America’s climate choices, by the National Research Council of the National Academies Press.  National Academies Press, 2011.  118p bibl CD-ROM; ISBN 9780309145855 pbk, $29.95.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2012mar CHOICE.
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This National Research Council panel report summarizes challenges posed by global climate change and makes recommendations for US responses; it is one of the most ambitious efforts in NRC history. The slim book offers a brief introduction and summaries of the full report, which encompasses four information-rich, lengthy, expert documents published in 2010: Advancing the Science of Climate Change, Limiting the Magnitude of Climate Change, Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change, and Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change. The reviews of the science, impacts, and technical complexities involved in dealing with global climate change provide the most up-to-date, detailed consensus of mainstream research.  Two results stand out. First, the report unequivocally projects temperature increases for the US Southwest by the end of the century, along with a host of ancillary effects. Second, the authors state that the climate will continue to change even if greenhouse gas concentrations are immediately stabilized, due to the time it takes for the climate to respond to their recent buildups. Thus, various major changes are inevitable, and the US must start to adapt immediately. In their recommendations, the distinguished contributors make a heroic effort to address every aspect of dealing with the issue. However, except for one section discussing skeptics or opponents to proactive climate change policies, the report steps gingerly around real-world factors like political polarization and congressional gridlock. Useful insights are intermingled with academic explorations of aspects of American society that inhibit effective policies. The inclusion of key stakeholders such as industry professionals on the report panel, which is largely composed of academics or researchers, would have been helpful. The companion CD-ROM includes the four panel reports. The final report and the panel reports are also available online at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12781. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections.
 — F. T. Manheim, George Mason University

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Brown, Marilyn A.  Climate change and global energy security: technology and policy options, by Marilyn A. Brown and Benjamin K. Sovacool.  MIT, 2011.  416p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780262516310  pbk, $29.00; ISBN 9780262016254, $58.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2012mar CHOICE.
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Brown (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Sovacool (National Univ. of Singapore) have created a framework in which climate change and energy are considered through their social and environmental impacts at a global level. While this breadth necessarily means that the authors cover individual topics in brief, their summaries are clear, well illustrated (in black-and-white), and current (references up to 2008). The strength of the text is therefore in its accessibility and usefulness to a wide range of readers, from those with a general interest in the topic to those using the book to frame a course for nonspecialists. The book starts by outlining five challenges (“Electricity,” “Transportation,” “Forestry and Agriculture,” “Waste and Water,” and “Climate Change”). The authors then address technologies for climate mitigation and geoengineering before considering barriers to new policies in climate and energy and how to overcome them, including a short discussion on polycentric implementation. A collection of eight fascinating case studies from around the globe makes up a very large section of the book. With an excellent set of notes/references and a comprehensive index, this book should benefit anyone who is curious about understanding the current situation regarding climate and energy challenges and how these might be addressed. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — R. J. Barthelmie, Indiana University

Climate Change: Lines of Evidence Videos, from the National Research Council.  Internet Resource.  Reviewed in 2013apr CHOICE.
50-4448
http://nas-sites.org/americasclimatechoices/videos-multimedia/climate-change-lines-of-evidence-videos/

[Visited Jan’13]  This 26-minute video aims to summarize current knowledge about climate change.  Viewers can watch the video in its entirety from its National Academies web page or select links to the seven component chapters hosted by the National Academies’ YouTube channel.  The information is drawn from National Research Council (NRC) reports that represent a consensus of expert opinion.  The video outlines the body of evidence supporting human activity, especially fossil fuel burning, as the driver of global warming and associated changes on Earth. The opening chapter, What Is Climate?, introduces the video by defining climate and explaining climate change.  The reliance on data gathering and research is apparent as various questions such as how scientists know that the sun is not causing warming and how scientists know that humans are causing global warming are addressed.  The warming Earth, greenhouse gases, increasing emissions, how warm Earth has become, solar influences, and natural cycles complete the chapter topics.  Ideas for solutions to the problem do not fall within the video’s scope; rather, the video communicates emerging future impacts.  It succeeds as a succinct tool for explaining what is known.  For the amount of information covered, it is surprisingly brief.  Narration is interesting and meshes well with the graphically rich and interesting footage.  The accompanying music subtly creates a sense of seriousness without feeling dramatic, and enhances the learning experience.  Though the video is not dated, it is clearly a recent production.  Not only was it posted to YouTube in July 2012, but an accompanying 38-page booklet, available for downloading or viewing on Scribd from the same web page, cites NRC reports with 2011 and 2010 copyright dates.  An effective, heavily research-reliant, timely testament to global climate change and its history. Summing Up: Highly recommended.  Lower-division undergraduates, two-year technical program students, and general audiences. — R. E. Kelly IV, Hutchinson Community College

