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The Global Climate Crisis
What To Do About It
- 2nd Edition - February 27, 2024
- Authors: William D. Fletcher, Craig B. Smith
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 2 7 3 2 2 - 3
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 2 7 3 2 3 - 0
The Global Climate Crisis: What To Do About It addresses the imminent need to fully understand the causes, effects, and evidence of global warming due to the large amount of cli… Read more
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Request a sales quoteNew developments are covered in this second edition such as advances in the deployment of renewable energy sources and the evolving status of climate change indicators They present a plan based on an established and economically feasible current technology to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. They note that while progress is being made, it is not happening fast enough or on a large enough scale to meet prescribed goals of limiting temperature increase.
• Presents a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that is based on currently available technology that is well-established and economic
• Discusses practical actions that need to be taken and past successes and failures to understand the complexity of addressing global warming
• Offers a practical plan with recommendations covering the technical, economic, and public policy issues involved
- Cover image
- Title page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Photos
- List of Textboxes and Special Reports
- Preface: Why read this book?
- Acknowledgments
- Acronyms
- Chapter 1. Introduction
- Highlights
- Introduction
- Should we be concerned about global warming?
- What about solar radiation?
- The greenhouse effect
- What are the greenhouse gases?
- What are the signs of global warming?
- What are the dangers of global warming?
- Can anything be done about global warming? See Textbox 1.1
- Chapter 2. Dealing with global warming
- Highlights
- What is the challenge?
- Latency is a huge problem
- Global warming is not obvious to the vast majority of people
- The global economy is powered by fossil fuels
- There is a need for unprecedented and perhaps unachievable international cooperation
- All of us will have to be willing to accept changes
- What can be done?
- Part One
- Chapter 3. The earth as a system
- Highlights
- Incident solar radiation
- Milankovitch cycles
- More about the greenhouse effect
- Carbon cycle
- Temperature increase—land and sea
- Chapter 4. Fundamental drivers of global warming
- Highlights
- Global population rising
- Inequities: The early role of the United States and United Kingdom
- The pivotal position of the United States
- Need to consider both absolute and per capita emissions
- GDP growth and energy use are related
- More energy will be required by developing countries
- Findings
- Chapter 5. Evidence for a warming planet
- Highlights
- Global warming is not a new idea
- Earth's temperature is rising
- Ocean temperatures are rising
- CO2 emissions are rising
- Correlation of increasing global temperature with increasing atmospheric CO2
- Sea levels are rising
- Ocean acidification is occurring
- A message from the Arctic?
- Greenland, polar ice caps, sea ice, and glaciers
- Greenland and polar ice
- Glaciers
- Permafrost is melting
- Extreme weather events are increasing
- Deserts and tropics are expanding
- Rising temperatures are causing plant, animal, and human migration
- Methane emissions
- Watching the evidence
- Chapter 6. How do we know greenhouse gases are the issue?
- Highlights
- Where do greenhouse gases come from?
- What happens to CO2 emissions?
- The significance of carbon 14
- Historic emissions since the Industrial Revolution
- Increases in atmospheric CO2 correlate with fossil fuel use
- What is your carbon footprint?
- Chapter 7. What are the effects of global warming?
- Highlights
- Latency—How long before effects show up?
- Climate change versus weather
- Earth's temperature will continue to rise
- Air pollution will increase
- Sea level rise causes flooding
- Oceans becoming warmer and more acidic
- Glaciers, icecaps, and sea ice melt
- Subsidence occurs and permafrost melts
- Deserts and tropics expand
- Rising temperatures are causing species extinction and migration
- Extreme weather events are more frequent and severe
- Droughts and wildfires are increasing
- There are impacts on agriculture
- Deforestation
- Public health problems are increasing
- Global warming could cause a financial crisis
- National security implications
- Tipping points: Unanticipated changes can occur
- What can we say for sure?
- Chapter 8. International efforts to address global warming
- Highlights
- Early efforts
- History of IPCC global warming objectives
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- IPCC reports
- The Paris Agreement
- United Nations emission gap reports
- UN Conferences of Parties
- The UN Secretary-General's observations at COP27
- How is the world doing?
