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Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity
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$ 19.50
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767504 |
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Item Description...
Overview
A leading scientist on climate issues offers his views on the growing threat of human-caused climate change and looks at why the proposed solutions are not sufficient to stop a global meltdown.
Publishers Description
An urgent and provocative call to action from the world's leading climate scientist—speaking out here for the first time with the full story of what we need to know about humanity's last chance to get off the path to a catastrophic global meltdown, and why we don't know the half of it. In Storms of My Grandchildren, Dr. James Hansen—the nation's leading scientist on climate issues—speaks out for the first time with the full truth about global warming: The planet is hurtling even more rapidly than previously acknowledged to a climatic point of no return. Although the threat of human-caused climate change is now widely recognized, politicians have failed to connect policy with the science, responding instead with ineffectual remedies dictated by special interests. Hansen shows why President Obama's solution, cap-and-trade, which Al Gore has signed on to, won't work; why we must phase out all coal, and why 350 ppm of carbon dioxide is a goal we must achieve if our children and grandchildren are to avoid global meltdown and the storms of the book's title. This urgent manifesto bucks conventional wisdom (including the Kyoto Protocol) and is sure to stir controversy, but Hansen—whose climate predictions have come to pass again and again, beginning in the 1980s when he first warned Congress about global warming—is the single most credible voice on the subject worldwide. Hansen paints a devastating but all-too-realistic picture of what will happen in the near future, mere years and decades from now, if we follow the course we're on. But he is also an optimist, showing that there is still time to do what we need to save the planet. Urgent, strong action is needed, and this book, released to coincide with the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009, will be key in setting the agenda going forward to create a groundswell, a tipping point, to save humanity—and our grandchildren—from a dire fate more imminent than we had supposed. Learn more at www.stormsofmygrandchildren.com |
Item Specifications...
Pages 304
Dimensions: Length: 1" Width: 6.25" Height: 9.25"
Weight: 1.15 lbs.
Binding Hardcover
Release Date Dec 8, 2009
ISBN 1608192008
EAN 9781608192007
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Availability 1 units.
Availability accurate as of May 30, 2012 03:54.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | An informative and important book Dec 11, 2009 |
| Jim Hansen lays out what will happen if we don't take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gases. He bases this not on future models but on analysis of past climates. I'm at the COP15 conference right now and I have to say that most people here don't understand the clear message that Jim Hansen is sending. You owe it to your children to read this book. | | | | The real science behind global warming, explained Dec 11, 2009 |
| James Hansen is an incredible storyteller. And, considering he is the scientist who first called global warming to the world's attention back in the 80's, he speaks with obvious authority. No one who reads this book can doubt that global warming is real, is happening now, and could destroy much of what has taken mankind thousands of years to build. Hansen makes the science come to life and makes it clear why it is so urgent for even the non-scientists among us to understand the truth about climate change. The oceans really ARE rising. We have to wake up, people! Brilliant, and compelling, and unforgettable. | | |  | Nothing new or revealing Dec 11, 2009 |
While Hansen may have good intentions behind this book, there is nothing that conclusively shows his alarmist viewpoint is correct - not even close. There's nothing wrong with being independent and he shows this aspect of his political and scientific beliefs very well. But he seems to think that holding such "independent" views and widely and openly criticizing everything from Obama's cap and trade plan to the IPCC to numerical models somehow makes him right (which he claims is the case as he bases his climate sensitivities, etc. on proxy data). He is in his upper 60's and has a lot of experience - unfortunately his political experience overwhelms his scientific experience/arguments.
Hansen rehashes all kinds of climate change science in everyday, easy to understand language. Unfortunately, this 'laymens' approach is not representative of reality, in which easy, clear cut evidence is sorted through to obtain what is obviously the right conclusion. He contradicts himself as well - although he seems to realize it and includes all kinds of if's, and's, or's, and but's. One example: he says we do not know enough about the climate forcings over the past millenium to accurately estimate climate sensitivities. However, he claims enough is known about the climate and the forcings present 20,000 years ago when the northern U.S. was under a kilometer of ice. So, in a huge exercise in extrapolation and conjecture (that we know enough about the climate 20,000 years ago), he calculates climate sensitivies based on the differences between average climate forcings of today and 20,000 years ago. Call me a skeptic, a denier, a contrarian, etc. if you wish, but that is not empirical science - even if it is a heroic attempt at it. He also says that models are terrible, but then claims the climate of the past decade was 'predicted.' Did I miss something here?
Finally, this book is more of an autobiography of his attempts to warn the U.S. government of the impending disaster than a scientific treatise on why his scientific methods are correct and therefore, why his predictions are correct (also, he uses the term contrarian constantly in his defense and talks a great deal about the climate his grandchildren will have to live with - that is very sweet, but comes across as propaganda to those who are looking for science). As a graduate student in meteorology, I found this book to be useless in my attempt to understand who's right and wrong (and why) in the current debate. I gave it two stars, but for my purposes, it failed to provide. If you are a 'laymen', I hope you take the time to research many of his claims, methods, conclusions, etc. You will find that the scientific community does not and has not placed Hansen's research above others, nor does it share Hansen's criticisms of computer models, politics, and scientific method (about which Hansen's criticisms are accurate - the problem is that his methods and conclusions are no better!)
| | |  | Read this book before the Senate votes on climate change this spring Dec 9, 2009 |
James Hansen has been one of the truly prophetic figures in the modern environmental movement. He has done probably more than anybody to warn the world about the threat of climate change.
