Overview

Earth's climate has varied considerably over the past 500 million years - from severe glaciation to a hot-house - and the Planet has endured those many changes. Over the past 200,000 years humans have had to adapt to many climate changes, often migrating to a better climate. But we can no longer pick up our shelters and move to a more favourable environment. So, climate change is all about us - our ability to mitigate and adapt to a rapidly changing climate. This text provides students and other readers with a comprehensive understanding of the basics of climate change. There are over 7.8 billion people living on Earth and we have totally dominated the natural environment. The global climate is changing at a rate faster than ever in human history and climate events are severely impacting the global economy and human health and safety. Scientists are warning us that limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is now unlikely and the we must prepare for a very different and inhospitable environment. Basics of Climate Change covers a topics ranging from ancient climate change, how ancient climates are determined, science of climate change, natural climate drivers, anthropogenic (human caused) climate drivers, how we know recent climate change is anthropogenic, impacts on civilization, global strategies to reduce carbon emissions, community and personal actions, global economic and health impacts, renewable energies, financial implications, national strategies, to asking the important question - can we as a global community meet the challenge to limit climate change or will we have to adapt to a very different inhospitable global climate. The 2020 pandemic global lockdown and recent political changes have triggered changes in the environment to combat climate change since I wrote the first edition to Basics of Climate Change two years ago. Recent initiatives coming from the United States and other nations have generated new hope in the world. According to the United Nations, if governments fulfil all their promises to become carbon neutral within 30 or 40 years, the global temperature increase could be limited to 2.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100. In 2019, when I wrote the first edition, the world was very much on the way to 3 degrees Celsius of heating with disastrous impacts. However, we need to be watchful. The global COVID-19 lockdowns caused fossil carbon dioxide emissions to decline by an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes in 2020 - a record drop according to researchers. However, due to the long-lived nature of greenhouse gasses, 2020 saw an increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere to 415 parts per million (ppm), the highest ever recorded in human history. And, scientists suggest that by 2030, the 2020 lockdown effects on global temperatures will be only 0.01 degrees Celsius lower than expected. Education is the primary tool to combat global climate change. This book is prepared for the general reader and as an educational text book for the classroom. At the end of each chapter there are questions for students, as well as links to relevant Internet sites to assist readers pursue further understanding of topics discussed in the chapter.

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