Laboratory Earth [Paperback]

Steven H. Schneider (Author)

Book Description

Series: Science Masters | Publication Date: September 15, 1998

Laboratory Earth taps the relevant knowledge from physical, biological, and social sciences needed to study the planet holistically. This so-called Earth Systems Science fosters a new way to understand the Earth and our roles as inhabitants, with the purpose of building solutions to the bewildering global environment and overdevelopment.Educational, business, health, and governmental organizations often dissect the world into narrow but highly specialized disciplines—economics, ecology, cardiology, meteorology, glaciology, or political science, to name a few. But real world problems, like urban sprawl, public health, poverty, toxic waste, economic development, the ozone hole, or global warming, do not fit neatly into disciplinary boxes. However, author Stephen Schneider asserts that these contemporary issues must be viewed as systems of interconnected subelements. This is especially true for global environmental problems, since they arise from increasing numbers of people demanding higher standards of living and willing to use the cheapest available technologies to pursue these growth-oriented goals, even if the unintended byproducts include land degradation, toxic pollutants, species extinctions, or global climate change. To first understand and then solve such problems, we must learn to view the Earth and our socioeconomic engine as one integrated system.Schneider, who in the 1970s predicted global warming would become “demonstrable” by the turn of the century, chooses that debate to illustrate how this twenty-first century Earth Systems Science approach works, introducing us to the sharp controversies and highly visible debates among climatologists, ecologists, economists, industrialists, and political interests over the seriousness and solutions to the climate change crisis. He begins with a fascinating journey to the beginning of geologic time on Earth and traces from there the coevolution of climate and life over the next four billion years. Along the way we learn about the Gaia Hypothesis, the demise of the dinosaurs, and the likelihood of an impending ice age.Schneider traces our climatic history not only from the beginning and up to the twentieth century, but deep into the twenty-first as well. He depicts the next one hundred years as a potentially perilous period for climate and life—unless we citizens of Earth recognize and then work to control the unintended global scale experiment we are foisting on ourselves and all other life on “Laboratory Earth.” This “lab” is not built of glass, wires, and tubes, but of insects, soils, air, oceans, birds, trees, and people. While no honest scientist can claim to have clairvoyant vision into the twenty-first century, Schneider optimistically demonstrates that enough is already known to command our attention and to insure that the juggernaut of human impacts on Earth doesn’t turn into a gamble we can’t afford to lose.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Stephen H. Schneider is a big player in the study of global warming. As a climatologist at Stanford and as author and editor of several books on the greenhouse effect, including the Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather and Global Warming, his insights into the impact of industrial emissions on climate change influence policy makers and environmental activists alike. In Laboratory Earth, Schneider has digested the complex and quantitative details of global warming into an accessible overview of the scientific situation that never slides into simplification. The details of global warming can at times seem overwhelming, but Schneider's slim volume admirably attempts to tell this story with the sense of importance and immediacy he clearly believes it deserves. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Global climate change is a complex topic, and there's no one better equipped to make it accessible to the public than Stanford biologist Schneider (Global Warming: Are We Entering the Greenhouse Century). He was one of the first scientists to predict global warming due to anthropogenic causes 20 years ago and, since then, has consistently advised government agencies on the subject. Unfortunately, it is too intricate for the abbreviated book he has written. He offers chapters on basic geological processes, the coevolution of life and climate, the causes of climatic change, mechanisms for modeling that change, the importance of biodiversity and policy options. All are disappointing with respect to style and substance; the writing is flat and the content too condensed to enlighten the uninformed. The policy section is the best. Good suggestions abound here?that we understand the role of the media in (mis)informing the public, that we integrate economics and ecology, that we create a scientific consensus. Had this single chapter been expanded to book length, Schneider might well have produced a volume that deserved a wide readership. Illustrations.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 174 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (September 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465072801
• ISBN-13: 978-0465072804
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,178,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Noted Climatologist Updates Global Warming Debate, April 1, 1998

By 

Richard Warren Field (Tarzana, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Laboratory Earth: The Planetary Gamble We Can't Afford to Lose (Science Masters Series) (Hardcover)

LABORATORY EARTH simply and effectively describes the current status of research on the issue of climate change caused by human activities. The first part of the book summarizes the scientific basis for the conclusion that humans are currently raising the global temperature. The last part of the book discusses political and economic policy implications, as well as refuting arguments made within the last decade by scientists who have spearheaded the backlash against concerns about global warming. Schneider explains the scientific complexities of his specialty clearly. The book is part of the "Science Masters" series, which offers up-to-date understandings of various scientific disciplines by eminent scientists. LABORATORY EARTH will educate and enlighten without the tedium often found in more technical writing. This book should be on the reading list for the current debate about this planet's climate changes. END