This three-volume set presents entries and primary sources that will impress on readers that what we do—or don't do—today regarding climate change will dramatically influence what life on this planet will be like for untold numbers of generations.
How are the behaviors of birds, butterflies, and other migratory animals connected to climate change? What does the term "thermal inertia" mean, and what does this geophysical effect have on predicting what the planet's future will be like? What is the context for the effects we are seeing on various forms of animal life, from migrating birds to polar bears to mosquitoes that transmit Zika and other diseases?
Climate Change: An Encyclopedia of Science, Society, and Solutions combines entries describing Earth's variable climatic history, references to scientific literature, weather record data, and selected primary documents to present readers with a comprehensive account of global warming's effects worldwide. By examining verifiable, quantitative information such as the frequency and intensity of hurricanes and changes in the hydrological cycle, as well as clear patterns and trends of alternating droughts and deluges and wildfires, melting ice, and rising seas, readers will be able to understand why scientists are so concerned about the future of our climate.
Researchers will benefit from detailed explanations of scientific topics such as thermal inertia, feedbacks, and tipping points; and receive invaluable context on the role of energy use in climate change, including automobiles and air travel. Readers will learn about the role of China in the current global climate and in the future; the widespread effects of climate change on agriculture; and how indigenous peoples' lives are being impacted, from drought and the Navajos to hunters' lives in the Arctic. The work concludes with thought-provoking debates regarding potential solutions, from wind power and solar power to geo-engineering.
Table of Contents:
VOLUME I: LAND AND OCEANS
Preface
Introduction
Key People
Arrhenius, Savante August
Caldeira, Ken
Crutzen, Paul Jozef
Gore, Albert
Hansen, James E.
Inhofe, James M.
Keeling, Charles D.
Lomborg, Bjorn
McKibben, Bill
Revelle, Roger
Watt-Cloutier, Sheila
Terrain
Overview
Amazon, The
Australia, Heat and Drought in
Deforestation
Desertification
Land Use
Pine Beetles
Tar Sands
Wildfires
Flora and Fauna
Overview
Adaptation, Animals, Lizards, and Warming Habitats
Amphibians and Warming
Animal Life, Antarctic
Animal Life, Arctic
Biodiversity
Extinctions
Migrations
Oceans
Overview
Coral Reefs
Fisheries
Jellyfish
"Managed Realignment"
Methane Burp
Methane Hydrates Today
Ocean Acidity, North America
Ocean Acidity, Worldwide
Ocean Circulation
Oceans' Absorption of Heat
Phytoplankton
Salmon and Trout
Sea Level Rise
Sea Level Rise, Bangladesh
Sea Level Rise, Island Nations
Sea Level Rise, Italy
Sea Level Rise, United States
Thermohaline Circulation
Index
VOLUME II: WEATHER AND GLOBAL WARMING
Weather
Overview
Drought, United States
Drought, Worldwide
Drought and Deluge, Scientific Analysis of
Extreme Weather
Floods
Heat Waves, Evidence of
Heat Waves, Forecasts of
Hurricanes, Observations of
Hurricanes, Scientific Debates of
Hurricanes, Snow
Monsoons
Thunderstorms and Tornadoes
Wildfires, United States
Wildfires, Worldwide
Global Warming
Overview
Atmospheric Circulation
Carbon Cycle Feedbacks
Climate Change, Abrupt Nature of
Climate Change, Greenland
Cold Spells
El Niño and La Niña
Emissions, Carbon Dioxide, and Peat
Glacial Erosion
Glaciers, The Andes
Glaciers, Central Asia
Glaciers, The Himalayas
Glaciers, North America
Global Warming, Antarctica
Global Warming, China
Global Warming, Greenland
Global Warming, Scandinavia
Ice Melt, Antarctica
Ice Melt, Arctic
Ice Melt, Greenland
Ice Science, Greenland
Ice Science, Antarctic
Inland Cooling, Antarctica
Northeast and Northwest Passages
Ozone Depletion and Warming, Antarctic
Ozone Depletion and Warming, Arctic
Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Permafrost
Pliocene Paleoclimate
Sea Ice, Arctic
Solar Influence
Summer Ice, Arctic
Temperatures, Global
Temperatures, Greenhouse Gas Levels and
Temperatures, Winter
Thermal Inertia
Index
VOLUME III: HUMAN IMPACT AND PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
Agriculture and Food
Overview
Agriculture, Future of
Carbon Dioxide Enrichment
Disaster Relief
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Growing Seasons, Europe and Asia
Low-carbon Diet
Rice Yields, Decline in
Wine Grapes and Warming
Human Health
Overview
Allergies
Greenhouse Gases, Effects of
Insect Bites
Malaria
Zika Virus
Indigenous Peoples and Cultures
Overview
Arctic Hunters
Inuit
Louisiana Natives
Navajo, The
Pacific Northwest Tribes
Greenhouse Gases and Energy
Overview
Air Travel
Automobiles
Coal
Corporate Sustainability
Solutions and Actions
Overview
Academic Protest and Action
Artificial Leaf
Carbon Capture
Concentrating Solar Power
Ethanol, Corn
Ethanol, Sugarcane
Geoengineering
Global Warming Economics
Iron Fertilization, Ocean
Solar Power
Unburnable Carbon
Wind Gains Power Share
Wind Power, Denmark
Wind Power, United States
Wind Power and Solar Power in Portugal, Germany, and Japan
Primary Documents
Selected Bibliography
About the Author
Index
About the Author :
Bruce E. Johansen is Frederick W. Kayser Research Professor of Communication and Native American Studies at University of Nebraska at Omaha, where he has been teaching and writing since 1982. He has published 44 books on subjects such as history, anthropology, law, the earth sciences, and intercultural and environmental communication.
Review :
Editor Johansen presents compelling, readable science on climate change. . . . This is an encyclopedia by its title, but it is less for dipping into for quick answers and more for extensive reading. Many of the subject entries exceed 50 pages and offer arguments and evidence rather than simple facts. It would be a good addition to high school, academic, or public libraries and could be considered for the circulating collection.
This text is appropriate for undergraduate researchers and general readers interested in climate change. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.
