pacific Ocean. Many of the Pacific Islands nations are doomed to sink under water as the ocean level rise, yet they are bullied by the Australian government into inaction. Like individuals, nations are selfish and have no regard for other nations if it does not suit their purposes. This notion angered me. Unless the citizens of the world take action to fight global warming and CO2 emissions, governments, motivated by self-interest, will be very slow to act, if at all.

Many of the themes in the book were already familiar to me, especially after reading An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. One new concept was about hydrogen power. According to the author, hydrogen power is not the solution to global warming since to produce hydrogen power fossil fuels must be burnt. He proposes the use of electric, solar, nuclear and wind power which are all available and affordable.

The author also laments all the animals that became extinct due to global warming. For example, a frog, newly discovered by science, carries its newborn in its stomach. When ready to give birth, it regurgitates its babies. This is the only known species to do so, yet soon after its discovery, it became extinct due to our environmental carelessness. Many other species of animals, insects, and plants are becoming extinct.

Maybe when we learn to stop killing each other we can finally take care of our environment. Does that mean that our root is evil and that nothing can be done to save our planet?

The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth.......2007-07-24

Concise, easy to read, and right to the point. Everything anyone would want to know about how man is changing the climate and what one could do to alleviate their impact in this process. Each individual is responsible for their own actions and we MUST slow the global warming process or the 21st century will see catastrophic environmental changes. A must read book for information that could save the future of the planet and its inhabitants.

Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming

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The inconvenient truth about An Inconvenient Truth
Consensus? Right.
Down with Globaloney
Sample of Scientific Discussions
religion of enviromentalism challenged

Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming
Patrick J. Michaels
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0742549232

Book Description

Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming convincingly demonstrates the remarkable differences between what we commonly read about global warming and what is really happening. Nine chapters describe major problems with computer simulations of future climate that are the basis for wrenching policies being proposed by world leaders. Anyone who reads this book will come away with a new appreciation of the complexity of the climate issue and will question the need for expensive policies that are likely to have little or no detectable effect on the planet's temperature. Published in cooperation with the George C. Marshall Institute.

Customer Reviews:

The inconvenient truth about An Inconvenient Truth .......2007-08-06

I highly recommend this book. But I suspect that this book will not appeal to most readers. There's none of the intense hyperbole that infects both global warming fanatics and many of their deniers. There are no grand apocalyptic scenarios that garner such strong public appeal. No terrifying future, no living on the brink of disaster. Only quiet nuanced science from those who spend their life in research. One suspects that the politics of global warming has now superseded the science and sad to say, when politics enters the room, truth shuffles its way into the background. This is unfortunate since there are many things about the environment with which we should be concerned - not the least being our consumption of non renewable resources. My fervent hope is that we can move past the exaggerated apocalypse of global warming while addressing the necessary issues of the environment - i.e., the rest of the environment aside from climate change.
In this case of Shattered Consensus, all ten contributors are scientists and experts in their field. Each chapter, and scientific report, covers a separate and distinct aspect of climate. This is really a collection of reports, not a coherent "story". Each contributor has their own style, some being more accessible than others. They present the science as they understand it and in that regard the average reader may find the information dry, or indeed undecipherable. Most of the ten authors include a short conclusion which may be helpful for those unwilling to plow through the science. Nonetheless the reader is left in the end overwhelmed not by the certainty of any position, but by the staggering uncertainty in all aspects related to this Earth's climate. Our ability to measure past trends in climate are dependent on woefully scant data. Our ability to project future trends have no unambiguous models yet. In fact, the variability of the results of the different models are so big as to render them basically useless for anything other than further research. They certainly shouldn't be used to make definitive statements as to future trends. The effects of CO2 are still highly uncertain with some models suggesting no impact and some observations linking CO2 to an indicator of climate change not a driver - i.e., CO2 changes as a result of climate change, not the other way around. Much more research is needed to understand why these discrepancies are observed. Even if global warming is happening, and even if CO2 is at least partly to blame, the impact of global warming in some scenarios is actually beneficial to not only humans, but to some species. Indeed, in all of Earth's history through warming and cooling periods, some species benefit and other lose.
The reader is left with the question, since scientists tell us that the unknowns vastly outweigh the things that are known about climate, what should our policy decisions making framework be based on. Is seems to me that we need to base it on what is known. Air quality, water quality, land use, availability of non renewable resources, are all things we can measure and for which policies can be made. Having a single enemy (CO2, in this case) is certainly more appealing and simple for the average consumer to understand. But simple is not always best.
It should be noted that none of these scientists is involved in the petroleum industry (a favorite disclaimer by those wanting to discredit the validity of anyone critical of global warming science). Some have even been involved in the IPCC directly (the UN Intergovernmental protocol on climate change). Scientists are by nature a conservative lot. A hypothesis lasts as long as the next set of experiments that disprove it, or tenuously as long as further experiments continue to confirm it. Most scientists don't seek a public profile and most are uncomfortable playing the role of a nay-sayer, especially in the face of such publicly popular resources as Al Gore's an Inconvenient Truth. I will rely on the scientific truth to work its way to the surface. I just hope we don't waste too much in the way of public funds on chasing windmills when there are so many important issues in this world that need attention.

Consensus? Right........2007-04-18

This book perfectly illustrates how there is dissent in the thinking of many climate scientists, showing information that proves there is no consensus, or at least none as to the overall causes, specific effects and actions to take on "anthropogenic global warming".

It's like the AAAS's 'Science' magazine publishing an op/ed in their "Essays on Science and Society" section by Naomi Oreskes (Associate professor of history and director of the Program in Science Studies at the University of California at the time). In that piece, it was reported an analysis was made of abstracts in the ISI database under science and with the phrase "global climate change" in them. The keywords specified in the op/ed 3 times were "climate change" (In another issue of 'Science' that was corrected to "global climate change". I would include that, but you have to join AAAS to get to it.) Her closing paragraph in the essay uses the words "anthropogenic climate change".

Although she takes quite a while to say it, in two or more convoluted paragraphs, she claims consensus because of the actions of some organizations; that we can prove statements and reports by the AMS, AGU, AAAS and others don't downplay legitimate disenting opinions, thus proving a consensus. I'm not sure I follow that train of logic, but there you go.

So, how does she "prove" it? By grabbing those publications that are in the ISI database that are in the science section and have abstracts that have the words "global climate change" in the abstract. Do those contradict what the organizations say? No? Consensus!

Not in ISI database? Not in science section? No abstract? Doesn't have "global climate change" in the abstract? Not looked at.

She does make two interesting points in her closing paragraph, although the two have nothing to do with each other. I've broken the paragraph into the two points; while the first is true, the second is not anything she's proven in the op/ed (although it seems she's hoping we will think so):

1. Many details about climate interactions are not well understood, and there are ample grounds for continued research to provide a better basis for understanding climate dynamics. The question of what to do about climate change is also still open.

2. But there is a scientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic climate change. Climate scientists have repeatedly tried to make this clear. It is time for the rest of us to listen.

That op/ed, Richard Lindzen's op/ed in the WSJ and her rebuttal op/ed in the Washington Post, as well as letters between Roger Pielke Jr and her printed in 'Science' give even more light on the entire issue of the lack of a consensus and the lengths the cult of global warming will go to to keep everyone thinking there is. This book goes a long way towards fighting the misconceptions, and is an excellent strike in the battle against global warming propaganda.

