Showing posts with label climatology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climatology. Show all posts

Complete Idiot's Guide to Global Warming Review

Complete Idiot's Guide to Global Warming
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Complete Idiot's Guide to Global Warming ReviewThis book is a good introductory text for those who want to know more about the complex topic of climate change and "global warming". The book is easy to read and educational for those starting out in their examination of the field, though further reading on this topic will show that some of the core premises of the book are more contentious than the author seems to think.
A list of further readings is provided, though there are no sources listed for the arguments made by the aurthor, which can make it difficult for those who want to do their own fact-checking or to canvass alternative opinions. However, a whole (short) chapter is devoted to arguments against the impact of man and is consequences on the environment.
Unfortunately, like many modern texts on climate and the environment, the author seems wedded to the concept of biocentrality and "steady-state" systems, with no examination of the merits or pitfalls of such a position.
Still, overall, this book provides a good introduction to the general concepts and arguments around man's impact on global climate.Complete Idiot's Guide to Global Warming Overview

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The Resilient Earth: Science, Global Warming and the Fate of Humanity Review

The Resilient Earth: Science, Global Warming and the Fate of Humanity
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The Resilient Earth: Science, Global Warming and the Fate of Humanity ReviewUntil I read the "The Resilient Earth" by coauthors Hoffman and Simmons, I did not spend much time thinking about the issue of human-caused global warming. I knew there were those who claimed humans were destroying our planet and there were others who did not agree, and challenged that principle. Now, after reading this wonderful book, I do care about our planet, but I have become somewhat skeptical of the idea that humans can change the climate to the point that we are doomed. In Chapter 1, the first lines in the book read: "Scientists observe nature, then develop theories that describe their observations. Science is driven by nature itself, and nature gives us no choice. It is what it is." How beautiful those words are, and they set the tone of the entire book. I have learned how resilient our Earth is - from its very beginning to its present day. The book is a journey of science and scientific discovery. I was amazed how many scientists made discoveries outside their disciplines. As an example, a man named Joseph Fourier discovered that certain gases could trap heat. Fourier, a mathematician and physicist, made that discovery in 1829. The book describes just how complex Earth's atmosphere is, and that it takes almost all scientific disciplines to try and unravel nature's mysteries. I learned how important the roles of geology, paleontology, glaciology, oceanography, physics, chemistry, and many more disciplines play in understanding, not only the complex puzzle called our atmosphere, but also the history of our planet. Most importantly, I learned how Earth warmed and cooled in cycles, long before modern man arrived. Best told was the story of Otzi the Iceman, who died in 3300 BC and his perfectly preserved body was found in 1991, buried in ice on the Italian Alps. Otzi laid in peace during the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, WW II, and the rise of the United States. What I learned from Otzi, made me think of Greenland. Why was that place, now covered in ice, called "Greenland?" This book influenced my life. I now recycle plastic and paper. I raised my thermostat for summer and lowered it for winter. I use less water. But I learned, reading this treasure of information, that it takes 226 million years for our solar system to make one orbit around the center of our galaxy. That puts the whole climate issue in perspective. Who can imagine what we might run into as we porpoise and sashay on our 226 million year journey. The easy style and anecdotes of "The Resilient Earth" are gems. I recommend this book for everyone. It will open the mind and make one think of things never thought of before. Such as, how lucky we humans are to have survived the ebb and flow of ice on this resilient Earth. Imagine New York City buried under ice, a mile high. I wonder how many times that happened, and could it happen again. Nature, with its infinite reach, will decide that for us. Kudos for the authors of "The Resilient Earth."The Resilient Earth: Science, Global Warming and the Fate of Humanity Overview

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Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming Review

Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming
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Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming ReviewWhat you are getting from this review is a non-scientific analysis of the book, and a summation of the contents. While I taught a year or two of High School Biology in Cheatham County, TN, that probably isn't going to qualify me to sit on the International Global Warming Council anytime soon. I'll try and avoid the observation that it still probably makes me more qualified than a lot of people suddenly making careers out of Global Warming.
The book was not what I expected. I kind of thought, based on the controversy it had generated, that it would be a global warming denial book espousing the glories of capitalism and a desire to turn North America into the new Sahara. Well it is nothing of the sort. The book, whether you agree with the science or not, never argues that global warming is happening nor even that it results to varying degrees from human produced co2. What is argued is that there has become a political, and even hysterical component that has insinuated itself so in the discussion that it has overwhelmed all other argument. Any attempt at debate is met with howls that those bringing up objections are evil incarnate and should be fired, imprisoned, etc. It is an interesting debate technique, and nice work if you can get it, but I'm not sure it's an accepted debating format.
For all the balance the book brings, it probably won't warm hearts on either side. The need for redistribution of wealth is a recurring theme, and his arguments against Kyoto, etc, are more that they are an inefficient means to accomplish this goal, not that they are idealogically mistaken. Much of his analysis also relies heavily on the projection that the next 100 years will produce great wealth across the board. This strikes me as speculative, but then again what about the whole issue is not?
The book is extremely well documented, footnotes comprising almost as much volume as the treatise itself. And treatise might be the word, much is repeated and reiterated, and it has the feel of a lengthy article that was expanded to meet book-length requirements. It doesn't suffer too badly in spite of this, as the author writes pretty well and so much of the material is so outside media template information that it probably requires several presentations of the same facts.
All in all it struck me as balanced, well written, and very logical. One of his major points, that debate has been stifled unfairly, makes one reluctant to criticise for fear of proving his point, but be that as it may it seems a salient observation. It is a quick read, and I'd certainly recommend it as a work that cuts against the grain.Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming Overview

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The Great Global Warming Blunder: How Mother Nature Fooled the World's Top Climate Scientists Review

The Great Global Warming Blunder: How Mother Nature Fooled the World's Top Climate Scientists
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The Great Global Warming Blunder: How Mother Nature Fooled the World's Top Climate Scientists ReviewA truly excellent book. Spencer calls attention to three things we all SHOULD HAVE figured out for ourselves. And it is a book about the science, not at all about the leaked emails (which other books have handled very well).
First, Spencer makes a powerful case for the heretofore largely understated role of clouds. Second, his presentation of material on the feedbacks was outstanding. I had never seen the distinction between amplification of forcings, and true positive feedbacks (in the run-away sense), made. Thirdly, his notion that choosing the wrong (weaker) forcing element for a given warming can result in a large overestimation of sensitivity is clearly right. Every physicist or engineer KNOWS these things, but we may not THINK about them. Luckily we have Spencer to remind us that we do know them.
As for the PDO as a major driver, the evidence Spencer shows is very interesting and well-presented, and is clearly much much better that a CO2 explanation. (To just say it is a better explanation that CO2 would do it an injustice.) The book makes the point that there are indeed many strong sources of internal variability. The so-called "consensus" in concentrating on a flawed, politically popular view (man-made CO2), is certainly effectively impeding progress toward a more rational understanding of the scientific puzzle.
A second excellent book by Dr. Spencer - for the layman (or scientist!) who still thinks.

The Great Global Warming Blunder: How Mother Nature Fooled the World's Top Climate Scientists Overview

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