The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge [Paperback]

Kirstin Dow (Author), Thomas E. Downing (Author), Bo Kjellén (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0520250230 | ISBN-13: 978-0520250239 | Edition: 1

Today's headlines and recent events reflect the gravity of climate change. Heat waves, droughts, and floods are bringing death to vulnerable populations, destroying livelihoods, and driving people from their homes.
Rigorous in its science and insightful in its message, this atlas examines the causes of climate change and considers its possible impact on subsistence, water resources, ecosystems, biodiversity, health, coastal megacities, and cultural treasures. It reviews historical contributions to greenhouse gas levels, progress in meeting international commitments, and local efforts to meet the challenge of climate change.
The atlas covers a wide range of topics, including
* warning signs
* future scenarios
* vulnerable populations
* health
* renewable energy
* emissions reduction
* personal and public action
With more than 50 full-color maps and graphics, this is an essential resource for policy makers, environmentalists, students, and everyone concerned with this pressing subject.

Copub: Myriad Editions Limited

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"No challenge is more urgent than the need to achieve climate security. We will not succeed unless we base our decisions on a clear understanding of the complex interplay between the choices we are making and their consequences for natural and human systems. This pioneering atlas sets out much of the available knowledge in an attractive and accessible way. It will become an essential point of reference for anyone looking for a quick and accurate overview of this multidisciplinary subject."--John Ashton, Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO)

About the Author

Kirstin Dow is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina, Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute, a contributor to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and Principal Investigator in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments research network addressing climate services. Thomas E. Downing is Executive Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxford Office; Visiting Professor at Oxford University; contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and advisor to national and international programmes on climate change. Bo Kjellènis former Swedish Ambassador to the United Nations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (October 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520250230
• ISBN-13: 978-0520250239
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,619,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Geography of Climate Change Issues, September 12, 2007

By 

Marla Conti "Geographer" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge (Paperback)

This is an excellent book for those wishing to study the issue of climate change from a geographical standpoint. The maps are excellent - they show exactly where evidence is being found to support global warming, what aeas of the world will be most impacted by global warming, and which nations have committed resources to slowing carbon emissions.

It is a visual guide to global warming, giving a very graphic perspective of the earth as a whole. The scientific explanations of the interacting systems of global winds, ocean currents, atmospheric gasses, and how they are being affected by human alterations, are particularly easy to understand because of the clear diagrams and colorful maps.

As an instructor of physical geography, I find this to be an excellent book for the non-scientist to undertand the physical processes and the science of global warming. The detailed yet easy-to-understand maps and diagrams add another dimension to an often dry and theoretical topic.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Written, Well Presented Primer on Global Warming, March 10, 2008

By 

Frederick S. Goethel "wildcatcreekbooks" (Central Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge, Revised and Updated (Atlas Of... (University of California Press)) (Paperback)

Written to be a textbook, this book is a good introductory primer into the physical science behind global warming. There are also graphs and discussions on what each country is doing financially (by GDP) to help solve the problem and which countries emit carbon and at what rate. It utilizes an extensive amount of graphs and maps, which makes it very easy to visualize the various topics presented.

I am using this currently as a supplemental text book in a community college class in global warming and have found it to be wonderful. It is not, as some other reviewers have seemed to imply, the end all book on the subject and does not delve into extreme detail into any on particular aspect of global warming. In fact, at a mere 128 pages, I cannot see it as more than a light treatment of the subject. What is does is supplement other textbooks which contain more discussion and less visualization.

This would be a good book for those interested in global warming but that have a hard time visualizing the issues. Combined with other, more detailed books, this would provide excellent information. This would also be recommended as text for us in a high school or college introductory environmental science class.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great idea, but, July 7, 2008

By 

Just Me (here and there across the USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge, Revised and Updated (Atlas Of... (University of California Press)) (Paperback)

This book has a great idea, which is to use maps to show how climate change is expected to affect various areas. The big flaw is that it lumps the entire United States together, rather than showing the changes expected in each region. Surely, climate change will have very different effects on Arizona, Maine, and Oregon. How about doing a book specific to the US?