[...]

Down with Globaloney.......2007-04-03

Point-by-point rebuttal of the fallacy of ''global warming''/''climate change'' brought about by human endeavors. Puts paid to AlGores' Oscar-winning docufantasy. Yes, all of us anti-global warming folks are in the pay of Giant Oil and the moral equivalent of Holocaust deniers. NOT!!! Your belief in half-baked computer models (as opposed to real-life atmospheric happenings) and over-blown do-gooder falsehoods doesn't make ''global warming'' a catastrophic happening.

Sample of Scientific Discussions.......2007-03-14

Interesting series of papers on topics of ongoing discussion regarding global warming. The title is a bit overblown, but I guess it matches the assumption, so often printed over and over in the media, that there is a consensus on global warming (or more correctly, human-caused global warming). There's lots of citations given and places to dig into this as deep as you want. I particularly like the part about trying to develop some sort of heat balance between the earth's surface, the various layers in the atmosphere, and the universe to which the earth radiates heat, and all the unexplained measurement error and missing information associated with that.

There was allusion to the plans to try to "Command and Control" the world's economy, based on averting global warming, basically concluding that nothing we can do will change the outcome much anyway, at least in any predictable way. It makes one wonder if the global warming phenomena is being used as a pretext to try "Command and Control" again. This book does not really get into that, but does give a taste of endless unresolved topics associated with global warming.

religion of enviromentalism challenged.......2007-03-01

any book that challenges to apriori assumptions of the enviromentalist religious dogma of man made global warming is needed. Al Gore and his celebrity loving, psuedo scientific friends need to be mocked for their hypocrisy and stupidity

Average customer rating:

Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson
"Not with A Bang, But a Whisper"
Sixty Days to Nowhere
Climate Change Saga
A Good Read

Sixty Days and Counting
Kim Stanley Robinson
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Fifty Degrees Below
Forty Signs of Rain
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Antarctica

ASIN: 0553803131
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Book Description

By the time Phil Chase is elected president, the world’s climate is far on its way to irreversible change. Food scarcity, housing shortages, diminishing medical care, and vanishing species are just some of the consequences. The erratic winter the Washington, D.C., area is experiencing is another grim reminder of a global weather pattern gone haywire: bone-chilling cold one day, balmy weather the next.

But the president-elect remains optimistic and doesn’t intend to give up without a fight. A maverick in every sense of the word, Chase starts organizing the most ambitious plan to save the world from disaster since FDR–and assembling a team of top scientists and advisers to implement it.

For Charlie Quibler, this means reentering the political fray full-time and giving up full-time care of his young son, Joe. For Frank Vanderwal, hampered by a brain injury, it means trying to protect the woman he loves from a vengeful ex and a rogue “black ops” agency not even the president can control–a task for which neither Frank’s work at the National Science Foundation nor his study of Tibetan Buddhism can prepare him.

In a world where time is running out as quickly as its natural resources, where surveillance is almost total and freedom nearly nonexistent, the forecast for the Chase administration looks darker each passing day. For as the last–and most terrible–of natural disasters looms on the horizon, it will take a miracle to stop the clock . . . the kind of miracle that only dedicated men and women can bring about.

Customer Reviews:

Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson.......2007-09-19

Kim Stanley Robinson has released the conclusion to his trilogy, Sixty Days and Counting, just in time! The hardcover is out and the paperback will be out at Christmas, if not, early next year: just in time for everyone to buy it, read the trilogy, and decide who to vote for in the Presidential elections of November 2008. Again, Robinson is not look to wow and amaze readers with shocking sci-fi events, but keeping true to the close reality of his world.

The Gulf Stream is working well again, President Chase is just taking office, knowing that the absolute worse may have been averted for a little while, but that there is still very much to do. Selecting a cabinet composed of the many characters we have come to know over Forty Signs of Rain and Fifty Degrees Below, we know this administration is on our side and looking out for the world and its people. It is here Robinson really shines using his amazing knowledge of science and physics in coming up with ways to deal with the immense carbon dioxide volume being both pumped into the atmosphere and already there causing world temperatures to rise. The United States bands together with countries around the world, such as Russia and China, in the development of a fast growing lichen that will spread through a forest fast under the right conditions, and has an astonishing carbon absorption rate. Working in conjunction, the world slowly begins to heal itself. On a subplot level, Frank Vanderwal, who is now an assistant to a cabinet member, is looking for his quasi-girlfriend whose former husband was instrumental in a plot to rig the election that failed. It becomes a game of cat and mouse, as Frank and his girlfriend try to stay ahead of the chasing husband.

By the end of the book, some simple matters are resolved, while the world is a little calmer in their nonstop fight to "cool down" global warming. The one final consolation is the Tibet being declared independent once more from the Chinese and the close friends of the main characters who moved to DC at the beginning of the series because their island, Khembalung, was drowning due to rising ocean levels.

Robinson's message is clear at the end: global warming cannot be completely stopped, and to slow it down will be a long and arduous struggle that will last through our lives and into our children's and grandchildren's lives, but there is hope for this planet, so long as we act now and soon. The series will make the next presidential election a very interesting time.

For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com

"Not with A Bang, But a Whisper".......2007-09-01

Kim, another disappoint. A great series and challenge of ideas with a wimpy ending. Politics - -lots of - no real expansion of scientific ideas other then some continuastion from earlier volumes. The ending of the Caroline/Husband situtation is not realistic. What happens to the Quiblers and some of the other figures, e.g., the ferals? Joe is a minor figure, but he is left hanging... There are too many loose ends and too much still to do. I can understand environmental "saving" is not easy or cheap, and Plil Chase and Quibler make some decent basic Libertarian tenants as principles, but buried in the verbiage. Methane and carbon dioxide? Sure the attempted cures might work if technologically feasiblre, but they are only part of the story. Climate change and solar cycles don't really seem to be a part of the thinking or the solution, thought they seem indirectly recognized in the series. IAC, little action, lots of decent verbiage, ...but the finale lrft me ..... empty and unfofilled. So, I ask KIM to try again - and hit the greatness of the Mars series or even "Spacedance."

Sixty Days to Nowhere.......2007-08-07

Robinson's books have always had strong ecological themes, and this, the final volume of his look at the global warming crisis, is no exception. Unlike so many other books that try and delve in this area, Robinson provides not only a look at what we might expect to happen to our world if our current production and consumption habits don't change, but what we can reasonably do about it.

This is, in fact, the strong point of this work, as Robinson envisions both a group of dedicated scientists who actively try to handle a myriad of different types of technological fixes and a newly elected President who gives far more than lip service to their plans. Many of the things Robinson describes here are both good science and show a good grasp of what is possible in the world of politics when the voting population can actually see and feel the detrimental effects (most of this was detailed in the prior two books). The economic costs of massive programs of this nature (such as pumping huge quantities of seawater into basins and back to the top of the eastern Antarctic) are not ignored, either, though I did feel that expecting a massive shift of dollars from military defense to ecological programs was expecting a little too much.

