Title:

Tackling Climate Change

Publish Date:

September 2011

ISBN:

978 1 86168 596 4

Covering Ages:

16 to 18 years

Issue Description

The phrase ‘climate change’ has become firmly established in our society’s vocabulary; it is routinely used in the mass media and by politicians. This book looks at the science of global warming and the debate which surrounds it. Has human activity increased the rate of climate change? Or is it simply a naturally occurring process which results in periods of warming and cooling? Climate Change covers the controversies surrounding global warming, the problems associated with predicting global climate patterns and looks at potential social, environmental and economic consequences.
The information comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper articles, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.

Price:

£7.95

Quantity:

Key Facts

• Climate change on a global scale, whether natural or due to human activity, can be initiated by processes that modify either the amount of energy absorbed from the Sun, or the amount of infrared energy emitted to space. (page 1)
  
  
• In the UK, climate change will lead to warmer winters, but temperatures will become uncomfortably hot in summer, and the climate may also be unpredictable and extreme. There’s also the risk of rising sea levels and extreme weather like storms and floods. (page 4)
  
  
• How our climate will change depends on the future level of carbon dioxide and other gas emissions in the atmosphere. Some impacts are also highly unpredictable in a complex climatic system. (page 9)
  
  
• It is estimated that by 2050 there will be 250 million people who will be forced to flee their homes due to drought, desertification, sea-level rise and extreme weather events. Many human populations on islands in the Pacific have already become victims of climate change. (page 10)
  
  
• The first decade of this century has been, by far, the warmest decade on the instrumental record. Despite 1998 being the warmest individual year – the last ten years have clearly been the warmest period in the 160- year record of global surface temperature. (page 20)
  
  
• A significant 84% of the British public agreed with the statement that the planet is warming, but only 18% believe human activity is mainly responsible; most (58%) feel that other factors have a part to play. 8% think that human activity, in comparison to other factors, is not responsible at all. (page 21)
  
  
• One-third (33%) of the public now agrees with the statement ‘it is not yet clear whether climate change is happening or not – scientists are divided on this issue’, compared to only 25% in 2007. (page 25)
  
  
• The Kyoto Protocol was the world’s first international agreement on how to tackle climate change, and an important tool that governments around the world have used since it was made law in 2005. (page 34)
  
  
• A carbon offset is a credit for greenhouse gas reductions achieved by one party that can be purchased and used to compensate (offset) the emissions of another party. (page 35)

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Climate Crisis

Climate and climate change: some background science, Myths about climate change, The status of climate change science today, Abrupt climate change, What about climate change in the future?, The social and economic impacts of climate change, West Atlantic Ice Sheet ‘could be more stable than thought’, Top ten global weather/climate events of 2010, Climate change: the forest connection, Greenland ice sheet faces ‘tipping point in ten years’, The complicated truth about sea-level rise.

Chapter 2 The Climate Debate

Unscientific hype about the flooding risks from climate change will cost us all dear, Ten facts on climate science, Climate change blame?, Are we still sure about climate change?, Climate change scepticism, Can we really measure the climate?.

Chapter 3 Policies and Solutions

Adapting to the greenhouse, We have to adapt culturally to climate change, Saving the world from the human response to climate change, Technology, not targets, will save the planet, Climate change victory for Huhne, The Kyoto Protocol, Carbon offsets, Key agreements in the history of climate change, Rich nations failing to keep Copenhagen promise, Cancún agreement rescues UN credibility but falls short of saving the planet.

Key Facts
Glossary
Index
Acknowledgements
Assignments

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