Global Warming [antikvár]

Can humans change the climate? Could such everyday actions as turning on the lights and stepping on the gas have the unintended effect of warming our planet? What difference would a few degrees make, anyway? It's easier to pose such questions about global warming than to find complete answers, because the forces that determine climate are so complex. Understanding the forecast means, above all, understanding the process by which scientists investigate the past and present in order to anticipate the future. Since its founding in I 869, the American Museum of Natural History has been a leader in education and research in the fields of natural science and anthropology. From fossil records that date back millions of years, the Museum's scientists have studied how life on Earth has evolved amid occasional dramatic changes in global climate. Now the Museum has joined with the Environmental Defense Fund—a member-supported group of scientists, economists, and attorneys who develop solutions to environmental problems —in an unprecedented collaboration on the issue of global warming. This jointly published book, and the traveling exhibition that it complements, share a common mission; to promote understanding of Earth's climate and to show how humans have acquired the power to change it. Andrew Revkin weaves a story in which scenes of climate—past, present, and future—appear vividly before us. We are taken to hotter times when crocodiles roamed the Arctic and colder times when the Manhattan site ofthe American Museum was buried under a thousand feet of ice. In a compelling scenario, we are then shown one possible future that may result if we continue in our present course of "Business As Usual." Current human activities—such as the widespread burning of fossil fuels to run power plants and vehicles—are releasing carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse" gases into the atmosphere (gases so named because they trap heat much as the glass in a greenhouse does). If present trends continue and these gases effectively double in concentration during the coming century, a