Dangerous Earth

Dangerous Earth PDF Author: Ellen Prager
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022654169X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
The Earth is a beautiful and wondrous planet, but also frustratingly complex and, at times, violent: much of what has made it livable can also cause catastrophe. Volcanic eruptions create land and produce fertile, nutrient-rich soil, but they can also bury forests, fields, and entire towns under ash, mud, lava, and debris. The very forces that create and recycle Earth’s crust also spawn destructive earthquakes and tsunamis. Water and wind bring and spread life, but in hurricanes they can leave devastation in their wake. And while it is the planet’s warmth that enables life to thrive, rapidly increasing temperatures are causing sea levels to rise and weather events to become more extreme. Today, we know more than ever before about the powerful forces that can cause catastrophe, but significant questions remain. Why can’t we better predict some natural disasters? What do scientists know about them already? What do they wish they knew? In Dangerous Earth, marine scientist and science communicator Ellen Prager explores the science of investigating volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides, rip currents, and—maybe the most perilous hazard of all—climate change. Each chapter considers a specific hazard, begins with a game-changing historical event (like the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens or the landfall and impacts of Hurricane Harvey), and highlights what remains unknown about these dynamic phenomena. Along the way, we hear from scientists trying to read Earth’s warning signs, pass its messages along to the rest of us, and prevent catastrophic loss. A sweeping tour of some of the most awesome forces on our planet—many tragic, yet nonetheless awe-inspiring—Dangerous Earth is an illuminating journey through the undiscovered, unresolved, and in some cases unimagined mysteries that continue to frustrate and fascinate the world’s leading scientists: the “wish-we-knews” that ignite both our curiosity and global change.

Dangerous Earth

Dangerous Earth PDF Author: Ellen Prager
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022654169X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Earth is a beautiful and wondrous planet, but also frustratingly complex and, at times, violent: much of what has made it livable can also cause catastrophe. Volcanic eruptions create land and produce fertile, nutrient-rich soil, but they can also bury forests, fields, and entire towns under ash, mud, lava, and debris. The very forces that create and recycle Earth’s crust also spawn destructive earthquakes and tsunamis. Water and wind bring and spread life, but in hurricanes they can leave devastation in their wake. And while it is the planet’s warmth that enables life to thrive, rapidly increasing temperatures are causing sea levels to rise and weather events to become more extreme. Today, we know more than ever before about the powerful forces that can cause catastrophe, but significant questions remain. Why can’t we better predict some natural disasters? What do scientists know about them already? What do they wish they knew? In Dangerous Earth, marine scientist and science communicator Ellen Prager explores the science of investigating volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides, rip currents, and—maybe the most perilous hazard of all—climate change. Each chapter considers a specific hazard, begins with a game-changing historical event (like the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens or the landfall and impacts of Hurricane Harvey), and highlights what remains unknown about these dynamic phenomena. Along the way, we hear from scientists trying to read Earth’s warning signs, pass its messages along to the rest of us, and prevent catastrophic loss. A sweeping tour of some of the most awesome forces on our planet—many tragic, yet nonetheless awe-inspiring—Dangerous Earth is an illuminating journey through the undiscovered, unresolved, and in some cases unimagined mysteries that continue to frustrate and fascinate the world’s leading scientists: the “wish-we-knews” that ignite both our curiosity and global change.

Dangerous Climates

Dangerous Climates PDF Author: Janey Levy
Publisher: Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP
ISBN: 1538239612
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description
All of us occupy a climate and deal with the effects of that climate on a daily basis. Most of the time we don't think too much about it, other than deciding what to wear and maybe what to eat, but sometimes climates can be deadly. Readers of this engaging book will learn about some of the threats they might encounter in some of Earth's most dangerous climates. The main text, fact boxes, and a graphic organizer support important elementary science concepts, while vivid, eye-catching photographs bring the narrative into sharp focus.