Climate change and national security: a country-level analysis, ed. by Daniel Moran.  Georgetown University, 2011.  310p index afp; ISBN 1589017412 pbk, $29.95; ISBN 9781589017412 pbk, $29.95. Reviewed in 2011oct CHOICE.
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Despite frequent exposure to the idea of “living green,” people tend to overlook the realization that worldwide climate change presents a clear and present danger to the national security of almost every nation. In this edited volume, Moran (Naval Postgraduate School) works with 20 acknowledged international experts. He eloquently sums up his work without debating the science of climate change: “it is an attempt to lay the problems hypothesized by science on top of the known or anticipated challenges to international life and to consider what might change as a consequence.” The 42 countries and regions covered are either current or potential “major players” and include China, Indonesia, India, Russia, the nations of Central Asia, the European Union, Vietnam, Turkey, Qatar, South Africa, and Peru. Featuring several illustrations and appendixes, and a pretty good index, this work is nicely done. It will be valuable for both its topic and its unique approach. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through professionals/practitioners. — S. R. DiMarco, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Climate change biology, by Jonathan A. Newman et al.  CABI, 2011.  289p bibl index afp; ISBN 9781845936709  pbk, $75.00; ISBN 9781845937485, $145.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2012feb CHOICE.
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Newman (Univ. of Guelph, Canada) and academic colleagues provide a clearly written introduction to climate change biology. The book begins with a brief but useful review of methods for measuring past and present climate change, predicting future change, and assessing impacts of climate change on biological systems. A summary of current knowledge of the effects of climate change at different levels of organization (i.e., from individuals to ecosystems) and on applications such as agriculture and forest production follows. The concluding section discusses the complexity and limitations of climate change research. For each topic, the authors briefly and clearly explain the ecological concepts, and then summarize the important research findings using a few specific examples. Thus the book is accessible to students without extensive background in ecology, but valuable even for advanced students and faculty. It is not a comprehensive review of the climate change biology literature but does provide a great overview. It would be excellent as a textbook for an upper-division undergraduate course or as a reference for students or faculty desiring to increase familiarity with current research in climate change biology. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — C. C. Jones, Connecticut College

The Copenhagen diagnosis: updating the world on the latest climate science, [by] Ian Allison et al.  Elsevier, 2011.  98p bibl; ISBN 9780123869999 pbk, $49.95.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2012jul CHOICE.
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This reviewer’s office shelves groan with books on climate change and associated policy issues. However, there is no doubt that this update from the latest UN report on global climate change ranks number one for its combination of authoritativeness, impact, and suitability for both scientists and nonspecialists. Most of the book’s 26 authors from eight nations collectively hold many scientific leadership positions and are contributors to the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued in 2007. The volume is organized into 14 chapters that discuss greenhouse gases, events on land, glaciers, oceans, etc. The final chapters address “tipping points,” examine the past, and consider what the future holds. Blue-ribbon panel reports and other collective works by academic authors tend to be filled with incomprehensible “scientese.” This is not true with this work, produced under the leadership of the University of New South Wales (Australia) Climate Research Centre. It stands out for maximum conciseness in the text, minimum equivocation, and high-impact, colored illustrations. The bad news is the finding that AR4 was conservative in terms of temperature and sea-level rise. The 2009 edition of The Copenhagen Diagnosis can be downloaded free at http://www.copenhagendiagnosis.com/. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates and above; informed general readers. — F. T. Manheim, George Mason University

