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The Global Warming Reader: A Century of Writing About Climate Change by Bill McKibben, 2012. With the rise of extreme weather events worldwide global warming has become increasingly difficult to deny. What is happening to our planet? And what can we do about it? The Global Warming Reader provides more than thirty-five answers to these burning questions, from more than one hundred years of engagement with the topic. Here is Elizabeth Kolbert's groundbreaking essay "The Darkening Sea," Michael Crichton's skeptical view of climate change, George Monbiot's biting indictment of those who are really using up the planet's resources, NASA scientist James Hansen's testimony before the U.S. Congress, and clarion calls for action by Al Gore, Arundhati Roy, Naomi Klein, and many others. The Global Warming Reader is a comprehensive resource, expertly edited by someone who lives and breathes this defining issue of our time.
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A Short Introduction to Climate Change by Tony Eggleton, 2012. A Short Introduction to Climate Change provides a clear, balanced and well documented account of one of the most important issues of our time. It covers developments in climate science over the past 250 years and shows that recent climate change is more than the result of natural variability. It explains the difference between weather and climate by examining changes in temperature, rainfall, Arctic ice and ocean currents. It also considers the consequences of our use of fossil fuels and discusses some of the ways to reduce further global warming. Tony Eggleton dispenses with scientific jargon to provide a reader-friendly explanation of the science of climate change. Concise but comprehensive, and richly illustrated with a wealth of full-colour figures and photographs, A Short Introduction to Climate Change is essential reading for anyone who has an interest in climate science and in the future of our planet.
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Visualizing Climate Change: A Guide to Visual Communication of Climate Change and Developing Local Solutions by Stephen R.J. Sheppard, 2012.
Carbon dioxide and global climate change are largely invisible, and the prevailing imagery of climate change is often remote. Using dramatic visual imagery such as 3D and 4D visualizations of future landscapes, community mapping, and iconic photographs, this book demonstrates new ways to make carbon and climate change visible where we care the most, in our own backyards and local communities. Extensive color imagery explains how climate change works where we live, and reveals how we often conceal, misinterpret, or overlook the evidence of climate change impacts and our carbon usage that causes them. This guide to using visual media in communicating climate change vividly brings to life both the science and the practical solutions for climate change, such as local renewable energy and flood protection.
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Two Degrees: The Built Environment and Our Changing Climate by Alisdair McGregor, Cole Roberts and Fiona Cousins, 2012. The Earth’s temperature has been rising. To limit catastrophic outcomes, the international scientific community has set a challenging goal of no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) average temperature rise. Economists agree we will save trillions of dollars by acting early. Setting politics aside, Two Degrees reviews the current science and explains how we can set practical steps to reduce the extent of warming and to adapt to the inevitable changes, all while improving the bottom line, beautifying our communities, and increasing human health. The book is a practical guide intended for a broad audience of those who occupy and shape our built environment.
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High Tide On Main Street: Rising Sea Level and the Coming Coastal Crisisby John Englander, 2012. Did you know that... Sea level will rise for at least 1,000 years; Shorelines will shift significantly by 2050; Property values may start to decline this decade; Rising sea level is the most profound long-term aspect of climate change. For three million years sea level regularly moved up and down almost 400 feet with the ice age cycles. Now, after 6,000 years of minimal change, we are entering a new era of rapid sea level rise. In clear, easy-to-understand language, this book explains: The science behind sea level rise, plus the myths and partial truths used to confuse the issue. The surprising forces that will cause sea level to rise for 1,000 years, as well as the possibility of catastrophic rise this century. Why the devastating economic effects will not be limited to the coasts. Why coastal property values will go “underwater” long before the land does, perhaps as early as this decade. Five points of “intelligent adaptation” that can help individuals, businesses, and communities protect investments now and in the future.
