Climate Central’s New Book: What You Need to Know

Published: December 8th, 2009 in Basics

Climate Central is proud to announce the release of it's first publication: What You Need to Know: Twenty Questions and Answers About Climate Change (downloadable below). This book represents a joint effort between the scientists and communicators at Climate Central and Sally Ride Science. Using straightforward language, the issue of climate change is divided into three parts: The Science, The Impacts, and The Solutions.

This book is based on the best scientific data and understanding available to date. Like all branches of science, the study of climate change will keep absorbing new data and reaching new insights. But we emphasize that while we don’t know everything about climate change by any means, we do know a great deal — much more than we did just two decades ago when the issue first emerged. We know enough to state with a high degree of confidence that human-caused climate change will be one of the greatest challenges of the coming century, and that addressing it calls for an honest discussion of the science, without respect to politics or advocacy of any sort.

Scientists and policymakers overwhelmingly agree that Earth's climate is changing. They agree that human activities are largely to blame, among them the burning of fossil fuels for transportation, manufacturing, and the production of electricity; the widespread destruction of forest; and the practice of large-scale agriculture. They also agree that the consequences, including rising sea levels; disruption of water supplies; increases in wildfires, droughts, and severe storms; and the acidification of the oceans are underway now, and could be harmful to people, animals, plants, and the worldwide economy.

Such changes are in addition to the natural variations in climate, which are a hallmark of our planet. A further hallmark of Earth is that its human society is rapidly developing a deep scientific understanding of the climate system. Moreover, this scientific understanding is being assessed carefully every five to six years through the processes of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This assessment looks not only at the underlying science, but it also assesses our knowledge on ways to address climate change.

The first way to address climate change is mitigation — limiting future emissions of greenhouse gases by (to name just one possible strategy) switching from carbon-intensive fuels like coal to renewable sources of energy and by reducing our use of energy through smart conservation. The second is adaptation, or adjusting to changes in climate (moving people away from sea coasts, perhaps).

In order to decide what actions to take, however, it’s crucial to have the best possible information on what we actually know for sure about climate change and its projected effects. How much, exactly, will sea level rise, and how quickly? How much warmer will temperatures be in 50 years? In 100? How well can we predict what areas will be hit by droughts? What steps require international cooperation, and what can be accomplished at the national, local, and even personal level? And how much will it cost?

This book represents a joint effort between the scientists and communicators at Climate Central and Sally Ride Science. Using straightforward language, we divide the issue of climate change into three parts — The Science, The Impacts, and The Solutions. In part one, we present an overview of what scientists know about the nature of climate change. In part two, we present the likely impacts of climate change and what could be in store in the future. And in part three, we review a range of possible solutions. We hope that this approach enables readers to better see the ever-growing risks associated with climate change and better know what solutions are available to them. Climate change is a problem, by its very nature, that will require a long-term strategy.

Download our free PDF version of the book, or purchase a copy from the Sally Ride Science Store.
Questions and answers from the book are also available in Climate Central's Library FAQ and in our Video FAQ sections.