Unfortunately, the novel that above is wrapped in isn't much of a novel. We are presented with the continuing story of Frank in search of his briefly met mysterious love while still trying to live a feral life inside the city confines, and Charlie and his concerns about his youngest son. The whole incident of the potential election-rigging that formed a prime part of the last book is still here, but muted and almost buried under a somewhat far-fetched attempt to find and root out the super-black intelligence agency responsible for the plan. Now there may be little doubt that there may be intelligence-gathering agencies that have too much unsupervised power, and that current laws do not do enough to safeguard individual's liberties and rights, but Robinson's depiction crosses the line into James Bondian fantasy. Robinson also lets his own political biases show far too much, at one point making an unqualified statement that the people in the current administration are criminals.

The trouble with all of this is there is very little action, and almost no suspense. Frank and Charlie's stories just don't have much emotional grabbing power, so that in the end I felt I was reading more of a treatise (even if a good, well reasoned, and scientifically sound one) than a novel. The other plot threads that were started in the first two books are given conclusions, but almost in a back-handed manner, and with far too much of `everything ends well'. What would have helped this book considerably would have been a look at the world and the political maneuvering from the eyes of Phil Chase, the new President, but we are only given short glimpses of this. By the end of the book, everything just kind of sputters out, leaving me quite disappointed. I expect much better from this author.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Climate Change Saga.......2007-05-12

This is the first great work of what will surely be a new sub-genre. Its not alternate history, its predictive future. Robinson is a master of this set. His best-selling (brilliant) Mars trilogy followed much the same path before anyone was ready to accept that "terra-forming" may be something that we very much needed on earth. This trilogy, of which Sixty Days is the third, brings it all down to earth.

Robinson is a master story teller that is able to take macro-techinical ideas and put them to paper in a systematic way that makes them not only understnadable but altogether probable. On the downside, he tends to fall in love with his characters a bit too much. I am one that really enjoys the science of science-fiction. While Robinson delivers this, I sometimes find myself "fast-forwarding" through a page or two of excessive character building.

Which is not to suggest caution. This trilogy is very important reading.

A Good Read.......2007-05-12

I have enjoyed reading several of Mr. Robison's book. "Sixty Days and Counting" was another pleasure to read. I tend to diasagree with his conclusions that capitalism is the cause of all climate problems and socialism is the fix. That said, I still enjoyed getting to know the characters and Mr. Robinson's way of telling a tale.

The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity

Average customer rating:

Wrong even in basic
Science education
No Simple Answers
An invaluable guide to the future
Very late on Gaia. Very, very late

The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity
James Lovelock , and J. E. Lovelock
Manufacturer: Basic Books
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Binding: Hardcover

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Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth
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ASIN: 046504168X

Book Description

The key insight of Gaia Theory is that the entire Earth functions as a single living superorganism, regulating its internal environment much as an animal regulates its body temperature. But according to James Lovelock, the theory's originator, that organism is now sick. It is running a fever born of increased atmospheric greenhouse gases. Earth will adjust to these stresses, but the human race faces a severe test. It is already too late, Lovelock says, to prevent the global climate from "flipping" into an entirely new equilibrium that will threaten civilization as we know it. But we can do much to save humanity. In the tradition of Silent Spring, this is a call to action.

Customer Reviews:

Wrong even in basic.......2007-10-07

I'll be sincere.I tried to read this trash-book , here in Brazil.I'm an agronomist and I like to read books.
This book is a trash.Why?Because it has too many frauds, half-trues,etc.
Someone perhaps will claim that this book defends nuclear power.Even in this topic, this trash-book is a failure.This book claims that nuclear fusion reactors are near and will be very good.None is correct.After sixty years and tens of billions of US dollars wasted, no fusion reactor is working today.Fusion reactors will also produce nuclear trash.
As world's enemies, this book puts(as ever among ecology books) among poor and colored people as the menace.
Under green disguise, eugenics is back.Its new name is ecology.

Science education.......2007-08-22

In every life time we come across a few books that are really important. I class this as one of them.

This book provides the man in the street with the information he needs to make balanced decisions about what is really going on with the climate and how well meaning green efforts are counter-productive.

The arguments in the book are counter-intuitive and as a result exposes the folly of most of the political and media commentary espoused on this very important issue.

Complex ideas are simply presented in a very accessible manner, this is not a stuffy science book full of incomprehensible statistics, rather its science education at its best.

Teach it in schools, Teach it to journalists, teach it to the man in the street.

No Simple Answers.......2007-08-19

Lovelock sees himself as a member of a new profession of planetary physicians. Continuing the analogy, the earth is running a fever, and in danger of acquiring a morbidity lasting as long as 100,000 years.

This fear is based on evidence from the Earth's history 55 million years ago when a geological accident released more than a terraton (a million times a million) of gaseous carbon compounds into the air, raising the temperature in tropical regions about 5 degrees C and 8 degrees elsewhere, and taking over 100,000 years to return to normality. Lovelock further claims we have already put more than half this quantity of carbon gases into the air and the sun is hotter than it was in the earlier instance.

Positive feedback in the Earth's environment makes our situation particularly sensitive. Warming from existing CO2 melts glaciers, which in turn reduces existing reflectivity of the sun - warming the Earth more; at the same time warmer seas reduce the oceans' ability to hold existing dissolved CO2, etc. (Melted ice caps would increase ocean levels 120 meters.)

Alternatives are few, and difficult. Powering all transportation through biofuels would require acreage 4-6X that now used for food, and would still generate considerable CO2. Burning natural gas produces half the CO2 now created otherwise; however, 2% leaks (natural gas is mostly methane - much more climate-affecting than CO2, though fortunately shorter lived) throughout the process would negate this benefit. Peat bog fires create 40% of the world's total carbon emissions, per Lovelock (it seems something could/should be done in this area). Wind energy is only available about 25% of the time, and tidal energy would only supply about 6% of England's requirements. Sunlight is not even totally reliable in the SW, and storage and transmission costs would seriously hurt its viability outside that immediate area.

Recommendations: 1)Nuclear energy. 2)Population reduction, assisted by productive uses of women's' talents.

One topic was not addressed - Lovelock states that the U.S. has been reluctant to pursue global warming improvements. I suspect he is correct; however, no explanation for this was offered.

An invaluable guide to the future.......2007-07-01

In this dour assessment, Lovelock has taken his original brilliant insight of Earth as a living organism and extrapolated it into the pessimism of an environmental disaster in the making.

Until Lovelock, no one thought of all life on this planet as creating a unique living being in its own right. In retrospect, it's obvious; this is the nature of true genius. In a very scientific manner, backed by the finest research and impeccable data, Lovelock reached an understanding of the Earth that matches the basics of Native American philosophy.

This book is a timely prediction that life on earth will collapse within the next century due to human activity. His reasoning is accurate, brilliant and based on a fundamental flaw; he fails to recognize that humans continue to change. The agricultural revolution that began 10,000 years ago made profound changes; the evolution of teosinte into corn is one of a myriad of amazing progress.

Now the Industrial Revolution is changing human habitation from 95 percent rural to 95 percent urban; worldwide, 50 percent of people now live in cities, and this will be 70 percent within 50 years. It's the most profound population shift since hunter/gatherers became farmers; and, it's likely to have an ever greater impact on the natural world.

