A Short Introduction to Climate Change provides a clear, balanced and well documented account of one of the most important issues of our time. It covers developments in climate science over the past 250 years and shows that recent climate change is more than the result of natural variability. It explains the difference between weather and climate by examining changes in temperature, rainfall, Arctic ice and ocean currents. It also considers the consequences of our use of fossil fuels and discusses some of the ways to reduce further global warming. Tony Eggleton avoids the use of scientific jargon to provide a reader-friendly explanation of the science of climate change. Concise but comprehensive and richly illustrated with a wealth of full-colour figures and photographs, A Short Introduction to Climate Change is essential reading for anyone who has an interest in climate science and in the future of our planet.
Preface
1. The spirit of enquiry
2. Global warming
3. Weather is not climate
4. The thermostat
5. Droughts and flooding rains
6. Snow and ice
7. The ocean
8. From ice-house to greenhouse
9. The last two thousand years
10. Carbon dioxide and methane
11. Denial
12. Bet your grandchildrens' lives on it too?