Responding to the Climate Threat

Gary Yohe is the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, Emeritus, at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He served as convening lead author for multiple chapters and the Synthesis Report for the IPCC from 1990 through 2014 and was vice-chair of the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment. Henry Jacoby is the William F. Pounds Professor of Management, Emeritus, in the MIT Sloan School of Management and former co-director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which is focused on the integration of the natural and social sciences and policy analysis in application to the threat of global climate change. Richard Richels directed climate change research at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). He served as lead author for multiple chapters of the IPCC in the areas of mitigation, impacts and adaptation from 1992 through 2014. He also served on the National Assessment SynthesisTeam for the first U.S. National Climate Assessment.Ben Santer is a climate scientist and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow. He contributed to all six IPCC reports. He was the lead author of Chapter 8 of the 1995 IPCC report which concluded that “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate”. He is currently a Visiting Researcher at UCLA’s Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science & Engineering.

“This book is an important contribution to meeting the climate challenge.” (Paul A. Hanle, Climatic Change, Vol. 176 (11), 2023)“This book is not a lullaby. It is a vital thought-provoking appraisal for all who want to read their children happy bedtime stories and enjoy fulfilling lives.” (Elena N. Naumova, Journal of Public Health Policy, Vol. 44 (3), 2023)

• Five science questions that ought to be asked at the debate.- Key messages about climate change: an introduction to a series.- Evidence shows warming of the planet.- The evidence is compelling on human activity as the principle cause of global warming.- Extreme events “presage worse to come” in a warming climate.- Multiple extreme climate events can combine to produce catastrophic damages.- Vigorous action needed, and soon, on climate change.- Rejoining the fight against climate change is in the U.S. national interest.