The Moral Challenge of Dangerous Climate Change

The Moral Challenge of Dangerous Climate Change PDF Author: Darrel Moellendorf
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139916084
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
This book examines the threat that climate change poses to projects of poverty eradication, sustainable development, and biodiversity preservation. It discusses the values that support these projects and evaluates the normative bases of climate change policy. It regards climate change policy as a public problem that normative philosophy can shed light on and assumes that the development of policy should be based on values regarding what is important to respect, preserve, and protect. What sort of policy do we owe the poor of the world who are particularly vulnerable to climate change? Why should our generation take on the burden of mitigating climate change caused, in no small part, by emissions from people now dead? What value is lost when species go extinct, because of climate change? This book presents a broad and inclusive discussion of climate change policy, relevant to those with interests in public policy, development studies, environmental studies, political theory, and moral and political philosophy.

A Dangerous New World

A Dangerous New World PDF Author: Meghan Sterling
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578598284
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
An anthology of poetry, essays, and visual art on the climate crisis by Maine writers and artists with a foreword by Governor Janet Mills.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster PDF Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385546149
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change

Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change PDF Author: Wolfgang P. Cramer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521864712
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
This volume, first published in 2006, presents findings on climate change from leading international scientists, for researchers, policy-makers and engineers.

Managing the Climate Crisis

Managing the Climate Crisis PDF Author: Jonathan Barnett
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1642832006
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Natural disasters from heat waves to coastal and river flooding will inevitably become worse because of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. Managing them is possible, but planners, designers, and policymakers need to advance adaptation and preventative measures now. Managing the Climate Crisis: Designing and Building for Floods, Heat, Drought and Wildfire by design and planning experts Jonathan Barnett and Matthijs Bouw is a practical guide to addressing this urgent national security problem. Barnett and Bouw draw from the latest scientific findings and include many recent, real-world examples to illustrate how to manage seven climate-related threats: flooding along coastlines, river flooding, flash floods from extreme rain events, drought, wildfire, long periods of high heat, and food shortages.

Dangerous Years

Dangerous Years PDF Author: David W. Orr
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300225105
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
A leading environmental thinker takes a hard look at the obstacles and possibilities on the long road to sustainability This gripping, deeply thoughtful book considers future of civilization in the light of what we know about climate change and related threats. David Orr, an award-winning, internationally recognized leader in the field of sustainability and environmental education, pulls no punches: even with the Paris Agreement of 2015, Earth systems will not reach a new equilibrium for centuries. Earth is becoming a different planet—more threadbare and less biologically diverse, with more acidic oceans and a hotter, more capricious climate. Furthermore, technology will not solve complex problems of sustainability. Yet we are not fated to destroy the Earth, Orr insists. He imagines sustainability as a quest and a transition built upon robust and durable democratic and economic institutions, as well as changes in heart and mindset. The transition, he writes, is beginning from the bottom up in communities and neighborhoods. He lays out specific principles and priorities to guide us toward enduring harmony between human and natural systems.

Global Weirdness

Global Weirdness PDF Author: Climate Central
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307743365
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Sixty easty-to-read essays that enlarge our understanding of how climate change affects our daily lives, and arms us with the incontrovertible facts we need to make informed decisions about the future of the planet, and of humankind. “A breath of fresh air: just the facts, efficient and easy to understand.” —Scientific American Global Weirdness summarizes everything we know about the science of climate change, explains what is likely to happen to the climate in the future, and lays out, in practical terms, what we can do to avoid further shifts. Climate Central tackles basic questions such as: -Is climate ever “normal”? -Why and how do fossil-fuel burning and other human practices produce greenhouse gases? -What natural forces have caused climate change in the past? -What risks does climate change pose for human health? -What accounts for the diminishment of mountain glaciers and small ice caps around the world since 1850? -What are the economic costs and benefits of reducing carbon emissions?

Floods

Floods PDF Author: Michael Allaby
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438108656
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Presents information on these most damaging of all natural disasters from the perspective of basic meteorology and environmental science, including floodplains, aquifers, tsunamis, the cost of floods, and prevention.