Cover Image

The global climate crisis : what to do about it /

Reaching Net Zero: What It Takes to Solve the Global Climate Crisis addresses the imminent need to fully understand the causes, effects, and evidence of global warming due to the large amount of climate disinformation and complexity of much of the available valid science.

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fletcher, William D. (Author), Smith, Craig B. (Author)
Corporate Author: ScienceDirect (Online service)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Amsterdam : Elsevier, [2024]
Edition:Second edition.
Subjects:
Climatic changes.
Climatic changes > Social aspects.
Climat > Changements.
Climat > Changements > Aspect social.
climate change.
Electronic books.
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Front Cover
  • The Global Climate Crisis
  • The Global Climate Crisis: What To Do About It
  • Copyright
  • Contents
  • List of Figures
  • List of Tables
  • List of Photos
  • List of Textboxes and Special Reports
  • Textboxes
  • Special Reports
  • Preface: Why read this book?
  • Highlights
  • Acknowledgments
  • Acronyms
  • 1
  • Introduction
  • Highlights
  • Introduction
  • Should we be concerned about global warming?
  • What about solar radiation?
  • The greenhouse effect
  • What are the greenhouse gases?
  • What are the signs of global warming?
  • What are the dangers of global warming?
  • Can anything be done about global warming? See Textbox 1.1
  • 2
  • Dealing with global warming
  • Highlights
  • What is the challenge?
  • Latency is a huge problem
  • Global warming is not obvious to the vast majority of people
  • The global economy is powered by fossil fuels
  • There is a need for unprecedented and perhaps unachievable international cooperation
  • All of us will have to be willing to accept changes
  • What can be done?
  • One
  • 3
  • The earth as a system
  • Highlights
  • Incident solar radiation
  • Milankovitch cycles
  • More about the greenhouse effect
  • Carbon cycle
  • Temperature increase-land and sea
  • 4- Fundamental drivers of global warming
  • Highlights
  • Global population rising
  • Inequities: The early role of the United States and United Kingdom
  • The pivotal position of the United States
  • Need to consider both absolute and per capita emissions
  • GDP growth and energy use are related
  • More energy will be required by developing countries
  • Findings
  • 5
  • Evidence for a warming planet
  • Highlights
  • Global warming is not a new idea
  • Earth's temperature is rising
  • Ocean temperatures are rising
  • CO2 emissions are rising
  • Correlation of increasing global temperature with increasing atmospheric CO2.
  • Sea levels are rising
  • Ocean acidification is occurring
  • A message from the Arctic?
  • Greenland, polar ice caps, sea ice, and glaciers
  • Greenland and polar ice
  • Glaciers
  • Permafrost is melting
  • Extreme weather events are increasing
  • Deserts and tropics are expanding
  • Rising temperatures are causing plant, animal, and human migration
  • Methane emissions
  • Watching the evidence
  • 6
  • How do we know greenhouse gases are the issue?
  • Highlights
  • Where do greenhouse gases come from?
  • What happens to CO2 emissions?
  • The significance of carbon 14
  • Historic emissions since the Industrial Revolution
  • Increases in atmospheric CO2 correlate with fossil fuel use
  • What is your carbon footprint?
  • 7
  • What are the effects of global warming?
  • Highlights
  • Latency-How long before effects show up?
  • Climate change versus weather
  • Earth's temperature will continue to rise
  • Air pollution will increase
  • Sea level rise causes flooding
  • Oceans becoming warmer and more acidic
  • Glaciers, icecaps, and sea ice melt
  • Subsidence occurs and permafrost melts
  • Deserts and tropics expand
  • Rising temperatures are causing species extinction and migration
  • Extreme weather events are more frequent and severe
  • Droughts and wildfires are increasing
  • There are impacts on agriculture
  • Deforestation
  • Public health problems are increasing
  • Global warming could cause a financial crisis
  • National security implications
  • Tipping points: Unanticipated changes can occur
  • What can we say for sure?
  • References
  • 8
  • International efforts to address global warming
  • Highlights
  • Early efforts1
  • History of IPCC global warming objectives2
  • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
  • IPCC reports
  • The Paris Agreement5
  • United Nations emission gap reports
  • UN Conferences of Parties.
  • The UN Secretary-General's observations at COP27
  • How is the world doing?
  • The big three: Plans to reach net zero (China, United States, India)
  • China
  • United States
  • India
  • Outlook for other major emitters (Japan, Germany, Russia)
  • Japan
  • Germany
  • Russia
  • Two
  • 9
  • What would it take to stop global warming?
  • Highlights
  • Doing nothing is not an option
  • Are we too late already?
  • Can we stop global warming?2
  • What would it take?
  • Effect of Nationally Determined Contributions
  • What are the intergovernmental panel on climate change scenarios?
  • Carbon capture
  • What will happen if we do nothing?
  • The high cost of doing nothing
  • 10
  • Energy alternatives
  • Highlights
  • Fossil fuels: Coal, oil, natural gas, and biofuels
  • Nuclear power6
  • Renewable energy
  • Energy storage
  • Efficiency improvements
  • Transportation
  • Hydrogen
  • Converting CO2 into useable liquid fuels
  • Fusion
  • Smart grids
  • The micro grid
  • 11- Why is global warming such a difficult problem to solve?
  • Highlights
  • The problem is much more difficult
  • The need for unprecedented, perhaps unachievable, global cooperation
  • Lessons from past successes need to be considered
  • The National Highway System
  • The Apollo program
  • The channel tunnel
  • Fossil fuels are heavily subsidized
  • There has been a systematic campaign of misinformation
  • Climate change deniers
  • Understanding climate change skepticism
  • Global warming has not been a media priority
  • Public uncertainty and education
  • A positive message is needed
  • Public support for government action
  • Why it is hard to replace fossil fuels?
  • Recognizing political leaders can make mistakes
  • Acknowledging that failure is a possibility
  • 12
  • Some successes and failures
  • Highlights
  • The Permian Basin, a renewable energy powerhouse
  • 1970s oil price hikes.
  • Automobile emissions
  • Hole in the ozone layer
  • Cigarette smoking and cancer
  • Europe's push for diesel vehicles
  • Nuclear power in the United States
  • Ethanol
  • California high-speed rail
  • Lessons learned
  • Three
  • 13
  • Action plan: Efficiency, power, transportation, and land use
  • Highlights
  • An action plan, recognizing we can't get to net zero by 2050
  • Action plan summary
  • Do we need another moon shot?
  • The challenges of a global approach
  • Critical need to improve electric grid reliability11
  • What does En-ROADS show?
  • Game changers
  • Can the IPCC goal of keeping global warming under 2°C be met?
  • Why can't we do better?
  • Improve carbon sequestration
  • Silver bullets
  • Mitigation
  • Financial measures: cap and trade and carbon fee
  • Cap and trade
  • Carbon fee
  • References
  • 14
  • Can it be done?
  • Highlights
  • The trend is our friend
  • Can solar energy power the world?
  • Can wind power the world?
  • What would it cost?
  • Can we afford it?
  • Fossil fuel subsidies
  • 15
  • The way forward
  • Highlights
  • The future can be bright
  • Need for a smooth transition
  • Top priorities
  • Government actions
  • Actions for concerned citizens
  • Actions for industry
  • What next?
  • Afterword
  • Further reading
  • Useful reports
  • Useful websites
  • Four
  • Appendices
  • Index
  • Back Cover
  • Backcover.