Dire predictions : understanding global warming

Mann, Michael E. 1965- (Author). Kump, Lee R. (Added Author). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (Added Author).

Summary: "The illustrated guide to the findings of the IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change"--Cover.

Record details

ISBN: 0756639956
ISBN: 9780756639952
ISBN: 9780136044352
ISBN: 0136044352
Physical Description: 208 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 24 cm
print
Edition: First American edition.
Publisher: New York : DK, 2008.

Content descriptions

General Note:

Includes index.

Formatted Contents Note:

What is up with the weather (and the climate?) -- Part 1. Climate change basics : The relative impacts of humans and nature on climate ; Taking action in the face of uncertainty ; Why is it called the greenhouse effect? ; Feedback loops compound the greenhouse effect ; What are the important greenhouse gases, and where do they come from? ; Isn't carbon dioxide causing the hole in the ozone layer? Greenhouse gases on the rise ; Couldn't the increase in atmospheric CO₂ be the result of natural cycles? ; It's getting hotter down here! ; Is our atmosphere really warming? ; Back to the future ; But weren't scientists warning us of an imminent Ice Age only decades ago? ; How does modern warming differ from past warming trends? ; What can a decade of western North American drought tell us about the future? ; What can the European heat wave of 2003 tell us about the future? ; A tempest in a greenhouse ; The vanishing snows of Kilimanjaro ; The day after tomorrow ; The last interglacial ; How to build a climate model ; Profile: Jame Hansen ; comparing climate model predictions with observations ; Regional vs global trends ; "Fingerprints" distinguish human and natural impacts on climate -- Part 2. Climate change projections : How sensitive is the climate? ; Fossil-fuel emissions scenarios ; The next century ; The geographical pattern of future warming ; Carbon-cycle feedbacks ; Melting ice and rising sea levels ; Future changes in extreme weather ; Stabilizing atmospheric CO₂ -- Part 3. The impacts of climate change : The rising impact of global warming ; Is it time to sell that beach house? ; Ecosystems ; Coral reefs ; The highway to extinction? ; Profile: James Lovelock ; Too much and too little ; Is warming from carbon dioxide leading to more air pollution? ; War ; Famine ; Pestilence and death ; Earth, wind, and fire ; Too wet and too hot ; The polar meltdown -- Part 4. Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change : Is global warming the last straw for vulnerable ecosystems? ; What is the best course for the coming century? ; It's the economy, stupid! ; A finger in the dike ; Water-management strategies ; A hard row to hoe -- Part 5. Solving global warming : Solving global warming ; Where to all those emissions come from? ; Keeping the power turned on ; On the road again ; Building green ; Industrial CO₂ pollution ; Greener acres ; Forests ; Waste ; Geoengineering ; But what can I do about it? ; What's your carbon footprint? ; Global problems require international cooperation ; Can we achieve sustainable development? ; The ethics of climate change ; The known unknowns and the unknown unknowns ; The urgency of climate change -- Glossary.