Humans have evolved from gathering food to producing food to producing things to producing intangible ideas. An intengible idea has economic value, but it is not something you can drop on your foot. It's a product of brainpower, not natural resources. Two centuries ago, the wealth of nations was their natural resources; today, the natural resources of the US are 3 percent of its wealth while the intengible ideas are 82 percent.

Lovelock ignores this ability of humans and wildlife to change. In Phoenix, the rich live in walled, guarded and video-camera'd enclaves such as Biltmore Estates; coyotes are also learning to live there and are making Shih Tzus, Sharpeis and other toys into their own fast food snacks. Coyotes once were limited to the Rocky Mountains; now, they're found in Central Park in New York and everywhere else they choose to adapt.

Life changes. People are flocking into cities which became "the dark satanic mills" of Dickens' times. Now possible to build zero-carbon cities, as planned in Abu Dhabi. Humans change. Granted, change is often costly. Without forethought, millions may die. Without change, the toll will be even greater. But, change will occur. It always has, it is now, it always will be so.

This book sets out the scenario of a potential disaster, based on the knowledge of a brilliant and innovative scientist. Neither Lovelock or any other individual will come up with all the answers; but, in reading it, every thoughtful person will be prompted to come up with their own solutions large, small and meaningful.

Lovelock presents a beautiful concept of the world, a philosophy that reaches the levels of Native American wisdom. The difference is not becoming stuck in the status quo, as with Native American religions; but, in adapting to a radically different future. This book recognizes the danger of the status quo; change (evolution) means everyone must adapt to the future. Those who don't will become extinct.

Those who do will be thankful there were books such as this to serve as guides and inspirations along the way.

Very late on Gaia. Very, very late.......2007-05-25

What sets this book apart from the other climate crises books is that Lovelock's view is complicated by double aspects. Not only is global warming causing its problems, but also overpopulation is causing disturbance of Gaia's self-regenerating processes. Even if we were fortunate enough to solve atmospheric carbon accumulation we would still face a shortage of land. Lovelock points to land lost to agribusiness to feed the billions. Disturbance of soil microorganisms as well as the loss of the rainforest is to blame.

Lovelock stresses alternatives to fossil fuels favoring immediate development of nuclear fission. He notes "one of the striking things about places contaminated by radioactive nuclides is the richness of their wildlife."

Lovelock also distances himself from environmentalists in his defense of DDT. "These insecticides badly needed controlling, but the indiscriminate banning of DDT and other chlorinated insectides was a selfish, ill-informed act driven by affluent radicals in the first world. The inhabitants of tropical countries have paid a high price in death and illness as a result of their inability to use DDT as an effective controller of malaria."

The tone in this book is decidedly grim - much more so than Lovelock's early books. He does stay on-point here.

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming

Average customer rating:

This one's for you, kids!
Nonsense
Science, or hysteria ?
Have they made Gore a saint yet?
A must read!

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming
Al Gore
Manufacturer: Viking Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670062715
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Book Description

Former Vice President Al Gore's New York Times #1 bestselling book is a daring call to action, exposing the shocking reality of how humankind has aided in the destruction of our planet and the future we face if we do not take action to stop global warming. Now, Viking has adapted this book for the most important audience of all: today's youth, who have no choice but to confront this climate crisis head-on.

Dramatic full-color photos, illustrations, and graphs combine with Gore's effective and clear writing to explain global warming in very real terms: what it is, what causes it, and what will happen if we continue to ignore it. An Inconvenient Truth will change the way young people understand global warming and hopefully inspire them to help change the course of history.

Customer Reviews:

This one's for you, kids!.......2007-10-08

The book is broken down into fifteen chapters, culminating in a very optimistic "Crisis = Opportunity," and throughout the text Gore is trying to motivate and encourage the next generation to take up the cause of saving the planet. Gore's optimism makes the reader feel that every chance to turn off an unused light or refill your water bottle is going to make a difference. Peppered with historical facts and dates, and infused with quotes from Mark Twain to Carl Sagan, this effort at educating young adults about the effects of lifestyle choices will make an impact on future generations. I think it is important to empower young people with choice - and the ability to affect change. This would make for excellent required reading.

Nonsense.......2007-10-04

Al Gore has a miserable academic record. For all those still swooning from his "masterful" presentation, I suggest that anyone who flunks divinity school (all 'F''s) is hardly a guy whose opinion I would want on a topic as incredibly complicated as climate theory. Earth's climate is an infinitely complex nonlinear system that some human beings (in their pomposity) suggest that we can "model" and "solve" for the future. ANYONE who has worked with greatly linearized Navier-Stokes equations, that is, coupled integro-differential equations knows the folly and nonsense behind this blatantly political tripe. Al is just an ignorant mouthpiece for the political scientists of the UN IPCC. All of you that buy this nonsense need to go get an education and leave science out of this clearly politically motivated rant for attention by a guy disappointed that he lost the Presidential race. The science in this book is single sided nonsense.

Science, or hysteria ? .......2007-09-28

One core of Gore's position is that the oceans will rise by up to 20 feet, swamping coastal areas like Miami and New York.

This data is wildly off. Even the UN IPCC report states that oceans might rise by up to 17 inches (i.e., less than two feet). Where did Gore get his data ?

Gore has shown pieces of Antarctica breaking off and falling into the ocean. This looks dramatic, until you realize that this part of Antarctica has always done that, (grown and then broken apart), and represents the 3 % of that continent, which is not 1-mile + thick ice that is actually gaining in mass. 97 % of Antarctica is actually gaining mass. Gore chooses the 3 % of the continent that is not stable and then basically says "We did this with our SUVs and materialistic lifestyle".

The reality is that global warming is NOT the main issue of our times. Things like Africans dying of AIDs and malaria is, and can be dealt with far more efficiently, than throwing $ 5 trillion into the Kyoto Treaty, which would result in the global climate changing by about 0.3 degrees in 50 years (i.e. having almost no effect).

If you want a picture of the real state of the world, read the books by Prof. Bjorn Lomborg. Gore is a politician. Lomborg is a researcher.

Gore has admitted that he wants our generation to have a "mission". This issue, global warming, fits that. But that doesn't mean I have to go along. I personally think that global warming is a "rich man's issue". It is the kind of thing that people in Santa Monica and Martha's Vineyard and Boston care about, because they think that their beach villa might be swamped. The reality is, while we think about this, Africans are dying of AIDs. And we can help them today, by spending some money on it.

Is global warming an issue: yes. Is it the main issue of our time ? No. Of course, we should do what we can to help the planet and reduce our CO2 output. Lomborg suggests cost-effective ways to do that.

But claiming that New York City will be swamped when the ocean rises "20 feet" is just ridiculous. Trust me, land prices in 25 years along the coasts will have risen even higher than today (if Gore were right, we would see land prices plummet, because who wants to buy land that is under water) ?

By the way, I read someone that Gore's personal "carbon footprint" is something like 20 times higher than the average American. Liberals live under the motto: "do as I say, not as I do".

Have they made Gore a saint yet?.......2007-08-29

I have seen the DVD and obviously was impressed. I got the book because I wanted to be able to get more details on the information Al Gore presents on the DVD, and the book provides that abundantly.

