Summary

'An impressive accomplishment.
Al Gore, Former Vice President of the US, co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, and author of An Inconvenient Truth

Offers positive solutions that no rational person, organization or government can ignore - except at their peril.
Stephen H. Schneider, Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Stanford University, and author of The Genesis Strategy: Climate and Global Survival

The science is clear and the message of this book is that there is no more time for delay.
Rosina M. Bierbaum, Dean, University of Michigan

While changes in emissions and atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are projected to be slow and smooth, the intensity and impacts of climate change on the environment and society could be abrupt and erratic. Surprising and nonlinear responses are likely to occur as warming exceeds certain thresholds, inducing relatively rapid and disruptive changes in the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, precipitation intensity and patterns, coastal inundation, the occurrence of wildfire, the ranges of plant and animal species and more.

Written by a transdisciplinary group of internationally respected researchers, this book explores the possibilities of such changes, their significance for society and efforts to move more rapidly to limit climate change than current government measures.

Choice Review

The Climate Institute recently held a conference of experts to assess the likelihood that human activity is forcing the Earth's climate to the verge of abrupt change, and to explore ways to avoid potential disasters. MacCracken, Topping, (both, Climate Institute), and Moore (Earth Policy Institute) have compiled 23 reports in this work containing five parts, each with a brief introduction. The well-referenced articles provide data and analysis that should be useful to the serious student. Recent scientific studies suggest that the global temperature may increase at a rate of 2-6 degrees Celsius due to a doubling of preindustrial CO^D[2, rather than a lower estimate assumed by the 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Sea level seems to be rising at a rate of over 0.3 meters per century now, up from a rate of about 0.2 meters during the 20th century. Coastal regions face damage from increases in development as well as from increases in sea level, cyclone intensity, and storm surges. Ecosystems are undergoing dramatic transformations resulting in decreased biodiversity and direct adverse impacts on human health and welfare. Many ways to lower greenhouse gas emissions are known, but most governments are not doing enough. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals. M. Dickinson formerly, Maine Maritime Academy