TOPICS:
Understanding environmental problems; making effective use of technical information; overall approaches to the environmental policy-making process; of general applicability to environmental problems; written for the first party participant.
ABSTRACT:
The Challenge of Global Warming is an examination of the impacts of global warming on biotic and non-biotic systems and the challenges posed for policy responses to these effects.
The Challenge of Global Warming is a collection of the work of multiple authors and is divided into five parts, each of which addresses a subject within the overall topic. Following a forward by Senator Timothy E. Wirth, the first part addresses the challenges of global warming. The editor discusses the: issue of, the impacts of, and the responses to global warming. The second chapter addresses the impacts on current global temperature and regional heat waves of greenhouse gases. The third chapter addresses the implications for global security posed by the changing atmosphere. The final chapter of this part presents what may be termed a ?scientific consensus' arrived at in Austria at the Villach Conference in 1985.
The second part considers the effects of global warming on biotic systems. Biotic causes and effects of the disruption of the global carbon cycle are considered. Robert L. Peters discusses the effects of global warming on biodiversity. The final chapter of this part is concerned with the development of policies for responding to climate change. The third part focuses on the physical impacts of global warming. The effects of greenhouse gases on physical systems is followed by an examination of the scientific basis for the greenhouse effect. Syukuro Manabe addresses changes in soil moisture precipitated by global warming. The effects of: climate change on the water supply in the Western United States, and sea level rises are discussed in chapters eleven and twelve respectively.
The fourth part is a close examination of greenhouse gases. Peter Ciborowski examines sources, sinks, trends and opportunities. The second chapter of this section addresses global warming, acid rain, and ozone depletion. Chapter sixteen offers observations on increases in greenhouse gases and offers predictions for future climate change. The final chapter of this part considers: methane, CFCs, and other greenhouse gases. The final part of the book addresses policy responses to global warming. Rafe Pomerance warns of the dangers from global warming and the public awakening to those dangers. Chapter twenty is contributed by the Office of Technology Assessment and offers an analysis of the Montreal Protocol (1985) on substances that deplete the ozone layer. The final chapter of the book examines Congressional options for responding to global climate change.
The Challenge of Global Warming is a careful examination of global warming with contributions by experts in the variety of fields represented by that concern. The serious reader will find this work a useful addition to her library.
A. O'Lonergan