Ethics and Science: An Introduction

by Adam Briggle , Carl Mitcham

• ISBN13: 9780521732550
• ISBN10: 0521732557
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-11-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book provides a concise and accessible overview of what we know about ongoing climate change and its impacts, and what we can do to confront the climate crisis. Highly illustrated in full color, it lucidly presents information contained in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, making essential scientific information on this critical topic available to a broad audience.

An incredible wealth of scientific data on global warming has been collected in the last few decades. The history of the Earth's climate has been probed by drilling into polar ice sheets and sediment layers of the oceans' vast depths and great advances have been made in computer modeling of our climate. The book makes essential scientific information on this critical topic accessible to a broad audience. Obtaining sound information is the first step in preventing a serious, long-lasting degradation of our planet's climate, helping to ensure our future survival.

''David Archer and Stefan Rahmstorf - two outstanding scientists - bring us up-to-date on climate science in this remarkable and very readable book. This book deserves to be read by anyone interested in climate change.'' -Professor Paul Crutzen, Max Plank Institute for Chemistry, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1995, for explaining the ozone hole

''The key findings of the IPCC, written in plain and simple terms. Great value in informing the public at large about the science underlying the growing challenge of climate change.'' -Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC and Director-General of The Energy Resources Institute

''Both scientists contributed to IPCC(1997) Vol. 1, and are well qualified to write on this topic. Neither of them is a sceptic. As the subtitle An introductory Guide implies, the book is suitable for undergraduates and first-year graduate students.'' -CMOS Bulleti

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Retrospective: what we knew and when we knew it	p. 1
Awareness of the past	p. 4
Understanding climate	p. 7
Finding the smoking gun	p. 11
Summary	p. 15
Earth's energy budget	p. 16
The concept of radiative forcing	p. 17
Greenhouse gases	p. 21
Other human-related climate forcings	p. 32
Climate forcings that are not our fault	p. 34
Summary	p. 37
Climate change so far	p. 39
Temperature changes	p. 40
Rain and snow	p. 47
Clouds and radiation	p. 51
Patterns of atmospheric circulation	p. 54
Tropical storms	p. 57
Causes of the observed climate changes	p. 62
Summary	p. 67
Snow and ice	p. 68
Ice sheets	p. 69
Sea ice	p. 78
Permafrost	p. 81
Summary	p. 84
How the oceans are changing	p. 86
The oceans are heating up	p. 87
Sweet or salty?	p. 91
Are ocean currents changing?	p. 93
Sea level rise	p. 94
The oceans are turning sour	p. 98
Summary	p. 103
The past is the key to the future	p. 105
Climate changes over millions of years	p. 106
The Paleocene Eocene thermal maximum (PETM)	p. 106
Pliocene	p. 109
Glacial cycles	p. 109
Our current interglacial period	p. 118
The last 2000 years	p. 119
The instrumental period	p. 122
Summary	p. 123
What the future holds	p. 125
Scenarios or predictions?	p. 126
How future climate is computed	p. 127
How warm will it get?	p. 129
Rainfall changes	p. 135
How high will the seas rise?	p. 139
Changing ocean currents?	p. 145
Ice and snow changes	p. 146
How sour will the oceans get?	p. 148
Summary	p. 150
Impacts of climate change	p. 151
Are plants and animals already feeling the heat?	p. 152
The future of nature	p. 160
Food, water, health: how global warming will affect us	p. 170
Climate impacts by region	p. 178
Can we adapt?	p. 187
Avoiding climate change	p. 191
Energy supply: the present, the forecast, and what can be changed	p. 196
Energy consumption	p. 205
Other mitigation strategies	p. 210
A more optimistic vision	p. 213
What it will cost	p. 217
Climate policy	p. 221
Do we need a climate policy?	p. 222
What global policy targets?	p. 224
Global conflict, or unprecedented global cooperation?	p. 227
Epilogue	p. 231
References	p. 232
Illustration credits	p. 235
Index	p. 240
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