Climate Change: Picturing the Science - Softcover

Schmidt, Gavin; Wolfe, Joshua

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393331253 ISBN 13: 9780393331257

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009

Synopsis

An unprecedented union of scientific analysis and stunning photography illustrating the effects of climate change on the global ecosystem.

Going beyond the headlines, this work by leading NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt and master photographer Joshua Wolfe illustrates as never before the ramifications of shifting climate. Photographic spreads show retreating glaciers, sinking villages in Alaska’s tundra, and drying lakes. The text follows adventurous scientists through the ice caps at the poles to the coral reefs of the tropical seas. Marshaling data spanning centuries and continents, the book sparkles with cutting-edge research and visual records, including contributions from experts on atmospheric science, oceanography, paleoclimatology, technology, politics, and the polar regions. As Jeffrey D. Sachs writes in his powerful foreword, “Climate Change is a tour de force of public education.”

 

160 color illustrations

About this title

About the Authors

Gavin Schmidt is a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies as well as a cofounder of RealClimate.org.


Joshua Wolfe’s photography, represented by the Henry Gregg Gallery, has appeared in Outside, Time Out, and the Village Voice. He is a founder of GHG Photos, a leading photography agency focusing on climate change. Wolfe has won the Sierra Club 2009 Ansel Adams Award, which honors an individual who has made superlative use of still photography to further a conservation cause.

Reviews

Schmidt, a climate scientist at NASA, and photographer Wolfe seek to advance public education about human-induced climate change in a combination of arresting images and lucid explanations of the science of global warming and the pursuit of global cooperation in adopting new, sustainable ways of living. With contributions by 16 scientists, engineers, writers, activists, and photographers, Schmidt and Wolfe address a host of observable changes, from the melting of ice and permafrost at the poles to the rising of sea levels in cities such as Venice and Miami. From discussions of increasing drought, forest fires, and extreme storms to the deadly buildup of industrial and agriculture chemicals, the coverage is clear and bracing. And it’s inspiring to learn about the work of these cutting-edge experts as they marvel over the finely calibrated checks and balances of  the earth’s systems, elucidate the ways human-induced climate change is making the planet less conducive to life, and chronicle inventive approaches to averting environmental catastrophe. In the midst of sobering reportage, the authors manage to appeal to our fascination with epic challenges. --Donna Seaman

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393331253
• ISBN 13: 9780393331257
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320