Epstein, Paul R.  Changing planet, changing health: how the climate crisis threatens our health and what we can do about it, by Paul R. Epstein and Dan Ferber.  California, 2011.  355 index; ISBN 9780520269095, $29.95.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2011oct CHOICE.
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Whether called “earth-system change,” Gaia, or something else, the global ecosystem is perturbed by climate change on the one hand and population growth on the other. This situation challenges many sciences at once to deal with hitherto-unimagined complexity. The Earth is changing faster than science can grasp the changes, much less their significance. Epstein (Harvard) and Ferber (contributing correspondent, Science) examine the impact of these changes on public health, forecasting devastating consequences, while suggesting important transformations to mitigate the impacts. Most biological processes are controlled by negative feedback loops, but climate, spiraling out of control, suffers from positive feedback. Thirteen chapters track an evolution from tropical medicine to earth systems science, focusing on climate change and climate extremes. Topics include emerging and reemerging diseases (epidemics of cholera, malaria, and dengue), pollution, plant diseases, tree diseases, deforestation, fisheries, marine toxic blooms, food security, and other disasters current and future. Finding solutions involves investigating energy choices, carbon management, smart cities, agricultural change, and the “retooling of global finance.” Throughout, this book emphasizes complex interactions and highlights unintended consequences. It identifies solutions–some drastic–and refutes, with impressive evidence, political/financial efforts to deny climate change and discredit climate scientists. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. — M. Gochfeld, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Helm, Dieter.  The carbon crunch: how we’re getting climate change wrong–and how to fix it.  Yale, 2012.  273p bibl index; ISBN 9780300186598, $35.00. Reviewed in 2013mar CHOICE.
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Serious scholars agree that the climate change problem is one of the gravest confronting humankind. Therefore, since the early 1990s when the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed, world leaders have been attempting to grapple with this problem. Helm (energy policy, Univ. of Oxford, UK) claims, however, that despite the existence of the above convention and the subsequent Kyoto Protocol, almost nothing of note has been accomplished to address climate change. Why not? The author helpfully explains that there are many problems with current approaches to dealing with the underlying problem. First, the focus has been on the most expensive ways of mitigating climate change instead of the cheapest; this has led to few gains but large costs. Second, instead of recognizing that a credible mitigation strategy needs to reduce coal usage and increase the use of natural and shale gas, politicians have been pouring resources into wind and solar power, which will together only scratch the surface of the climate change problem. To remedy this saturnine state of affairs, Helm suggests introducing an effective carbon tax, reducing consumption, and developing existing low-carbon technologies as well as new ones. A lucid, readable volume on a critical issue. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. — A. A. Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology

IPCC–Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2008may CHOICE.
http://www.ipcc.ch/
45-5008

[Visited Feb’08] This Web site provides a repository for reports and documentation produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its component groups, as well as data on climate and environment. The IPCC, cowinner with former vice president Al Gore of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, is an international group of hundreds of scientists. It was founded by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. It does not conduct research itself, but assesses and reports on the latest research and climate monitoring being produced worldwide. The site includes reports on research and monitoring, information and documentation about meetings of the IPCC and its working groups, and downloadable graphics, presentations, and speeches. The site is mainly navigable by directories and drop-down menus. There is no search engine for the site itself, although the Working Group III page includes a drop-down menu with links to pages where reports can be searched. This menu does include a link for an IPCC site search, but the link is broken. A calendar lists future meetings through September 2008. The IPCC site contains much valuable information, but its design and access methods are workmanlike at best. Although advanced students doing in-depth papers on climate change will find the site useful, most of the material seems aimed at scientists and policy makers. To be fair, this is its primary purpose. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. — A. C. Prendergast, University of South Alabama

Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaption: special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. by Christopher B. Field et al. Cambridge, 2012. 582p bibl index afp; , ISBN 9781107025066 $170.00; ISBN 9781107607804 pbk, $85.00. Reviewed in 2013apr CHOICE.
50-4454 QC903 MARC

