Down-to-Earth Guide To Global Warming (Paperback)

by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon (Author)
Key Phrases: golden toad, United States, Hurricane Katrina, North America (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Irreverent and entertaining, DOWN TO EARTH is filled with fact about global warming and its disastrous consequences, loads of photos and illustrations, as well as suggestions for how kids can help combat global warming in their homes, schools, and communities. Engagingly designed, DOWN TO EARTH will educate and empower, leaving readers with the knowledge they need to understand this problem and a sense of hope to inspire them into action.

About the Author
LAURIE DAVID is devoted to stopping global warming. She founded the Stop Global Warming Virtual March and has produced several projects that aim to bring global warming to public attention, including the TBS Earth to America! comedy special, the HBO documentary Too Hot Not to Handle, and Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. She was voted Glamour’s Woman of the Year for 2006. Laurie lives with her husband and their two daughters in Los Angeles, California.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (September 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439024943
• ISBN-13: 978-0439024945
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,101 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Incorrect Critical Charts, September 28, 2007

By	J. S. Green - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Readers should be aware that the the first editions of this book contain a chart (page 18 ) of the past 650,000 years that shows that CO2 emissions rose BEFORE global temperatures. In fact, the chart is reversed - CO2 emissions did rise, but only hundreds (in some cases thousands) of years AFTER temperature rises. For some reason the chart lines are backwards.

Scholastic is planning to issue a revised version with an updated chart, but there will be no revision to the text of the book, which references and explains the chart. I don't know that most kids will notice that the chart does not support the argument, but an important subject like this should be accurate in all details.

With such inaccuracies I do not recommend the book. Explain global warming to your children yourself - and be sure and use accurate information!

23 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even the reviews are making us think!, October 6, 2007

By	P. Simonds "free thinker" (Boise, Idaho) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I can't help noticing that reviews of this book mirror the controversy surrounding this topic. And that's a good thing. (I also can't help noticing what feels like a coordinated attack based on a single technical error, as if that discredited the fundamental science behind this book's premise, which no serious scientist doubts.) In my household, this wonderfully written, funny, accessible and very important book has led to lots of healthy discussions about our world -- and our own household. Suddenly my kids -- 10 and 7 -- are talking and thinking about electricity and water usage, recycling, gas mileage, thermostat settings, and even the great outdoors itself, in ways they never did before. I'm glad this book has people talking, because, as the book points out, the solutions to this problem will make us stronger as a people, and there's much more danger in doing -- or saying -- nothing.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars And there you have it - the fundamental argument is "this is just fact, no matter what the facts say"., April 8, 2009

By	Deborah Gaydos "My 2 boys' mom" (Near Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A prior review states: "I also can't help noticing what feels like a coordinated attack based on a single technical error, as if that discredited the FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE behind this book's premise, WHICH NO SERIOUS SCIENTISTS DOUBTS." (Caps added for emphasis.) The global-warming koolaid drinkers will just keep repeating the mantra that "man-made global warming is a proven fact" over and over again, and referring to the hundreds of highly-credentialed experts in the field who disagree with that fundamental premise as something OTHER THAN "serious scientists".

I'm all in favor of being good stewards of our earth, but this kind of unsupported (and unsupportable) attack on the vast volume of evidence that isn't in lock-step with the agenda of the global warming theorists is pure propaganda. A scientifically legitimate book would consider both sides of the argument.