Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future

This second edition of Climate Change is an accessible and comprehensive guide to the science behind global warming. Exquisitely illustrated, the text is geared toward students at a variety of levels. Edmond A. Mathez and Jason E. Smerdon provide a broad, informative introduction to the science that underlies our understanding of the climate system and the effects of human activity on the warming of our planet.

Mathez and Smerdon describe the roles that the atmosphere and ocean play in our climate, introduce the concept of radiation balance, and explain climate changes that occurred in the past. They also detail the human activities that influence the climate, such as greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions and deforestation, as well as the effects of natural phenomena. Climate Change concludes with a look toward the future, discussing climate model projections, exploring the economic and technological realities of energy production, and presenting a view of the global warming challenge through the lens of risk. Each chapter features profiles of scientists who advanced our understanding of the material discussed. This new edition expands on the first edition’s presentation of scientific concepts, making it ideal for classroom use for a wide swath of undergraduate and masters students with both science and nonscience backgrounds.

Edmond A. Mathez is curator emeritus in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History. A leading expositor of earth systems science, he co-curated the museum’s Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, the 2008 exhibit Climate Change: The Threat to Life and a New Energy Future, and the 2014 exhibit Nature’s Fury: The Science of Natural Disasters.

Jason E. Smerdon is a Lamont Research Professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, an Earth Institute faculty member, and the co-director of the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development, all at Columbia University. He is a leading researcher on climate variability and change over the last 2,000 years.