Our failure to curb population growth, as well as our energy and technological decisions, are fast making humankind the dominant force in environmental change. Humans already have increased the amount of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas, to unprecedented levels-higher than nature has experienced in hundreds of thousands of years. We have coopted nearly half the natural production of the plants of the world, and have fragmented the landscape by cutting down forests and building up settlements. Just through our energy usage, humans will likely warm up the planet from 3° to 8° F. (it took a drop of only 9° to bring on the Ice Age). Unlike any other book on the subject. "Laboratory Earth" interrelates these critical problems and provides a framework for considering global change issues. Filled with fascinating facts and information, it is a timely and important book for everyone concerned about the future of Earth-and humankind."Inviting and trustworthy . . . The MacArthur Fellowship-winning Stanford scientist explains all the essential terms and concepts--heat trapping, the carbon cycle, the average speed of "natural" temperature change over the past 160,000 years, and so forth--and fairly summarizes what is now known."Curt Suplee, "Washington Post"
"This primer contains fundamental information about what affects the earth's climate over geologic time and thus promotes informed, not polemical, debate."--Gilbert Taylor, "A. L. A. Booklist"
