Global Warning ... Global Warming - Hardcover

Benarde, Melvin A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471513237 ISBN 13: 9780471513230

Publisher: Wiley-Interscience, 1992

Synopsis

To understand and constructively participate in the current debate on global warming and its consequences, it is essential to have a guide to the playing field. Dr. Melvin A. Benarde’s book is this guide and more. It is, in fact, a Baedeker through the minefields of uncertainty which currently bedevil much of the discussion on global warming. He contends that predictions of global warming and its consequences generated by mathematical models are too often taken as holy writ. When, in fact, he states, they can only be seen as tentative. Anything else severely tortures the data. Without this rendering the current discussions border on babble. Bias, prejudice, and hidden agendas are everywhere and can be obstacles and pitfalls for the unprepared and unwary. By no means does he shrug off the idea of a possible warming trend. Dr. Benarde takes this fully into account and discusses in generous detail the alternatives reasonable people would pursue in the face of prodigious uncertainty. Consequently the book goes well beyond any of the others currently in print in describing the shortcomings of the warming thesis, why the stable climate of the past 10,000 years may, or may not, change, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of a warmer world. Clearly, this fully documented book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the panoply of issues inherent in the possibility of climate change and contributes to much needed meaningful dialog.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Provides insights into the formidable array of issues which, in a warmer world, could impinge upon every facet of readers' lives. Examines climatic change and long-term implications of global warming for the ecosystem. Topics include the ozone layer and how it works, the greenhouse effect, the dangers of imbalance and its effects on human and animal life and more. Disruptions to the basic ecology of the planet are discussed as well as the real scientific evidence for and against aberrant climatic shifts. The author also examines workable social and political programs and changes that must be instituted to avoid ecological disaster.

From the Inside Flap:

Complex scientific and ecological issues; private interests with investments to protect or axes to grind; sensational and often inaccurate press coverage; oversimplified model predictions...are a few of the factors that have made global warming one of the best known and least understood scientific controversies in recent memory. Because of the potentially disastrous impact global warming could have on all of our lives, the issue never fails to produce high levels of anxiety on the part of an often poorly informed public. Here, at last, is a book that will enable readers to say, "Now I understand the issues. I know what they’re talking about." Global Warning...Global Warming offers a highly accessible, yet painstakingly accurate, examination of a subject that may become our top national priority in a few short years. This book clarifies the subject’s substantive issues in their broadest dimensions while remembering that each of our lives is tied to the future of our planet. Beginning with a discussion of seasonal and atmospheric factors, the book goes on to explain the potential effects of a higher CO2 world—both harmful and beneficial. It describes the activities of researchers throughout the world who are seeking ways to cope with expected changes, and others who are finding reasonable solutions that may enable us to halt or even reverse the global-warming process. Above all, Professor Benarde insists the answers to global warming will be found not through hysteria and panic, but through calm rational thought and honest effort. Global Warning...Global Warming is a first-rate textbook for undergraduate level courses in environmental health, industrial hygiene, toxicology, environmental studies, and public health. An excellent sourcebook for regulatory and public health agencies, it is also must reading for anyone who seeks a fuller understanding of the changes taking place in our environment.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley-Interscience
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0471513237
• ISBN 13: 9780471513230
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336