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The Fate of the Species: Why the Human Race May Cause Its Own Extinction and How We Can Stop It by
Fred Guterl, 2012. The sixth "mass extinction event" in the history of planet Earth is currently under way, with over two hundred species dying off every day. The cause of this seismic event is also the source of the single biggest threat to human life: our own inventions. But for all our talk about sea levels and biotechnology, do we really know what our future will actually look like? Will our immune systems be attacked by so-called super bugs, always evolving, and more easily spread than ever? Will the disappearance of numerous species cripple the biosphere? And if it does, what happens then? In this provocative, gripping book, Scientific American editor Fred Guterl explores these and other looming scenarios in vivid detail—the way they might really happen—and then proffers the means to avoid them. We find ourselves in a trap: Technology got us into this mess, and it’s also the only thing that can help us survive it. Guterl’s riveting book is a grand and necessary thought experiment, not merely a scary story, but a fresh perspective on the world we’re remaking, and a route to safe harbor.
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Climate Change: A Groundwork Guide by Shelley Tanaka, 2012. Climate change has been called the single greatest threat confronting societies today. The crisis is real, but there is little consensus about how to confront the problem, because the science is complex, the economic, political and social implications of taking action are far reaching, and the scope of the problem is vast. What is happening, and how did we get here? What is the basic science behind climate change? What is going to happen in the future? Why is it so hard for us to accept what is going on, and what can we do about it? Climate change is an emotionally charged political and philosophical issue as well. It affects how governments and industry form policy, the choices we all make in our daily lives, how we look at the rest of the world, and what kind of world we want to leave to future generations. And it is an issue of particular importance to young adults, because long after our current leaders are dead and gone, it is young people who will be left to deal with the consequences bequeathed to them by today’s policy-makers.
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Climate and Conservation: Landscape and Seascape Science, Planning, and Action edited by Jodi A. Hilty, Charles C. Chester and Molly S. Cross, 2012. Climate and Conservation presents case studies from around the world of leading-edge projects focused on climate change adaptation-regional-scale endeavors where scientists, managers, and practitioners are working to protect biodiversity by protecting landscapes and seascapes in response to threats posed by climate change. The book begins with an introductory section that frames the issues and takes a systematic look at planning for climate change adaptation. The nineteen chapters that follow examine particular case studies in every part of the world, including landscapes and seascapes from equatorial, temperate, montane, polar, and marine and freshwater regions. Projects profiled range from North American grasslands to boreal forests to coral reefs to Alpine freshwater environments.
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Ecological Design by
by Sim Van Der Ryn; Stuart Cowan, 2007.
Ecological Design is a landmark volume that helped usher in an exciting new era in green design and sustainability planning. Since its initial publication in 1996, the book has been critically important in sparking dialogue and triggering collaboration across spatial scales and design professions in pursuit of buildings, products, and landscapes with radically decreased environmental impacts. This 10th anniversary edition makes the work available to a new generation of practitioners and thinkers concerned with moving our society onto a more sustainable path. Using examples from architecture, industrial ecology, sustainable agriculture, ecological wastewater treatment, and many other fields, Ecological Design provides a framework for integrating human design with living systems. Drawing on complex systems, ecology, and early examples of green building and design, the book challenges us to go further, creating buildings, infrastructures, and landscapes that are truly restorative rather than merely diminishing the rate at which things are getting worse.
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TIME Global Warming : The Causes, The Perils, The Solutions by Brian Walsh and Editors of Time Magazine, 2012. Planet Earth is heating up, and so is the debate over why our climate is changing and what it means for the future of our energy sources, of our cities, of our children. Now TIME explores the science of global warming in an illuminating, beautifully illustrated book that ranges from polar ice caps to equatorial rainforests. Here are the scientists who are working to measure and counter the warming trend; here are the world's most endangered habitats and creatures; here are various scenarios for the future. Separating truth from fantasy, TIME brings a cool eye to one of today's hottest issues. Updated and revised from the 2007 classic, this edition will be packed with new information and learning from the past five years.
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The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World by Paul Gilding, 2012. It's time to stop just worrying about climate change, says Paul Gilding. Instead, we need to brace for impact, because global crisis is no longer avoidable; we have come to the end of a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we live beyond the means of our planet's resources. The Great Disruption offers a stark and unflinching look at the challenge humanity faces-yet also a deeply optimistic message. The coming decades will see loss, suffering, and conflict as our planetary overdraft is paid; however, they will also bring out the best humanity can offer: compassion, innovation, resilience, and adaptability. Gilding tells us how to fight-and win-what he calls the "one-degree war" to prevent catastrophic warming of the earth, and how to start today.
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Environment