Extreme events and their evolution in a changing climate have received extensive treatment in previous reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but this report goes further by considering management of the risk associated with such events.  This extension requires consideration of both physical weather/climate factors and susceptibility.  Like most IPCC reports, this effort is comprehensive and represents a synthesis of existing literature authored by leading experts.  Synthesis in the context of risk management for extreme events and disasters is a formidable task, and this volume appropriately combines perspectives from different disciplines.  The core of this report (at least from the perspective of managing risk) is a set of chapters focusing on managing risk at local, national, and international scales and integrating management “across scales.”  The final chapter presents historical case studies to demonstrate how better adaptation and management of risk could lessen the impact of similar events in the future.  The work also includes a section titled “Summary for Policymakers” in the beginning and a glossary at the end.  Because of its integration of disciplinary perspectives, this work is likely to remain relevant for several years and provide the foundation for future synthesis reports.  Summing Up: Highly recommended.  All academic, professional, and general library collections. — J. Schoof,  Southern Illinois University

Mann, Michael E.  The hockey stick and the climate wars: dispatches from the front lines.  Columbia, 2012.  395p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780231152549, $28.95. Reviewed in 2012aug CHOICE.
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Mann (director, Earth System Science Center, Penn State Univ.) is a most outspoken proponent of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change. The noted scientist shared the 2007 Nobel Prize with other members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Here, he details the aggressive and deliberate attacks on climate scientists, including himself, often orchestrated by well-funded groups positioned to benefit from the continued use of fossil fuels. The book’s title reflects the name that has been prescribed to the 1,000-year temperature reconstruction presented by the author in a series of papers, which collectively show that recent warmth is unusual within that time period. Mann’s account and nontechnical rebuttal of the attacks on climate science provide an excellent primer on contemporary climate science. While the public still expresses considerable doubt regarding climate change attribution, this book demonstrates the strong consensus within the scientific community, where Mann is respected for his contributions to the science and his courage in the wake of attacks on both his work and his character. The text includes a large appendix of notes to supplement the author’s accounts and a bibliography of relevant literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, general readers, and professionals. — J. Schoof, Southern Illinois University

National climatic data center.  Internet Resource.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2004nov CHOICE.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html
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This site, developed by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), focuses on historical archives of weather and climate data of all types. The vast scope and level of detail require users to be familiar with meteorological and climatological data types and formats. Therefore, outside of a few features, the audience for this site is primarily restricted to professionals, researchers, upper-level undergraduate students, and data-seeking weather hobbyists. Features offered through In the Spotlight contain authoritative but accessible discussions of current events, such as abrupt climate change and the latest monthly global climate summary. The heart of the entire site, Data & Products, connects to a nearly endless list of climate data, including the popular Local Climatological Data reports. Much of the data comes at a price for nongovernment and nonuniversity users, however. For those users, the site also provides a Free Data link on its home page.  Two very useful aspects of the NCDC site are the Storm Events Database, which enables searches of storm reports across the US since 1950; and the NCDC Historical GOES Browse Server, with weather satellite images for nearly every day from July 1, 1992 through the present. Few other Web sites contain such long-term weather archives. One drawback of the NCDC site is the archiving of data in .pdf format, preventing easy importing of data into local databases. In addition, the site’s dense and occasionally clunky Web presence necessitates a moderate level of navigational skill. Bookmarking of favorite pages within the NCDC site is recommended, because otherwise it could take several minutes to locate them from the home page. In summary, this is one of the best Web sites in existence for detailed climatological data, most useful for researchers and professionals and with some aspects that will appeal more broadly to the general user. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. — J. A. Knox, University of Georgia

Neelin, J. David.  Climate change and climate modeling.  Cambridge, 2011.  282p bibl index; ISBN 9780521602433 pbk, $55.00; ISBN 9780521841573, $130.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2011aug CHOICE.
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Neelin (UCLA) has written a clear, highly accessible introduction to climate and climate modeling. Unlike most climate change works written for nonspecialists, this volume goes through the basics of climate physics completely, and with the basic mathematics intact. For example, the author introduces and physically discusses important deviations in the general circulation such as teleconnection patterns and atmospheric/oceanic waves. This detailed coverage of climate physics is at a level which should be challenging, but not daunting, to an upper-level undergraduate or entering graduate student with little specific background. The section on climate modeling is similarly well done. This reviewer has used K. McGuffie and A. Henderson-Sellers’ A Climate Modeling Primer (3rd ed., 2005) in the past for a class similar to that intended for this book, and finds the accessibility and detailed climate introduction here to be invaluable in comparison. Though the author’s views on the ramifications of climate change are very clear in the text, the discussion is usually evenhanded and uncertainties are not generally glossed over, which also sets this book apart from many others. It is suitable for students not specializing in climate studies as well as interested readers with a basic physical science background. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, two-year technical program students, and general readers. — T. N. Chase, University of Colorado

