cover image The Hot Topic: What We Can Do About Global Warming

The Hot Topic: What We Can Do About Global Warming

Gabrielle Walker, David King, . . Harvest, $14 (276pp) ISBN 978-0-15-603318-3

In this excellent primer on arguably the most serious problem facing the world today, Walker (An Ocean of Air ) and King, the U.K.'s chief science adviser, present in concise layman's language “everything you wanted to know about global warming but were too depressed to ask.” They explain how fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide, show how global warming is affecting individual species and changing entire ecosystems, predict how much more climate change we can afford before things become truly catastrophic, and consider economic and political solutions to the problem. They contend that we must rein in greenhouse gases in the next two decades if we want to leave a habitable planet for our grandchildren, and in order to do this, individuals must cut down on carbon emissions and at the same time pressure their governments to do the same by adopting low-carbon technologies such as geothermal, wind, solar and nuclear power. Entertaining as well as deadly serious, this lucid book, which includes an appendix that dispels many myths and misconceptions, explains in the clearest possible way why we should care about global warming and what we can do about it. (Apr.)