Suggestions for readings on climate change

With world leaders gathered in Copenhagen discussing climate change, the Water Library has cataloged some recent titles on this important topic into its collection:

Climate change : the science, impacts and solutions / by A. Barrie Pittock. London : Earthscan ; Collingwood, VIC, 2009. Call No. 030851

Pittock examines the latest analyses of climate change, such as new and alarming observations regarding Arctic sea ice, the recently published IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, and the policies of the new Australian Government and how they affect the implementation of climate change initiatives. 2nd ed.

Global warming : looking beyond Kyoto / Ernesto Zedillo, editor. New Haven, Conn. : Center for the Study of Globalization, Yale University ; Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, 2008. Call No. 030856

The volume gathers essays by leading experts, ranging from climate scientists to economic modelers to lawyers, prepared after a conference at Yale University in late 2005. The authors provide a diverse range of views on the hardness of the scientific evidence for climate change; on the prospects for building an international cooperative arrangement on the basis of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012; and on alternatives to the Kyoto Protocol.

The great warming : climate change and the rise and fall of civilizations / Brian Fagan. New York : Bloomsbury Press : Distributed to the trade by Macmillan, 2008. Call No. 030860

Anthropologist and historian Brian Fagan reveals how subtle changes in the environment had far-reaching effects on human life, in a narrative that sweeps from the Arctic ice cap to the Sahara to the Indian Ocean.

Our choice : a plan to solve the climate crisis / By Albert Gore. New York : Melcher Media ; Emmaus, PA : Rodale: 2009. Call No. 030849

Our Choice gathers the solutions that could solve the climate crisis. It is meant to depoliticize the issue as much as possible and inspire readers to take action—not only on an individual basis but as participants in the political processes.

Storms of my grandchildren : the truth about the coming climate catastrophe and our last chance to save humanity / by James Hansen. New York : Bloomsbury USA, 2009. Call No. 030857

An urgent and provocative call to action from the world's leading climate scientist--speaking out here for the first time with the full story of what we need to know about humanity's last chance to get off the path to a catastrophic global meltdown, and why we don't know the half of it. Illustrations by Makiko Sato.

The Water Library also has an extended reading list if you wish to dig deeper into this topic. And these books are all available for checkout to any citizen from Wisconsin. Just send an email to askwater at aqua.wisc.edu