1. An introduction to climate change; 2. Principal indicators of past climates; 3. Past climate change; 4. The Oligocene to the Quaternary: climate and biology; 5. Present climate and biological change; 6. Current warming and likely future impacts; 7. The human ecology of climate change; 8. Sustainability and policy; Appendix 1. Glossary and abbreviations; Appendix 2. Bio-geological chronology; Appendix 3. Calculations of energy demand/supply and orders of magnitude; Appendix 4. Further thoughts for consideration; Index.
A fully updated, substantially expanded, new edition of acclaimed textbook for life science and Earth science students and scientists and policymakers.
Jonathan Cowie has spent many years conveying the views of learned societies in the biological sciences to policy-makers and in science communication (promotion, publishing and press liaison). His earlier postgraduate studies related to energy and the environment. He is a former Head of Science Policy and Books at the Institute of Biology (UK). He is also author of Climate and Human Change: Disaster or Opportunity (1998).
Review of the first edition: 'Cowie's book deserves more than a
cursory glance - it demands to be read. I think you'll be
pleasantly surprised at both the range of contents and the style
which is reader-friendly, quantitative, authoritative, but above
all, stimulating; the pages dare you not to turn them over and read
further.' The Biologist
Review of the first edition: 'Cowie offers an excellent overview of
the foremost environmental problem of the twenty-first century. As
such, the book is about biology and human ecology as they relate to
climate change … The author provides non-specialist readers with a
very good introduction to the complexity of global climate change …
a useful starting point for environmentalists, policy makers, and
teachers. The book does an excellent job of pulling together the
complex web of evidence for climate change … Summing up: highly
recommended. All levels.' D. F. Karnosky, Choice
Review of the first edition: 'As Cowie explains in his
introduction, Climate Change: Biological and Human Aspects is
written to be accessible to undergraduates, scientists outside of
the life sciences, specialists reading outside of their field, and
policy makers and analysts interested in climate change and its
relevance to society. In this regard, he succeeds very well … a
fine treatment of global climate change and interactions with
biological systems that can be used to inform a variety of readers.
It has value as an educational introduction to climate change for
nonscientists as well as a refresher for scientists. Almost
everyone is likely to gain a fresh perspective or learn something
new.' EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union
Review of the first edition: 'This remarkable book about global
warming was written by an erudite biologist rather than a physical
scientist … The result is a very valuable and original contribution
about how climate change has affected the Earth's biota in the
past, what is now occurring and what is likely to occur in the
future … Cowie has a very clear mastery of his subject and … is an
excellent communicator … It is a masterpiece in its subject area in
the opinion of this reviewer and will be read for many years.'
Physics in Canada
Review of the first edition: '… a book that is measured,
informative, balanced, scientifically sound, and as up-to-date as a
book can possibly be in these days of rapid information accretion.'
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Review of the first edition: '… as I got deeper into this tome, I
became more and more impressed by just how well Cowie tied together
so many disciplines … There is so much to gain from [this] book … I
know of no other source, including the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), that brings together the breadth and depth
of material that this book does … the bottom line is that anyone
who wants to understand climate change and its impacts, but who
doesn't have time to earn a PhD on the topic, should buy this book
… Cowie does a brilliant job of weaving together the evolution of
life with the evolution of Earth's climate.' Bioscience
Review of the first edition: '[This book] is an impressive endeavor
that weaves together discussion of both natural and social science
processes associated with climate change … the strength of this
contribution is precisely the interdisciplinary approach taken to
such a multifaceted challenge. The author commendably accounts for
the dynamism and agency of biophysical as well as human elements in
telling this history at the human-environment interface.' Global
Environmental Politics
Review of the first edition: 'Overlapping the disciplines of
atmospheric and life sciences, this is the first book on aspects of
climate change and biological impacts which I have seen for some
years which addresses these issues in a comprehensive manner, by
showing the co-evolution of climate and life through geological
time. The book provides an up-to-date synthesis of this rapidly
developing field … The book will make an excellent teaching aid,
allowing students from the biological and atmospheric sciences to
see the fundamental interaction between climate change and life,
and an excellent reference for anybody interested in these
interactions.' Meteorological Applications
'Read this book and gain a new perspective on climate change. This
is above all an interdisciplinary topic, and hard to grasp in all
its essentials by those of us brought up in the old-fashioned
'single discipline' mode of instruction. Few people have put
together in such a compelling and reader-friendly way the full
extent of information about climate change and its effects, ranging
all the way from changes with geological time to real or potential
impacts on human health and welfare and on plant and animal life …
This is an invaluable, readable and well-referenced guide to where
we are now, how we got here, what is happening now, what may happen
next, and what we can do about it.' Colin Summerhayes,
Geoscientist
'… a useful synthesis of recent literature for undergraduates.' A.
M. Mannion, The Biologist
'This book provides a reasonable synopsis of the material available
on climatic change and is thus a useful addition to the literature
… a reasonable price for a good-sized text.' Antoinette Mannion,
BES Bulletin
'This book presents, in reader-friendly language, an immense amount
of information taken from primary literature from a great variety
of disciplines connected with the study of climate change and its
impacts. It is thus an invaluable reference not only for
undergraduate students, but also for scientists.' Simone Fattorini,
Biological Conservation
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