- The big three: Plans to reach net zero (China, United States, India)
- Outlook for other major emitters (Japan, Germany, Russia)
- Part Two
- Chapter 9. What would it take to stop global warming?
- Highlights
- Doing nothing is not an option
- Are we too late already?
- Can we stop global warming?
- What would it take?
- Effect of Nationally Determined Contributions
- What are the intergovernmental panel on climate change scenarios?
- Carbon capture
- What will happen if we do nothing?
- The high cost of doing nothing
- Chapter 10. Energy alternatives
- Highlights
- Fossil fuels: Coal, oil, natural gas, and biofuels
- Nuclear power
- Renewable energy
- Energy storage
- Efficiency improvements
- Transportation
- Hydrogen
- Converting CO2 into useable liquid fuels
- Fusion
- Smart grids
- The micro grid
- Chapter 11. Why is global warming such a difficult problem to solve?
- Highlights
- The problem is much more difficult
- The need for unprecedented, perhaps unachievable, global cooperation
- Lessons from past successes need to be considered
- The National Highway System
- The Apollo program
- The channel tunnel
- Fossil fuels are heavily subsidized
- There has been a systematic campaign of misinformation
- Climate change deniers
- Understanding climate change skepticism
- Global warming has not been a media priority
- Public uncertainty and education
- A positive message is needed
- Public support for government action
- Why it is hard to replace fossil fuels?
- Recognizing political leaders can make mistakes
- Acknowledging that failure is a possibility
- Chapter 12. Some successes and failures
- Highlights
- The Permian Basin, a renewable energy powerhouse
- 1970s oil price hikes
- Automobile emissions
- Hole in the ozone layer
- Cigarette smoking and cancer
- Europe's push for diesel vehicles
- Nuclear power in the United States
- Ethanol
- California high-speed rail
- Lessons learned
- Part Three
- Chapter 13. Action plan: Efficiency, power, transportation, and land use
- Highlights
- An action plan, recognizing we can't get to net zero by 2050
- Action plan summary
- Do we need another moon shot?
- The challenges of a global approach
- Critical need to improve electric grid reliability
- What does En-ROADS show?
- Game changers
- Can the IPCC goal of keeping global warming under 2°C be met?
- Why can't we do better?
- Improve carbon sequestration
- Silver bullets
- Mitigation
- Financial measures: cap and trade and carbon fee
- Chapter 14. Can it be done?
- Highlights
- The trend is our friend
- Can solar energy power the world?
- Can wind power the world?
- What would it cost?
- Can we afford it?
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Chapter 15. The way forward
- Highlights
- The future can be bright
- Need for a smooth transition
- Top priorities
- Government actions
- Actions for concerned citizens
- Actions for industry
- What next?
- Afterword
- Further reading
- Useful reports
- Useful websites
- Part Four
- Appendices
- Index
- No. of pages: 364
- Language: English
- Edition: 2
- Published: February 27, 2024
- Imprint: Elsevier
- Paperback ISBN: 9780443273223
- eBook ISBN: 9780443273230
WF
William D. Fletcher
Bill Fletcher retired as a Senior Vice President at Rockwell International Corporation responsible for corporate R&D and business planning. Most of his career involved business planning and international operations for large companies. He served as an officer and engineer in the navy working on the design and operation of nuclear powered ships, and was an engineer involved with the design and construction of commercial nuclear power plants. Later, he focused on industrial development and automation. His international experience includes an assignment in Saudi Arabia planning the large Jubail industrial development project on the Persian Gulf, with additional expatriate assignments in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Canada.
CS
Craig B. Smith
Craig Smith retired as a President and Chairman, DMJM H+N, a subsidiary of AECOM Technology Corporation, an international engineering and construction management firm. He began as an Assistant Professor of Engineering at UCLA, where he was also the Assistant Director of the Nuclear Energy Laboratory. After UCLA, he cofounded ANCO Engineers, Inc., an engineering consulting firm in Los Angeles, later joining AECOM as the Vice President of Daniel Mann, Johnson, and Mendenhall (DMJM). He subsequently became the senior vice president, executive vice president, and COO. In 1999, he became the President of Holmes and Narver, Inc. He has been broadly involved in the field of energy and power, responsible for design and construction management, tests, and research on most types of electrical generating facilities.