Climate Change

The Daily Beast Given the pressing need for action, CLIMATE CHANGE is the right book at the right time: accessible, comprehensive, unflinching, humane.


The Guardian A must-read for those who want to become climate literate and join the growing conversation about the greatest threat humanity faces today.


Foreign Affairs Romm provides a useful primer on the drivers of climate change, the ways that the world might achieve that target, and the obstacles to moving away from business as usual... [the book] is full of useful information and accessible analysis.


Mother Earth News An up-to-date, comprehensive examination of the science behind climate change, what these environmental issues mean for the future, and possible clean energy solutions.

Joseph Romm, Ph.D., is one of the country's most influential communicators on climate science and solutions. Romm is Chief Science Advisor for National Geographic's Years of Living Dangerously series, which won the 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Series. He is the founding editor of Climate Progress, which New York Times columnist Tom Friedman called "the indispensable blog." In 2009, Time named him one of its "Heroes of the Environment," calling him "The Web's most influential climate-change blogger." In 2009, Rolling Stone put Romm on its list of 100 "people who are reinventing America." Romm was acting assistant secretary of energy in 1997, where he oversaw $1 billion in low-carbon technology development and deployment. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and holds a Ph.D. in physics from MIT.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSPREFACE: Why You Need To Know About Climate ChangeI. Climate Science BasicsWhat is the greenhouse effect and how does it warm the Earth?Why are scientists so certain the climate system is warming?How does global warming increase sea levels and what has been observed to date?Where does most of human-caused warming go?What fraction of recent global warming is due to human causes vs. natural causes?How certain are climate scientists that humans are the primary cause of recent warning?How do scientists know that recent climate change is primarily caused by human activities?Why has the climate changed in the past, before there were human-caused greenhouse gas emissions?What are the climate system's amplifying feedbacks, which turn a moderate initial warming into a big ultimate warming?Is the current level of atmospheric CO2 concentration unprecedented in human history?Are recent climatic changes unprecedented?Has recent human-caused climate change been occurring faster or not as fast as scientists predicted?Is there a difference between global warming and climate change?What are the sources of the most important human-caused pollutants that drive global warming?How does deforestation contribute to warming?What is Global Warming Potential and why it is different for various greenhouse gases?Why does the rate of warming appear to vary from decade to decade?Has global warming slowed down or paused in recent years?Can we reach a point where emitting more CO2 into the air will not cause more climate change?Have we already crossed tipping points (points of no return) in the climate system?II. Extreme Weather and Climate ChangeWhat is the difference between weather and climate?Which extreme weather events are being made worse by climate change, and which are not?What is the role of natural climatic variation, such as the El Nino-La Nina cycle, in extreme weather?Did climate change cause hurricane Sandy (and why is that the wrong question to ask)?How does climate change affect heat waves?How does climate change affect droughts?How does climate change affect wildfires?How does climate change affect the chances of deluges or severe precipitation?Does climate change mean more snow or less, worse snow storms or weaker ones?How does climate change affect storm surge?Is climate change making hurricanes more destructive?What is Arctic amplification?Is Arctic amplification affecting extreme weather in the northern hemisphere?Is climate change affecting tornado formation?In a warming world, why do some winters still seem unusually severe?III. Projected Climate ImpactsWhat kind of impacts can we expect this century from business-as-usual climate change?What are the biggest sources of uncertainty in projecting future global warming?What do previous hot periods in Earth's climate tell us about what the future may hold in store?How could the thawing permafrost speed up global warming beyond what climate models have projected?How could an increase in wildfires speed up global warming beyond what climate models have projected?What are some other key positive or amplifying feedbacks affecting the climate system?What will the impacts of sea level rise be?How will climate change lead to more destructive superstorms this century?What kind of droughts can we expect this century?What are the expected health impacts of climate change?How does global warming affect human productivity?Does carbon dioxide at exposure levels expected this century have any direct impacts on human health or cognition?What is ocean acidification and why does it matter to sea life?What is biodiversity, and how will climate change impact it?How will climate change affect the agricultural sector and our ability to feed the world's growing population?How is climate change a threat to national, regional, and global security threat?What is the plausible best-case scenario for climate change this century?What is the plausible worst-case scenario for climate change this centur