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| What We Know About Climate Change (Boston Review Books) | 
 enlarge | Author: Kerry Emanuel
Creators: Judith A. Layzer, William R. Moomaw
Publisher: The MIT Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 26844
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 96
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 4.7 x 0.5
ISBN: 0262050897
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.73874
EAN: 9780262050890
ASIN: 0262050897
Publication Date: September 30, 2007
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Product Description
The vast majority of scientists agree that human activity has significantly increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?most dramatically since the 1970s. In February 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that global warming is "unequivocal" and that human-produced carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are chiefly to blame, to a certainty of more than 90 percent. Yet global warming skeptics and ill-informed elected officials continue to dismiss this broad scientific consensus. In What We Know About Climate Change, MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel outlines the basic science of global warming and how the current consensus has emerged. Although it is impossible to predict exactly when the most dramatic effects of global warming will be felt, he argues, we can be confident that we face real dangers. Emanuel, whose work was widely cited in media coverage of Hurricane Katrina, warns that global warming will contribute to an increase in the intensity and power of hurricanes and flooding and more rapidly advancing deserts.
But just as our actions have created the looming crisis, so too might they avert it. Emanuel calls for urgent action to reduce greenhouse gases and criticizes the media for playing down the dangers of global warming (and, in search of "balance," quoting extremists who deny its existence).
An afterword by environmental policy experts Judith Layzer and William Moomaw discusses how the United States could lead the way in the policy changes required to deal with global warming.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Must Read September 7, 2008
Every person should read this short book to see how complicated and interlaced the earth's weather system is. Then you can decide for yourself if we can change it either way.
 What We Know About Climate Change August 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The author, Kerry Emanual, is knowledgeable, fair, and his view balanced. However, it is so brief that the primary contents of this book would make a good article in a popular magazine which can be read in 1/2 hr. I would have liked to see more quantitative, in-depth information. The book is then padded with brief afterward advocacy articles which gives the usual simplistic platitudes and exaggerations typical of those given by amateur ``environmentalists" in the popular media. In my opinion they diminish the sense of level headed discussion in Emanual's article.
Emanuel is spot on, the afterward is pallid and fails critical scrutiny. July 20, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Emanuel has written an outstanding survey of the difficulty and methodology of doing climate change science. One comes away convinced that something needs to be done, although Emanuel doesn't prescribe solutions. The afterward, by Judith A. Layzer and William R. Moomaw, is a pallid letdown after the concise and perceptive work of Emanuel. The backgrounds of Layzer and Moomaw are omitted, unforgivable in the context of the discussion. (Layzer is is Associate Professor of Environmental Policy in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT and Moomaw is Professor of International Environmental Policy and Director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at Tufts). They are guilty of the academic bias that Emanuel talks of and contribute nothing to the issue. What a shame to sully an otherwise useful book with such irrelevance! Five stars for Emanuel's work. One star, at best, for the afterward. I worked as an experimental physicist before retirement and have been appalled by the lack of scientific acumen exhibited by politicians, the public, and some of the scientific community. I'll give this book to friends with a disclaimer about the afterward.
A Nice, Concise Summary July 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As books go, this one is very short. That, however, is one of it's strengths. By leaving out the details of climate change, which one can find in many other books and reports, and focusing instead on a synthesis of our current knowledge of climate science, Dr. Emanuel has written an extremely useful summary.
I have read many books on global warming, climate change, or, to use the term that I prefer, Climaticide. This volume is one of the most useful for the non-scientist because it presents all the major concepts in a concise, clearly written, yet comprehensive account.
In the first five chapters Dr. Emanuel informs us about two competing views of nature and climate, the physics of greenhouse gases, how we know that climate change is occurring, what the role of humans in causing current climate change is, and what the probable consequences are. Each o these chapters are small gems of exposition and explanation.
Chapter six, which is about the relationship between science and the media, is less useful, probably because it is more political and the author is trying so hard to be evenhanded. The results of this attempt at a balanced description is actually to distort somewhat the history he is recounting.
In attempting to explain why the public still thinks that there is a scientific controversy over the basic facts of anthropogenic climate change, Emanuel points out that "...a dwindling number of deniers [are] constantly tapped for interviews by journalists who pretend to look for balance. Unfortunately, he then does the same thing himself writing that "On the left, an argument emerged urging fellow scientists to deliberately exaggerate their findings to galvanize an apathetic public...". This is an awkward statement by a normally deft stylist, and one is left wondering which, if any, scientists made this "argument".
Chapter seven on "The Politics of Global Climate Change" contains some equally odd attempts at balance. For example, there is a very irrelevant reference to Senator Ted Kennedy's NIMBY opposition to offshore windmills. The afterward by Judith A Layzer and Willia R. Moomaw presents a much more accurate depiction of the current political complexities involved in stopping Climaticide.
The weaknesses that I mention do not affect the book's overall value. The first five chapters alone make it worth owning and, as I think you will find, it can be profitably reread many times.
very brief and clear introduction to climate change May 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you don't have a lot of time, but want to understand what are the main ideas about climate change, this book is for you. It has only 85 pages total, and the pages are small (like a 4x6" index card) making it a very quick read.
Most of the book, up to page 64, is about the science. Emanuel explains in a very clear and logical way what physics goes into the climate models. Those models are very important tools for deducing whether or not humans are responsible for warming. Also, the models are used to predict the future temperature. Emanuel explains several sources of uncertainty, like whether water vapor is a negative or positive feedback (one of the main controversies), the issue of clouds, and the problem of predicting the behaviour of a chaotic system.
There is one figure on page 45 and it is essential: it shows how well the models do at predicting data, which gives the reader an idea of how confidently we can say man-made warming is occuring and how much "faith" to put in the models for predicting the warming trend in the future.
I liked the summary near the end (page 60-63) listing what is known, breaking it into two lists: findings that are not in dispute and findings which most climate scientists agree with but that are disputed by some.
Pages 65-85 discusses the politics and some ideas for averting man-made climate change.
If you have more time, you may try to read the longer book by Dessler and Parson, which I also reviewed.
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