Global warming: The complete briefing
John Houghton has drawn on the exhaustive efforts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to produce a notably compact, impeccably complete and authoritative, meticulously balanced, and lucidly presented guide to the complex yet vital issue of global warming. Its subtitle is not mere hyperbole: this truly is a complete briefing. Certainly, one could not ask for a more authoritative brief: Houghton has led an imposing series of national and international efforts relating to climate, including the most recent scientific assessments of the IPCC. Citing many concrete examples, Houghton begins by convincing that climate truly is important to humankind and that climate is far from constant. He then elucidates the mechanisms that maintain the benign climate of our planet, providing in the process, for example, the most accurate explanation of the natural greenhouse effect that has yet appeared in print. He then treats the individual greenhouse gases responsible for maintaining the earth`s warmth and presents projections of their probable future concentrations as influenced by human activities. Further chapters deal with conclusions drawn from climate models, estimates of the impacts on human activities, and possible policies and actions to mitigate or alleviate the changes and their consequences.
- OSTI ID:
- 86556
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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