This one lone man courageously and determinedly crusades on and on, in the past with little encouragement, to research global warming and the warn the world, at least those who will listen. Where are the scientists that (probably because of money under the table, so the speak) denied global warming for so long? Hard to do so now. Now the corporate-motivated trick is to deny that at least part of global warming is man-made, this in the face of mounting evidence.

If you have children, or grandchildren, my advice: Don't hide your head in the sand. You owe it to them to become informed.

Get this book or the DVD. Very well written, very well made.

A must read!.......2007-08-21

My first impression upon reading this book was utter amazement and fear. In fact, "An Inconvenient Truth" is billed as the scariest book you'll ever see. Could it be that life on Earth as we know it will end within the next 50 years? It did not take me long to feel that this may be the most important documentary of all time (and the scariest one)!

In this book, Al Gore draws attention to the crisis of global warming. Gore blames CO2 for the temperature hikes we are experiencing worldwide. This documentary is basically a filmed version of the lectures that Gore has presented over 1,000 times to audiences all over the world.

Gore left me no room for doubt regarding the reality of global warming as Earth's ultimate environmental crisis and eventual doom. I was fascinated and convinced by his thorough presentation. And I am not alone to feel this way. Here is what other reviewers on amazon.com have said about this book:

A. A must see; a must think.

B. The most important film I have ever seen.

C. Very important; watch & watch again.

D. What in the world are we waiting for?

E. Required Viewing.

F. Save this planet by individual action.

G. Eye-opening!

H. Al Gore is the smartest man on this doomed planet!

I. Great inspiring movie. Please see it and let's change the way we live.

J. The truth is very disturbing, but you need to see it.

K. Don't Blow it! Good planets are hard to find.

L. Spread the Truth.

M. A must see for every resident of planet earth.

N. Stunning! Seeing this film is one of the most important things you can do all year.

O. Only 50 years from now... If you LOVE your CHILDREN, do you part to help NOW!

Al Gore's message is quite clear: Our planet is dying due to the fact that the world is steadily getting warmer. The question is what does this mean for all of humanity and what can we do about it? This film argues the case that the effects of global warming will continue, and indeed steadily get worse.

As I was reading the reviews on amazon.com, I found more and more people disagreeing with Al Gore. Some accused him of political manipulation. He is instilling fear in us in order for us to vote for him on the next presidential race. In other words, unless we vote for him, global warming is going to get worse and the icecaps are going to melt and we are all going to die by drowning!

Some mistrust Gore. Some have exclaimed, "Isn't this the guy who said he invented the internet!?" Others believe that he is selling snake oil and that there is no truth in his claims. After all, they say, he is not a scientist. Shouldn't this documentary have been presented by a scientist? Furthermore, why did Gore not do something about Global Warming when he was vice-president and in a better position to do so?

Many scientists in fact argue that his facts are not sound and that there is no correlation between CO2 and global warming.

So which is it? Is Al Gore right and doomsday is within 50 years from now, or is this just an exaggeration and unsound science?

Now I am not a scientist and am very new to this subject. With that said, here is the other side of the coin:

(1) Gore says that Earth is heating up because of man-made pollutants, which are raising the level of CO2 in the air. This CO2 traps the radiated heat from the Earth, thus warming up our planet. However, not only is Earth heating up, but all of the other planets in the solar system as well. If this is so, then our man made CO2 emissions aren't the major reason for the heating of the planet. If you visit the NASA website, you'll see that the Martian ice caps are melting too! So what could be the reason for this global warming? The primary source of heat on Earth, or anywhere in our solar system, is the Sun. If it wasn't for the sun, Earth would be a ball of ice. Our Sun goes through cycles. The Earth warms or cools with increased or decreased solar activity in the sun. This is not hard to visualize since a slight change in the Sun's angle turns summer to winter or winter to summer, a difference of several degrees! Our sun could therefore be the main reason behind our global warming.

(2) The earth has had many cooling and warming cycles for thousands of years, long before man could possibly contribute to it. The planet has seen far more severe climate changes than what we might experience and such changes have neither destroyed the planet nor the life upon it.

(3) One volcanic eruption (such as Mt. Pinatubo's volcanic eruption in the 90's) causes far more pollution and Co2 gases than our industries. During the Gulf War in 1991, when Saddam Hussein set fire to the Kuwaiti oil fields, more pollutants had been released in the air in one go than in any other time in history.

(4) We exhale CO2! Does this mean in order to have less CO2 in the air we must have less people on our planet? We are presently 6 billion people on Earth, and this number is rapidly increasing.

(5) Sea level has been rising at a rate of 1.8 mm per year for the past millenniums. Many scientists believe that the worst case scenario is a 2 feet rise in sea level within the next 100 years! Gore believes that we will be seeing a sea level rise of 20 feet in the next 50 years.

In a nutshell, no one really knows enough about the global climate to really say what definitively will happen within the next 50 years. In fact, no one really knows what the weather will be in the next few days (`This will be a sunny weekend,' exclaims the weatherman, only to have a rainy weekend).

The best we can do is to listen to all sides of an issue and then come to an educated opinion of our own. We should not let others do the thinking for us. This doesn't mean we can keep polluting the air we breathe. Everyone should do their part in trying to keep the environment clean.

I certainly enjoyed reading this book. At least it got me thinking!

Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change

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Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the Debate

ASIN: 0521869234

Book Description

The need for effective communication, public outreach, and education to increase support for policy, collective action and behavior change is ever present, and is perhaps most pressing in the context of anthropogenic climate change. This book is the first to take a comprehensive look at communication and social change specifically targeted to climate change. It is a unique collection of ideas examining the challenges associated with communicating climate change in order to facilitate societal response. It offers well-founded, practical suggestions on how to communicate climate change and how to approach related social change more effectively. The contributors of this book come from a diverse range of backgrounds, from government and academia to non-governmental and civic sectors of society. The book is accessibly written, and any specialized terminology is explained. It will be of great interest to academic researchers and professionals in climate change, environmental policy, science communication, psychology, sociology, and geography.

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An excellent introduction of complex processes.
A long-awaited textbook......
Not Good Enough!

Earth's Climate: Past and Future
William F. Ruddiman
Manufacturer: W. H. Freeman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery
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Global Warming: The Complete Briefing

ASIN: 0716737418

Customer Reviews:

An excellent introduction of complex processes........2006-01-23

This textbook was assigned for a mid-level course on climatic environments of the past, with a focus on the Quaternary Period. As a graduate student with an ecology undergraduate degree currently studying Quaternary vegetation dynamics, I found this to be an excellent introduction for those without a background in climatology while still having a lot to offer more advanced students.

The book itself does not focus merely on the Quaternary, but on the general climatic history of the earth and the dynamic processes that govern it. Ruddiman gives a full treatment of the various scales of variability (tectonic-scale, orbital-scale, millenial, and finally historical and future). He includes a thorough treatment of various paleoclimate proxy methods, the processes of internal and external climate forcing, and gives a geological context for the current trends in climate change.

One of the most valuable aspects of this textbook are the excellent illustrations, which are concise and consistent throughout. These graphics make a variety of potentially confusing or complex processes seem much simpler and more approachable, and are superior to other treatments of the same topics I've seen in other textbooks. Each chapter has suggestions for additional readings, key terms, and review questions, making this an excellent resource for students.

