|
In the 1980s, evidence of global warming
moved beyond controversy and began to effect government
policy. A new era of planetary consciousness -- aided by
the concept of the Earth as a living organism, i.e. Gaia
-- has set the stage for committed international cooperation.
Climatic change is the most important problem
facing mankind over the next fifty years. The burning of
coal and oil, the destruction of forests, and the release
of methane from agricultural activities are all contributing
to the greenhouse effect, making the world warmer than it
has been since the time of the dinosaurs. Current projections
are for an increase in global mean temperature of 4 degrees
C by the year 2030, with much greater increases in higher
altitudes. That would be sufficient to melt all of the ice
over the North Pole and the Arctic Ocean, thereby drastically
raising sea levels. It is possible that malaria could become
endemic in London, and that Spain, southern Italy, and Greece
could become deserts. In North America and Europe, wheat
yields may decline by as much as a quarter within twenty
years. The droughts in the Sahel and Ethiopia have already
been linked to global warming.
Hothouse Earth is the first, and
only book to examine global warming as a result of human
activities against a broader background of natural climatic
processes. Award winning science writer John Gribbin explains
why the world is getting warmer, what the change in temperature
and rainfall patterns will mean for human society, and what
can and must be one to slow the pace of these changes. Solidly
grounded on the latest scientific research and data, this
comprehensive guide to the greenhouse effect will remain
up-to-date and pertinent right into the next decade.
John Gribbin is ideally qualified to
write about the threat posed by global warming. In the fifteen
years since this superb British science writer received
his country's premier science writing award for his first
reports on the greenhouse effect, he has covered the developing
story for The Times, the Guardian, New
Scientist, and Nature, and on television and radio.
His work has brought him into close contact with the world's
principal climate researchers. Among his other books are
In Search of Schrodinger's Cat, hailed as the best
available introduction to quantum physics for the layman,
and The Hole in the Sky, a survey of the destruction
of the ozone layer.
|
