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.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 9 reviews)

Recomended by S. L. Jacobs (NJ USA)

4 Stars
February 20, 2009
This is better described as a long pamphlet rather than a book. It is a bit overpriced at $10. Still, it is a very good concise description of the science of climate change. Dr. Emmanuel does a good job outlining what we know and where the uncertainties lie. The subject is so complex that a more concise explanation is probably not possible. I recommend that everyone read this "pamphlet" to better understand the science behind the issue. The afterword of the book attempts to sketch how the problem could be solved. The authors make the point that we can solve climate change without damaging our economy. I don't understand other reviewers' criticism that the afterword is somehow biased or unrealistic. It is just meant to be thumbnail sketch of ways to solve the problem not a detailed plan.

Must Read by W. Wagner (North Carolina)

5 Stars
September 07, 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 by Paul Stoler

3 Stars
August 29, 2008
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. by Amazon Junkie (SF Bay Area, California)

4 Stars
July 20, 2008
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 by Steven D. Kimball (Port Townsend, WA USA)

4 Stars
July 03, 2008
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.

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