The work is comparatively up-to-date, and includes current issues and debates in paleoclimate studies as well as references to various contemporary projects, groups, and researchers. The writing style is succinct and clear, and follows an intuitive progression. More advanced students will find it easy to find the information they need without slogging through elementary readings. All in all this is an excellent reference for anyone interested in studying climate dynamics in order to understand current trends. Beginning or advanced students, professionals looking to expand their range of knowledge, and the serious inquirer with an advanced high school background in physical science will all find something valuable in this text. My only wish is that the book, now five years old, be updated to include the most recent advanvements in the field.

A long-awaited textbook.............2002-05-17

I read this book twice, and wished I had had something like this available to me a few years ago, when I started venturing out into the unnumbered feedback loops, geochemical vagaries and regional idiosyncracies of Quaternary paleoclimatology, trying to form a general picture of it all. But this text isn't just about the Quaternary, mind you, this is a complete introduction to the main issues in Earth's climatology.
That it's mainly PALEOclimatology is unavoidable, since in my opinion "present climatology" is like a nonsense... Climate is an averaged evaluation of regional or global meteorological parameters through time, and the "present" is always too short for such an evaluation. Insight on climate evolution is only gained looking back in time, and projecting our analyses to an immediate future, so it's a science strictly dependent on timescales and perspectives... What we can tentatively tell about our climatic future is still too uncertain, but what was in the past is still available to inform and inspire us to further research, that's why Ruddiman's work is mainly about understanding what happened in the past...
My cheap philosophy aside, I think the author's aim was to introduce the subject from the basics, at a simplified level, in order to teach what kind of processes and interactions are involved in determining Earth's climate and its variability, without having inexperienced readers bogged down into technicalities of all sorts and all together (the necessary way of scientific articles delving deeper into any one very specific topic!). Hypotheses, problems and events are introduced gradually, with a captivating detective-like style, and the telescopic time-perspective (from longer geotectonic time-scales all the way down to centennial and decadal patterns and phenomena, dutifully lingering upon the Milankovic pacemaker) is just what's needed to have the right feeling brought home to students of how the Earth system evolves..
Details of this and that research threads are omitted to aid understanding of the general picture. Bibliographic references provide other information sources for those interested in more..
My own perplexity is on the second chapter: I doubt that such a quick overview of the workings of atmosphere and oceans is enough for those students that never touched any textbooks of meteorology or oceanography. A chapter twice as long would be more informative, I guess making those processes clearer at the outset of the journey would make several students more confident and help them grasp more of what will follow. I know the book is bulky enough already, but more pages and explanations need to be added to the second chapter for teaching's sake...
I have to disagree with the previous reviewer's negativity.. This is an introductory textbook, if any (paleo)climatologist's views had to be included, an encyclopedia would hardly be enough room for all of them!! The last two chapters, on global warming and future climate variability, are the best example of Ruddiman's balance and caution in explaining hypotheses, alternatives, possible fallacies and biases of sorts. As to the reviewer's question, "Who couldn't get a five-star rating discussing climate change and global warming with such a leitmotif?", I invite him to read my review of W.J.Burroughs' "Climate Change: a Multidisciplinary Approach" on the Amazon.co.uk website...
I really hope to see a second edition of Ruddiman's work in the next years, when times will be ripe for exciting updates and more hypotheses to tell...

Not Good Enough!.......2001-07-12

Here is a very flashy book. Superb illustrations. Nice layout. Important subject.

Who couldn't get a five-star rating discussing climate change and global warming with such a leitmotif? Apparently this author.

When you read through the lines, you find the same old cant. Look, everyone knows that climate changes; however, Ruddiman seems to think he knows WHY more than anyone else. But he does not. By neglect, he dismisses arguments of other climatologists that are equally (if not better) informed. I wish he could explain better why our climate is so variable, without resorting to computer models that everyone knows don't work very well. But alas he did not discuss this in adequate detail.

All of this means that the core of this book, while a noble attempt, is flashy and hollow. I hoped for better on this important topic, and (sigh) I still await the real, objective textbook on this fascinating subject.

All this is too bad, because Mr. Ruddiman is a very "highly rated" scientist. Maybe someone of lesser status will surprise us with a real book about the true complexities of climate change. Maybe someone who isn't a climatologist can explain all this stuff.

Amazon.com

Everybody knows the Dark Ages weren't really dark, right? Not so fast, counters archaeological journalist David Keys, maybe it's more than just a slightly judgmental metaphor. His book Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World, based on years of careful research spanning five continents, argues that sometime in A.D. 535, a worldwide disaster struck and uprooted nearly every culture then extant. Given contemporary reports of the sun being blotted out or weakened for nearly a year and a half, followed by famine, drought, and plague, it's hard not to think that so many reports from all over the world must be related.

Keys shows a keen grasp of both the written historical record from Asia, Africa, and Europe and the archaeological evidence from the Americas, and tells many tales of great havoc destroying old empires and laying the ground for new ones. Rome may have fallen, but Spain, England, and France rose in its place, while farther east, Japan and China each unified and gained strength after the chaos. Could an enormous volcanic eruption have had such influence on the world as a whole, and could the same thing happen tomorrow? Catastrophe makes no predictions, but leaves the reader with a new sense of history, nature, and destiny. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

It was a catastrophe without precedent in recorded history: for months on end, starting in A.D. 535, a strange, dusky haze robbed much of the earth of normal sunlight. Crops failed in Asia and the Middle East as global weather patterns radically altered. Bubonic plague, exploding out of Africa, wiped out entire populations in Europe. Flood and drought brought ancient cultures to the brink of collapse. In a matter of decades, the old order died and a new world—essentially the modern world as we know it today—began to emerge.

In this fascinating, groundbreaking, totally accessible book, archaeological journalist David Keys dramatically reconstructs the global chain of revolutions that began in the catastrophe of A.D. 535, then offers a definitive explanation of how and why this cataclysm occurred on that momentous day centuries ago.

The Roman Empire, the greatest power in Europe and the Middle East for centuries, lost half its territory in the century following the catastrophe. During the exact same period, the ancient southern Chinese state, weakened by economic turmoil, succumbed to invaders from the north, and a single unified China was born. Meanwhile, as restless tribes swept down from the central Asian steppes, a new religion known as Islam spread through the Middle East. As Keys demonstrates with compelling originality and authoritative research, these were not isolated upheavals but linked events arising from the same cause and rippling around the world like an enormous tidal wave.

Keys's narrative circles the globe as he identifies the eerie fallout from the months of darkness: unprecedented drought in Central America, a strange yellow dust drifting like snow over eastern Asia, prolonged famine, and the hideous pandemic of the bubonic plague. With a superb command of ancient literatures and historical records, Keys makes hitherto unrecognized connections between the "wasteland" that overspread the British countryside and the fall of the great pyramid-building Teotihuacan civilization in Mexico, between a little-known "Jewish empire" in Eastern Europe and the rise of the Japanese nation-state, between storms in France and pestilence in Ireland.

