Science, Culture, and Climate
Navigating Change
- 1st Edition - August 1, 2026
- Latest edition
- Author: Thomas Rickenbach
- Language: English
Science, Culture, and Climate: Navigating Change is a timely textbook that makes an engaging, accessible case that solutions to the climate crisis require a deep embrace of scienc… Read more
Science, Culture, and Climate: Navigating Change is a timely textbook that makes an engaging, accessible case that solutions to the climate crisis require a deep embrace of science, infused with an understanding of the social constructs and history that forged our culture.
The initial chapter calibrates the reader’s understanding and significance of science. The next chapters describe how climate and life on Earth are deeply interconnected, trace the nexus of climate change and the evolution of human society, and demonstrate how our energy choices have inadvertently triggered a climate crisis. Subsequent chapters explore how people process risk as they respond to challenges, reflect on how major change was accomplished in America’s past, and examine global approaches and U.S political response to climate change.
The concluding chapter highlights the moral imperatives that form the basis of trust, to help pave the fraught road to lasting climate solutions.
This textbook is ideal for undergraduate students in environmental science and non-science majors studying climate change within history, anthropology, ethics, political science, engineering, psychology, and other disciplines. It is also useful for professionals in areas related to environment and sustainability, for advanced high school students, as well as for a general readership. Supplementary resource materials to accompany the book include narrated videos, in-class activities, and PowerPoint slides.
The initial chapter calibrates the reader’s understanding and significance of science. The next chapters describe how climate and life on Earth are deeply interconnected, trace the nexus of climate change and the evolution of human society, and demonstrate how our energy choices have inadvertently triggered a climate crisis. Subsequent chapters explore how people process risk as they respond to challenges, reflect on how major change was accomplished in America’s past, and examine global approaches and U.S political response to climate change.
The concluding chapter highlights the moral imperatives that form the basis of trust, to help pave the fraught road to lasting climate solutions.
This textbook is ideal for undergraduate students in environmental science and non-science majors studying climate change within history, anthropology, ethics, political science, engineering, psychology, and other disciplines. It is also useful for professionals in areas related to environment and sustainability, for advanced high school students, as well as for a general readership. Supplementary resource materials to accompany the book include narrated videos, in-class activities, and PowerPoint slides.
- Provides a detailed overview of the social, scientific, and historical context framing climate change
- Explains key concepts from climate science, geology, history, anthropology, sociology, and political science that are relevant to the field of climate change
- Reviews global and national responses to the climate crisis and examines the politics of climate change in the United States
- Traces the importance of scientific discourse informing policy within a democracy, and discusses climate solutions based on trust in science
Students in undergraduate courses on Climate Change: Science and Society or Climatology
1. Our Relationship with Science
2. A Brief History of Climate Change
3. Climate Change and the Evolution of Human Society
4. Recent Climate Change: Trends, Impacts, Projections
5. The Nexus of Climate Change and Energy Development
6. How to Make Big Changes in the Face of a Challenge
7. National and Global Response to Climate Change
8. The Political and Moral Question of the Stewardship of the Earth
2. A Brief History of Climate Change
3. Climate Change and the Evolution of Human Society
4. Recent Climate Change: Trends, Impacts, Projections
5. The Nexus of Climate Change and Energy Development
6. How to Make Big Changes in the Face of a Challenge
7. National and Global Response to Climate Change
8. The Political and Moral Question of the Stewardship of the Earth
- Edition: 1
- Latest edition
- Published: August 1, 2026
- Language: English
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Thomas Rickenbach
Dr. Thomas Rickenbach is an internationally recognized, award-winning expert in precipitation variability and climate, and has published over thirty peer-reviewed scientific articles in top journals. After working at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a research meteorologist, he is now Professor of Atmospheric Science in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where he teaches a variety of courses from radar meteorology to the societal aspects of climate change. His research has been funded by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Science Foundation.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor of Atmospheric Science, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA