Climate Change: From Science to Sustainability

Climate change is one of the most complex, multilayered and interdisciplinary intellectual puzzles facing us today. The questions are numerous. What scientific processes underpin climate change? To what extent is human activity a driver of climate change? Can future changes be reliably predicted? What are the likely consequences of climate change, and what policies are needed to mitigate these changes?

Climate Change offers a unique interdisciplinary journey through this important, and equally fascinating, field. It takes the reader from keystones of the underlying science - and not just the headlines - through to the philosophical and political consequences of climate change.

Taking into account latest scientific research and policy decisions, it blends earth science, biology, technology, economics, geography, politics, philosophy and ethics - together with other themes - to present a coherent, balanced overview of the field, with a particular eye towards one goal: the sustainability of our planet.

The potential impact of climate change is vast; Climate Change is the ideal guide to developing the skills needed to take part in the debates that will shape our future.

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Stephen Peake is senior lecturer in environmental technology at The Open University. Over the last 19 years, Stephen has worked on climate change in various interesting guises: as a researcher at the University of Cambridge, as a Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London (including a stint at the Shell International Petroleum Company), as a Fonctionnaire at the International Energy Agency within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, and as a diplomat with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany. Over the years, he has been called on to give evidence to various national governments and international organisations including: the Fuel Economy Panel of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association in Detroit, USA; the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment; and the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. He is author of seven authored books and numerous articles. Joe Smith is senior lecturer in environment in the social sciences faculty at The Open University. He is Co-Director of the Cambridge Media & Environment Programme which runs seminars on environmental change and development issues for senior media decision makers, mainly from BBC news and TV. He led the team of academic consultants on David Attenborough's BBC ONE programmes for the 2006 climate change season, BBC TWO's Coast (2005), and most recently consulted on the BBC's first climate change based drama Burn Up (2008). Joe is initiator and chair of Interdependence Day a new communications and research project (www.interdependenceday.co.uk). He holds a BA degree in Social and Political Sciences and a PhD in Geography from the University of Cambridge. Joe has written books on the green movement, climate change and the media and global environmental issues. His current research projects explore the politics of consumption, and the media's role in shaping public debate about complex issues.