In the book's final chapters, Keys delves into the mystery at the heart of this global catastrophe: Why did it happen? The answer, at once surprising and definitive, holds chilling implications for our own precarious geopolitical future. Wide-ranging in its scholarship, written with flair and passion, filled with original insights, Catastrophe is a superb synthesis of history, science, and cultural interpretation.

Download Description

In A.D. 535-536, a climatic catastrophe occurred. It was of such mammoth proportions, it blotted out much of the heat and light of the sun for eighteen months and resulted -- directly or indirectly -- in climatic chaos, famine, migration, war, and massive political change on every continent. In other words, it altered history.

In this breakthrough examination, British archaeological journalist David Keys traces the identity and roots of this catastrophe -- continent by continent and virtually country by country -- showing how it is directly linked to the development of our modern world. The Plague, the rise of Islam, the fall of the Roman Empire, the movement of Asiatic tribes, the beginnings of the great South American empires -- Keys connects all these events that have previously been considered separate and shows us the far-reaching effects of incidents that first appear only localized. He makes us see history in holistic terms, as an integrated, planet-wide phenomenon.

In this fascinating, impeccably researched, and accessible book, Keys's innovative conclusions demonstrate how closely entwined global events truly are, and prove we must change the way we look at our past -- and thus, our future.

Customer Reviews:

My 100-word book review.......2007-03-28

In Catastrophe, author David Keys builds a convincing case for sudden climate change having occurred in the early 6th century, an abrupt dip in worldwide temperatures that would have had massive long-term consequences for civilisations all over the globe. Results could have included the weakening of the Byzantines, the downfall of Teotihuacan and the rise of Islam. This is a fascinating book, and the author's identification of a super volcano as the culprit is highly plausible. However, I think Keys possibly over-estimates this event as a shaper of our modern world, given the existence of so many other important factors.

A truly fascinating history.......2006-12-14

This is truly one of the most fascinating theories in ancient history. A volcano that shaped the modern world by forcing the migration of the huns, the crop failures in the Middle East that led to the rise of Islam and the start of the barbarian migrations towards Rome. It is almost too hard to summarize but if you believe that climate can change history than this is the book that will provide excellent evidence on that idea. Truly a masterpiece of an idea.

Looking for a catstrophe?.......2006-09-12

How much of human history has been shaped by catastrophic events? This exhaustively researched document seems like a natural place to find the answer. Unfortunately, the author's fascination with lurid details of human torture and dismemberment caused me to put the book down after just 60 blood-soaked pages. It's pretty clear that Mr. Key's interests in history do not run parallel to my own. I also found myself wondering about Key's qualifications as "Archaeological Journalist." I guess there are plenty of people who like reading tabloid-style history, and good luck to them, but I much prefer a calmer and scientific perspective of Derek Ager, in his book "The New Catastrophism, The Importance of the Rare Event in Geological History." -- Auralgo

FORCED CONCLUSIONS?.......2006-03-12

Mr. Key's authoritative research created a unique and new approach to the writing of history. His synthesis of science, culture and history was informative and entertaining. He identifies the volcanic eruption between Sumatra and Java in 535 that led to a climatic disaster that he believes helped create the modern world. He did convince this reader that the "Dark Ages were more literal than figurative." However, many of his historical conclusions were overstated. Chapters 19-29 lacked a depth of evidence and were too speculative. His constant use of words like "undoubtedly" made the reader question if he truly beleived his entire thesis? I concluded that he was at most one third correct, but ended in disagreeing that climate changes "alone" caused the birth of the modern world. I give it 4 stars for effort, but only 3 in its totality.

Interesting, relevant, but sometimes a bit stretched........2005-06-28

For the most part I found this book to be enjoyable, but it seems that Keys attempted in some areas to force his conclusion. Also, the same arguement seemed to be repeated far too often. Although I liked that the evidence of climate change was presented for essentially the entire planet, the conclusions at the end of each civilization were repetitive, simply restating the same thing (although, I suppose that was the point). I began to lose patience about 1/3 way through the book, but was able to persist through the conclusion. Perhaps it would have been better had Keys not spent so much time on minutae of Roman history and decline and had moved through the evidence quicker. The latter chapters on Asian and American experience were a little faster reading, likely due to the lack of minutae, largely due to the lack of records from which Keys could draw on. The final arguement on the causes of so much misfortune was compelling, but also left me feeling like our participation in the environment may all be for naught, since the Yellowstone caldera could explode at any moment, wiping us all out. I could not determine if this book wanted to be a book about climate change, history, or science.

With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change

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The most important book I've ever read
When scientists admit they are very afraid
For those who want one good book on the topic, this is it!
A must read for all humans on this planet!
A bit scattered but makes significant points

With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change
Fred Pearce
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0807085766

Book Description

Fred Pearce has been writing about climate change for eighteen years, and the more he learns, the worse things look. Where once scientists were concerned about gradual climate change, now more and more of them fear we will soon be dealing with abrupt change resulting from triggering hidden tipping points. Even President Bush's top climate modeler, Jim Hansen, warned in 2005 that "we are on the precipice of climate system tipping points beyond which there is no redemption."

As Pearce began working on this book, normally cautious scientists beat a path to his door to tell him about their fears and their latest findings. With Speed and Violence tells the stories of these scientists and their workâfrom the implications of melting permafrost in Siberia and the huge river systems of meltwater beneath the icecaps of Greenland and Antarctica to the effects of the "ocean conveyor" and a rare molecule that runs virtually the entire cleanup system for the planet.

Above all, the scientists told him what they're now learning about the speed and violence of past natural climate changeâand what it portends for our future. With Speed and Violence is the most up-to-date and readable book yet about the growing evidence for global warming and the large climatic effects it may unleash.

"Nature is fragile, environmentalists often tell us. But the lesson of this book is that that it is not so. The truth is far more worrying. She is strong and packs a serious counter-punch. Global warming will very probably unleash unstoppable planetary forces. And they will not be gradual. The history of our planet's climate shows that it does not do gradual change. Under pressure, whether from sunspots or orbital wobbles or the depredations of humans, it lurches – virtually overnight."âfrom the Introduction

"If you want to quickly get up to date on climate change and its consequences, I recommend With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change. If you can read only one book on climate change, this is it."
âLester Brown, president, Earth Policy Institute

"Pearce's survey of abrupt climate change science is a compelling and terrifying read." âIn Brief (newsletter for Earth Justice)

"You must read this book." âThe Cost of Energy website

Praise for When the Rivers Run Dry

"An enriching and farsighted work."
âJai Singh, San Francisco Chronicle

"The one-word review of Pearce's book is: Terrifying. Whether he's writing about the Indian peasant farmers who draw from poisoned wells every day, the oblivious Arizonans who run fountains in the desert, or the apocalyptic moonscape that is the Aral Sea (once a thriving fishery, now a toxic cesspool), Pearce manages to convey the immense wreckage human activity is making of our lifeblood."
âJohn McGrath, Grist

"Pearce provides a compelling compendium of place-based water stories that reveal just how ground-shifting the world's water predicament will be."
âSandra L. Postel, Science

"In a highly readable style, Pearce makes the case for a new water ethos."
âTodd Neale, Audubon

