The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and what it Means for Life on Earth

Front Cover
Grove Press, 2006 - 359 pages
Sometime this century the day will arrive when the human influence on the climate will overwhelm all other natural factors. Over the past decade, the world has seen the most powerful El Niqo ever recorded, the most devastating hurricane in two hundred years, the hottest European summer on record, and one of the worst storm seasons ever experienced in Florida. With one out of every five living things on this planet committed to extinction by the levels of greenhouse gases that will accumulate in the next few decades, we are reaching a global climatic tipping point. "The Weather Makers" is both an urgent warning and a call to arms, outlining the history of climate change, how it will unfold over the next century, and what we can do to prevent a cataclysmic future. Along with a riveting history of climate change, Tim Flannery offers specific suggestions for action for both lawmakers and individuals, from investing in renewable power sources like wind, solar, and geothermal energy, to offering an action plan with steps each and every one of us can take right now to reduce deadly CO2 emissions by as much as 70 percent.

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Contents

PART I
6
THE GREAT AERIAL OCEAN
19
THE GASEOUS GREENHOUSE
27
TIMES GATEWAYS
45
BORN IN THE DEEP FREEZE
54
MAKING THE LONG SUMMER
63
DIGGING UP THE DEAD
69
THE UNRAVELING WORLD
83
LEVELING THE MOUNTAINS
171
HOW CAN THEY KEEP ON MOVING?
178
BOILING THE ABYSS
184
A CLOSERUN THING
213
THE ROAD TO KYOTO
222
COST COST COST
232
ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS?
249
LAST STEPS ON
258

PERIL AT THE POLES
95
THE GREAT STUMPY REEF?
104
A WARNING FROM THE GOLDEN TOAD
114
AN ENERGETIC ONION SKIN
135
PLAYING AT CANUTE
142
MODEL WORLDS
153
BRIGHT AS SUNLIGHT
267
NUCLEAR LAZARUS?
272
OF HYBRIDS MINICATS
279
Do we have the means to save the world? The Princeton Solution
290
OVER TO YOU
302

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