World leaders have made a forceful statement that climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. However, little progress has been made in implementing policies to address climate change. In Climate Uncertainty and Risk, eminent climate scientist Judith Curry shows how we can break this gridlock. This book helps us rethink the climate change problem, the risks we are facing and how we can respond to these challenges. Understanding the deep uncertainty surrounding the climate change problem helps us to better assess the risks. This book shows how uncertainty and disagreement can be part of the decision-making process. It provides a road map for formulating pragmatic solutions. Climate Uncertainty and Risk is essential reading for those concerned about the environment, professionals dealing with climate change and our national leaders.
Table of Contents:
List of Figure and Tables; Description; Acknowledgments; Author’s Foreword; Part One The Climate Change Challenge, Chapter One Introduction; Chapter Two Consensus, or Not?; Chapter Three The Climate Change Response Challenge; Chapter Four Mixing Science and Politics; Part Two Uncertainty of Twenty-First Century Climate Change, Chapter Five The Climate Change “Uncertainty Monster”; Chapter Six Climate Models; Chapter Seven IPCC Scenarios of Twenty-First Century Cimate Change; Chapter Eight Alternative Methods for Generating Climate Change Scenarios; Chapter Nine What’s the Worst Case?; Part Three Climate Risk and Response, Chapter Ten Risk and Its Assessment; Chapter Eleven Risk Management; Chapter Twelve Decision-Making Under Deep Uncertainty; Chapter Thirteen Adaptation, Resilience, and Development; Chapter Fourteen Mitigation; Chapter Fifteen Climate Risk and the Policy Discourse; Index
About the Author :
Judith Curry is Professor Emerita of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, and President of the Climate Forecast Applications Network.
Review :
“Climate Uncertainty and Risk” provides a balanced, fair assessment of the content and conclusions of the IPCC ARs. It compares and contrasts some ancient but mostly more recent climate conditions and events in making the case for a broader inclusion of past situations to better understand and simulate the climate future. The book includes a thoughtful look at climate change versus COVID-19 risk, especially relative to applying the “precautionary principle.” “Climate Uncertainty and Risk” is an essential contribution to understanding and mitigating climate change. Ms. Curry’s goal is to better inform the reader “as to the uncertainties and the various values in play” surrounding the judgments as to “whether warming is dangerous or whether urgent action to reduce CO2 emissions is needed.”—Anthony J. Sadar, The Washington Times
“Climate Uncertainty” is a serious, nonpolitical book, which will help to elevate the level of scientific and political discourse. It should be read by everyone who writes or speaks about climate change, including the political and media class— Richard Rahn, The Washington Times
The real import of Curry’s book is her analysis of the forms of science and economics that are rallied to support extreme policy actions —Terence Corcoran, Financial Post
Climate Uncertainty and Risk is more than a book. Curry has produced a single-author counter to the IPCC that offers a radical alternative to the UN paradigm of climate change that could well serve as a manual for a future Republican administration.—Real Clear Energy
It covers a remarkably broad array of interrelated topics, from the science to energy technology to policies that are sensitive to the needs of underdeveloped nations, with an attitude that’s more pragmatic than ideological. — Energy Law Journal
Key to Curry’s approach is a dynamic adaptive decision-making approach than one based on static plans that are nearly impossible to implement. Curry provides a careful history and understanding of risk analysis with attendant cautionary and precautionary principles and how these are weighted to problems with different degrees of confidence of what is actually and what is poorly known, and perhaps even guesses. —Minding the Campus
The courage to admit prevailing predictions of the Earth’s future climate are far from certainties makes Judith Curry a rare model scientist" — Stephen Wilson, IPA Review
“Judith A. Curry is one of the world’s leading scholars of climate change and a deep thinker about how science copes with uncertainty. In this refreshing and comprehensive book, she shows with meticulous care and great clarity that exaggerated claims about climate change made for political purposes are wide of the mark. Instead, she shows the way to a rational and practical discussion of this polarized topic.”—Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist and How Innovation Works.
“With climate models running too hot by a factor of 2 for 30 years, with everything that used to be called a weather event now a portent of climate change, and with billions being invested against this as opposed to other more pressing world needs, Judith A. Curry provides us with a much-needed and convincing rethink.”—Michael Kelly, Emeritus Prince Philip Professor of Technology, University of Cambridge, UK.
“Judith A. Curry leverages her background in climate science, weather forecasting, and devising risk management strategies to present the climate policy debate we have never had. Her balanced, evidence-based, and multifaceted discussion leaves the reader ‘better informed as to the uncertainties and the various values in play’ in designing climate policy.”—Peter Hartley, George A. Peterkin Professor of Economics, Rice University, USA; MEECON Co-Director.
Judith Curry’s book Climate Uncertainty and Risk aims to provide a framework for understanding the climate change ‘debate’. She argues that the climate change problem and its solution have been oversimplified; that understanding uncertainty can help in better assessing the risks; and that uncertainty and disagreement can be part of the decision-making process. Curry’s book is divided into three parts. The first describes the climate change challenge. The second relates to the uncertainty of 21st century climate change, noting her emphasis on 21st century. The final section covers climate risk and response - Michael Muntisov & Greg Finlayson
The book is extremely readable and informative. [...] Climate Uncertainty and Risk is a book for thinking people with open minds. It is a model of logical analysis and cool headedness. It brings the “grand” climate change challenge down to earth, reframing it as a “wicked problem” that needs to be reckoned with at local to regional scales in the context of other challenges (e.g., energy security, food provision, and biodiversity protection).[...] I would certainly recommend Climate Uncertainty and Risk as a key text for undergraduate and postgraduate modules focused on climate science, public understanding, and public policy. — The AAG Review of Books
