S. George Philander – Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change (Second edition)

Автор: S. George Philander
Название книги: Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Экология
Страницы: 1719
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

The First Edition of the Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change provided a multi-authored, academic yet non-technical resource for students and teachers to understand the importance of global warming, to appreciate the effects of human activity and greenhouse gases around the world, and to learn the history of climate change and the research enterprise examining it. This edition was well received, with notable reviews. Since its publication, the debate over the advent of global warming at least partially brought on by human enterprise has continued to ebb and flow, depending literally on the weather, politics, and media coverage of climate summits and debates. Advances in research also change the discourse as new data is collected and new scientific projects continue to explore and explain global warming and climate change. Thus, a new, Second Edition updates more than half of the original entries and adds new perspectives and content to keep students and researchers up-to-date in a field that has proven provocatively lively

Global warming has become an extremely divisive
issue. Recent polls indicate an increase in the
percentage of laymen who are skeptical of the
threat of global warming, even though the vast
majority of scientists accept the reality of this
threat. Scientists are aware of recent advances in
the acquisition and analyses of climate data, and
in the development of theories and models that
explain and simulate various aspects of climate.
Laymen, on the other hand, pay attention to the
failure of governments, for example, at a wellpublicized
international conference in Copenhagen,
Denmark, in December 2009, to reach any
agreement on how to respond to global warming.
That conference was in the wake of “Climate-
Gate,” the controversy started by hackers
who released thousands of e-mails, exchanged
between climate scientists around the globe, and
stored on a computer of the Climate Research
Unit at the University of East Anglia (UK). Allegations
that the e-mails provide evidence that the
scientists manipulate climate data to serve their
political purposes have been found baseless, but
the unfortunate polarization of opinions concerning
a matter of vital importance, the future
habitability of planet Earth, persists. The goal of
this encyclopedia is to bridge the gulf between
laymen and scientists.
The future of our planet, the only one known
to be habitable, is too important to be left to
experts. Everyone should participate in discussions
of global warming and to that end should
have a rudimentary understanding of how the
Earth functions, how it maintains the climatic
conditions that suit us so well. Those conditions
have allowed us to make remarkable technological
advances over the past century. We have
become so powerful that we are now geologic
agents, capable of interfering with the processes
that make this a habitable planet.
We have therefore become the stewards of the
only planet known to be blessed with a glorious
diversity of plants and animals. This encyclopedia
provides information that can help us be wise and
responsible stewards. To do so, it keeps in mind
that its readers have diverse backgrounds: The
activities of conservation biologists are of interest
to economists; political scientists wish to know
whether certain environmental problems are best
solved by regulations or market forces; and businesspeople,
government officials, and politicians
request briefs on the latest scientific results To be useful to such a diversity of people, the
nearly 800 entries in this three-volume encyclopedia
cover a vast range of topics affecting global
warming and climate change. In this, the second
edition of the encyclopedia, some 50 percent of
the contents have been updated and revised and
40 entirely new articles have been added. Moreover,
the online edition features some 50 video
clips that complement the articles. The entries
amount to more than a catalog of terms; they are
all part of one story about global warming and
how it is likely to affect our world.
Scientific objectivity has been the watchword
for the editors of this encyclopedia, yet different
perspectives that various authors have on some
of these issues are part of a conversation that
citizens or students concerned about the environment
ignore at their own risk. Even the title
of the work, Encyclopedia of Global Warming
and Climate Change, was carefully considered
to include paleoclimatology in the discussion of
weather, climate, and the current debate about
global warming.
The authors of the entries include geographers,
political scientists, chemists, anthropologists,
medical practitioners, development experts, and
sociologists. They are experts in their fields of specialty;
many are researchers with extensive fieldwork
experience; most of the entries on emerging
techniques and technologies were written by
innovators. As the volumes intend, it has become
increasingly essential to bring the multiplying
global warming issues, concepts, theories, examples,
problems, and policies together in one place,
with the goal of clearly explaining an emerging
way of thinking about people and their planet.
Among the selection of articles, specific country
entries are included, rather than climatic or
environmental regions, to give the reader the
opportunity to get information on the status
of global warming—its causes and effects—by
country, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Also
included are articles within specific categories,
including: atmospheric sciences; climate; climate
and society; climate change effects; climate feedbacks;
climate models; institutions studying climate
change; oceanography; paleoclimates; policies
and conventions; and people studying climate
change. Altogether, we hope the encyclopedia
provides some groundwork for further discussion
and spur possible action to curb global warming.