Renewable energy sources and climate change mitigation: special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. by Ottmar Edenhofer et al.  Cambridge, 2012 (c2011).  1,076p bibl index; ISBN 9781107607101 pbk, $100.00; ISBN 9781107023406, $200.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2012jul CHOICE.
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This report is a comprehensive summary of the current technology and application of renewable energy with a specific focus on applications to avoid greenhouse gas emissions. The book starts with an excellent overview, “Summary for Policymakers”; the following “Technical Summary” compares the different technologies, their costs, and their technical potential, including regional variations and life cycle analysis. Six technical chapters focus on bioenergy and solar, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, and wind energy, each using the same structure, including the potential of the resource, the technology, the status, grid integration, environmental and social issues, prospects, and costs. Later chapters discuss renewable energy integration into current and future systems, the sustainable development context, climate mitigation potential and costs, and policy, financing, and implementation issues. Each chapter is illustrated with color figures and tables and includes extensive, up-to-date references. The book is a uniquely thorough compilation of the status and prospects of renewable energy within current and future frameworks and is a valuable resource, based on the literature synthesized by experts from government, industry, and academia in every region of the globe. The entire report is available for download from the IPCC at http://srren.ipcc-wg3.de/. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. — R. J. Barthelmie, Indiana University 

Stone, Brian, Jr.  The city and the coming climate: climate change in the places we live.  Cambridge, 2012.  187p bibl index; ISBN 9781107602588 pbk, $29.99; ISBN 9781107016712, $99.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2012nov CHOICE.
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This is a highly readable, informative book on many overlooked aspects of climate change that are perhaps more important to people and society than simply the steadily increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere considered in most models of climate change. When it comes to people, as Stone (city and regional planning, Georgia Institute of Technology) discusses in this well-written volume, the urban heat island effect and land use changes associated with increasing population pressure should be high on everyone’s radar screens, but they are not. This book clearly presents information on the importance of these two underappreciated global warming components and demonstrates how they are dramatically changing the planet and its cities and their habitability. Particularly interesting are discussions of demonstrated techniques to decrease the smothering heat generated from cityscapes that can cause urban temperatures to be sometimes 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than surrounding undeveloped areas. Also of interest are discussions of how land use changes are dramatically, and negatively, changing precipitation patterns in both arid and tropical climates. This excellent volume does not simply reiterate what has been said many times before. Stone’s clear writing enables anyone to understand and appreciate the importance of these local to regional climate factors. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. — B. Ransom, formerly, University of California, San Diego

United Nations Climate Change Portal.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2013mar CHOICE.
http://www.un.org/climatechange
50-3868

[Visited Dec’12] The United Nations is the world’s primary worldwide intergovernmental organization and organizer of the major international bodies attempting to mitigate human-caused climate change; thus, it is appropriate for the UN to offer this summary page organizing and providing current, authoritative information on climate change. A central display of eye-catching images with accompanying text provides significant facts about the issue; links to current news stories follow. A series of links on the left side of the page lead to basic information on the subject under headings such as The Science, Mitigation, Adaptation, Financing, The Negotiations, and Take Action. The information provided is clear and easy to understand for laypersons; other links and subpages feature more detailed and technical information.  For those seeking documentation and access to research findings, a Publications section provides links to the full text of reports, convention documents, training materials, and UN documents. The first link in this section is to the current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which contains the fullest information on the science of climate change. Further links provide access to the UN via social media (e.g., Twitter, YouTube). Another provides access to the United Nations University’s award-winning web magazine OurWorld 2.0, which includes articles, videos, and debates by public contributors. Separate search boxes allow site visitors to search the UN in general or UN activities related to climate change. Numerous links at the bottom of the page provide access to organizations that are UN partners on climate change. The basic pages and publications are available through links to Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish versions of the text, but many subpages and external links, including the Publications section, are only in English. A very important site for anyone concerned about climate change at any educational level. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — M. Taylor, formerly, University of Colorado Denver

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