This book is very important because he openly challenges the "solution" to climate change proposed by Obama, the "cap and trade" plan that has been passed by the House and awaits action in the Senate. Hansen sees this as a special interest bureaucratic mess that may do more harm than good.
Now is the time to read this book since the Senate will debate cap and trade in the spring. Hansen favors either a simple carbon tax or a simple cap. Groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth also have grave doubts about "cap and trade".
The EPA now has authority to regulate carbon, and this could be a good solution.
I haven't made a final decision on the Senate climate bill but this book really gives me grave doubts about "cap and trade".
Check this book out and make up your own mind as a citizen.
| | | | Surprising Independent Thinking Dec 8, 2009 |
James Hansen, the world's most famous climate scientist, is thought by climate contrarians to be part of a liberal conspiracy. But as you'll see below (Chp. 9), he's as independent as he claims -- critical of Republicans for suppressing climate change science, but critical of Democrats for blocking the most important part of the solution. Surprises await readers of any persuasion. The book contains a mix of equal parts politics and science, so a guide to the chapters may be helpful. (For why this book is best on climate science, see my wonkish "comment" below.)
Chp. 1: Dick Cheney's climate task force. The frustrations of politics with a little science tossed in.
Chp. 2: The A-team. Hansen retreats and thinks through climate policy with his students.
Chp. 3: Visit to the White House. He's hopeful, then disappointed. This chapter launches into serious Paleoclimate science and explains the mystery of why the world starts to warm from an ice age before carbon dioxide increases. Fascinating if you like science. Otherwise, skim for interesting tidbits -- ice that would crush "New York City to smithereens," the development of civilization, coastal fishing, and more.
The first big surprise: "It may seem that I am harsh on climate models." He doesn't think they're good at estimating "climate sensitivity." In fact, he says, "Thirty years later [after the National Academy's 1979 estimate], models alone still cannot do much better."
Chp. 4: Back to 1989. Hansen asks for satellite instruments to collect crucial global warming data. No luck.
Chp. 5: A Slippery Slope. In 2003 Hansen writes an article with "extensive criticisms of IPCC" (UN climate science). He is not pleased that the best IPCC model "concluded that the ice sheets would grow as the world became warmer."
Chp. 6: Humanity's Trap. Aerosols are now counteracting carbon but we don't know much about them. A nice graph of solar output and the beginning of the White-House censorship story.
Chp. 7: The Keeling Curve. "Reality contrasts markedly with the impression created by the media." Carbon dioxide is not growing faster than expected by the IPCC scenarios. More on White-House censorship.
Chp. 8: Where Should We Aim? Hansen gets new data and draws "one of the most beautiful curves on the planet," showing how it was far hotter (with no ice) 50 million years ago. From that and more science, he concludes that we must return the atmosphere to 350 ppm.
Chp. 9: An Honest Path. Possibly the book's biggest surprise: "It is extremely irresponsible, in my opinion, to make the assumption that efficiency and renewables are all that will be needed." We will need fast breeder reactors, and fortunately we have "$50 trillion" worth of left-over uranium for fuel.
He blames the Democrats. "Argonne scientists ... were ready to build a demonstration fast-reactor power plant." But in 1994, Bill Clinton announced, "We will terminate unnecessary programs in advanced reactor development." Hansen concludes, "It seems possible that antinuke people, who heavily support the Democratic Party, were being repaid."
He explains his economic proposals for "a rising price on carbon applied at the source" in the form of "fee-and-dividend." "A cap-and-trade agreement will be just as hard to achieve as was the Kyoto Protocol."
Chp. 10: Venus. "If we also burn the tar sands and tar shale, I believe the Venus syndrome is a dead certainty."
Chp. 11: Storms of My Grandchildren. Recent anti-coal protest activity, and some science of storms.
In this age of political correctness, right and left, it's a delight to be invited into Hansen's home-spun, un-censored, scientific world. If you appreciate the fresh air, two very different books may be of interest. Carbonomics: How to Fix the Climate and Charge It to OPEC explains why Hansen's refunded carbon tax is a good idea that works, and takes a fresh look at US policy along lines parallel to the economics in Storms. Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air is a fabulous, authoritative book on alternative energy, and provides the back story on the need for carbon capture or nuclear power. Together, the three books cover most of climate-policy related science with almost no overlap.
In summary, this is no journalistic quick read. It's fascinating, not because it's slickly written -- it's certainly not -- but because both James Hansen and his science are fascinating and you get a front row seat as the story unfolds. | | | Write your own review about Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity
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