"Pearce cogently presents the alarming ways in which this ecological emergency is affecting population centers, human health, food production, wildlife habitats, and species viability. Having crisscrossed the globe to research the economic, scientific, cultural, and political causes and ramifications of this under publicized tragedy, Pearce's powerful imagery, penetrating analyses, and passionate advocacy make this required reading for environmental proponents and civic leaders everywhere."
âBooklist

"He uses up-to-date science, explains difficult concepts in accurate, entertaining ways and includes a scientific glossary. The result is a gripping, highly readable bookâperhaps the best discussion of climate change for lay readers."âAmerican Magazine

Customer Reviews:

The most important book I've ever read.......2007-09-20

This is the most important book I've ever read. Each chapter is about a climate scientist's work and thinking, covering about 25 researchers. The climatic record in glacial ice cores, sea floor sediment cores, rocks and tree rings shows that climate has changed drastically in very short time periods in the past. Humans are perturbing the system beyond anything that has happened for millions of years. No one knows what the climate system will do, but many possible scenarios are cataclysmic and could happen soon. This book is authoritative and fully believable; it's about Nobel Prize winners and top-flight scientists, not politicians and hacks. Before I had read half of this book I went and bought a Toyota Prius, switched my home to a green electric utility, installed 100% compact florescent bulbs in my home and bought the most efficient laundry appliances available. If you like science, it's also a fascinating read.

When scientists admit they are very afraid.......2007-09-18

My favorite quote from the book: "Hansen says the world, or more particularly Greenland, is on a slippery slope to hell."
Scientists, if you remember the archetypal Spock on Star Trek, generally don't go around making pronouncements or admitting to emotions; rather, they hedge, cautiously state facts, and keep their moods to themselves because they are "subjective", the cardinal weakness in the ethos of science. They don't want to be laughing stocks, lose their grant money or get blacklisted from their elite journals. Their careers and name are very important to them. So it is very impressive when great numbers of these types from the world over admit to a profound "unease" ranging to "terror"- and say they are kept awake at night by current findings regarding climate tipping points. We should be afraid, if they are.
This is a great book to make us afraid. Other reviewers here have laid out in detail what is in the book; I just say, read it and pass it on. It is "an easy read" too, even entertaining, for those who don't like getting bogged down in dry science writing. And if you like to have the hair stand up on the back of your neck. In particular, see: "Chimneys" ,"Amazon Jungle", and "Methane from Melting Permafrost".
Lesley Thomas, author of arctic eco-novel Flight of the Goose

For those who want one good book on the topic, this is it!.......2007-09-10

I've just finished reading With Speed and Violence, and I was so impressed with it that I decided to post my first Amazon review to show my appreciation. I do a lot of reading about global warming and climate change--academic papers, magazine and news articles, and probably more than two dozen books by now. I found Pearce's book to be a thorough yet concise overview of all the main topics in the science, as well as including a few interesting areas that are not given a lot of coverage. But what makes this book stand apart is the way the author covers each topic in a separate, brief chapter that centers around an interesting anecdote with terrific writing that makes challenging science clear and compelling. I'm sorry if I sound like a commercial, but I do highly recommend this book, especially to anyone who only wants to read one book on the subject. And if you think global warming is scary, take a look at this author's other book, When the Rivers Run Dry, for an equally wonderful but eye-opening read.

A must read for all humans on this planet!.......2007-08-28

This book should be required reading in every High School and for anybody that has an opinion on Global Warming. I recommend reading the Appendix before finishing the book so you don't get too depressed or give up before the end. It is a shame though, that we have to get to the point of fear of survival before we do anything about our destructive behavior. Having a clean and healthy planet is not enough of an incentive to counter our materialistic consumerism economies.

A bit scattered but makes significant points.......2007-08-06

The idea of a tipping point in climate change comes from chaos theory in which a system may change in a way that is not only not predictable, but brings about a situation very different than what existed before. A tipping point can be compared to a phase transition in physics in which, for example, liquid water becomes something strikingly different when heated to the boiling point, or lowered to the freezing point. Steam and ice are very different from liquid water in many important ways. So it might be with the earth's climate. If too much fresh water melts and pours into the North Atlantic to join the once warm water from the Gulf Stream, the composition of the water may have too little salt in it to prevent freezing and instead of sinking to return in convey belt fashion to the tropics, it may just sit there as ice. That will stop the great ocean conveyer and make much of Europe nearly as cold as Siberia.

A tipping point of great magnitude can be reached through a feedback mechanism. For example as the planet warms, ice melts. Ice is white and reflects light away from the planet. But if the ice is now darker water it will tend to absorb the radiation and heat the planet further. This will lead to more ice melting which will lead to more heat being absorbed which will lead to more ice melting, etc., which will lead to we know not where.

Science journalist Fred Pearce's intent in this book is to look at a number of these natural climate mechanisms to see if they are in danger of reaching some kind of tipping point, and what the consequences of reaching that point might be. One of the consequences may be a point of no return, such as a runaway greenhouse effect in which the worse case scenario is the earth gets as hot as Venus.

What he finds out is that climate mechanisms are interrelated and enormously complex, which is one of the reasons there is so much controversy about global warming. Is this warming a result of natural cyclic processes about which we can do little or nothing, or is something unprecedented going on because we are burning vast quantities of fossil fuels? That is one of the most important questions of our times and one of the most difficult to answer. Most scientists believe that we are contributing significantly to climate change, but there are others that think differently. See Singer, S. Fred and Dennis T. Avery Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years (2007) for a contrarian point of view.

As Pearce implies in the title, "With Speed and Violence," we may not have the luxury of a leisurely investigation into the factors that are leading to climate change because something catastrophic may happen a lot faster than was previously believed. Not only that but the change may be irreversible. What is particularly scary is that we may already be past the point of no return and not know it, or we may cross that line sometime in the near future.

One thing is clear. It's getting hotter. Whether human activities are contributing significantly to this rise in temperature, and whether that is good or bad news is uncertain. Because the stakes are so high, I believe that we must err on the side of caution and put an end to the pollution of the atmosphere with all deliberate speed. Of course that is not going to happen.

Pearce knows this, and so he advocates a more realistic goal. He begins by noting that at the start of the Industrial Revolution, there were 660 billion tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. After a couple of centuries of burning fossil fuels we have 880 billion tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. To prevent triggering some kind of "dangerous" climate change, he estimates we need to keep the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below one trillion tons. He believes it is "a tough call" as to whether we will make it or not (from the "Appendix: The Trillion-Ton Challenge").

Some of the 37 chapters in the book deal with other greenhouse gases, such as methane; and some of the chapters deal with the effect the shrinking Amazon forest is having on climate change, and other chapters deal with the history of various climate mechanisms. There are chapters on smoke in the air, the effect the Sahara Desert has on the Amazon jungle (it fertilizes it!), the danger in melting bogs which will release methane gas, the effect of the sun's cycles, etc. One of the problems with this book is that Pearce considers so many factors and looks at climate change from so many different perspectives, that the reader may very well come away lost in the jungle. I had the sense that Pearce himself bit off more than he could chew and ended up with a book of 278 pages that really needed to be a much larger volume or, better yet, several different volumes that he might write after further digestion of the material.

Let's faced it the climate is enormously complex and we are only beginning to make some kind of sense of it, at least in terms of being able to forecast the changes to come. Each of Pearce's chapters represents perhaps a topic for further research.

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