A Crisis like No Other: Understanding and Defeating Global Warming

A Crisis Like No Other: Understanding and Defeating Global Warming couples engaging and creative storytelling with accurate details to explain global warming. It covers both the technical and human issues of global warming by addressing what's causing global warming, and why people don’t believe it exists. The book tells readers how to convince others that global warming is not only real, but life-threatening, and offers a clearly laid out path to solve it. The book is accurate and carefully researched, drawing on the author's thirty years studying the science of global warming, and the human psyche that surrounds it. The author breaks down the subject into four parts, which can be thought of as four mini-books in one. The first part covers the psychology of global warming denial, how to defend ourselves against its lies and fake news, and how to convince others of global warming’s grave harm. The second part describes exactly what global warming is. The third answers the question what makes us so sure? Finally, the last part provides a road map showing us how to defeat global warming. This book is comprehensive, fast paced, and easily accessible to readers from all walks of life. It provides an overview of everything one needs to know about global warming and, as such, is an excellent survey of global warming topics. In addition to being an easy and enjoyable read for the general public, A Crisis Like No Other: Understanding and Defeating Global Warming serves as a handy primer on climate change for environmental science classes. Cover 1 Title 2 Copyright 3 Contents 12 Part I. We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us––Pogo 13 Why We Deny Global Warming 14 [Quick Assessments are Critical for Our Survival] 17 Quick Assessments are Critical for Our Survival 17 But Quick Assessments Can Fool Us 23 Our Metabeliefs Organize Everything we Know and Care About 24 But Our Metabeliefs will Fool us as Well 26 Equally Importantly, The Groups We Belong To Help Shape Our Metabeliefs 27 Confirmational Bias Aids in the Subterfuge 30 Why the Poor Remain Poor 33 Aliens and Dogs 34 How it all Hangs Together 36 Connecting the Dots 36 Afterthought: Kick the Earth in the Butt 37 REFERENCES 39 Only through their Beliefs and Emotions can we Reach their Minds 41 [Friend or Foe?] 44 Friend or Foe? 44 To Fear or not to Fear? 50 Always Take the High Road 52 Compromising is A Powerful Tool––Use It 54 Time is Against us 55 Will It Take A Cataclysm? 56 Don’T Underestimate the Enemy 57 Convincing Stereotypes 58 But Sometimes Facts Do Work 70 Connecting The Dots 75 Afterthought: Selling Refrigerators To Eskimos 77 REFERENCES 79 Finding the Truth Amidst a Sea of Lies 82 82 A Balance of Facts 85 Fact-checking 88 To Trust Or Not To Trust 90 Occam’s Razor To Demolish Deceptively Confusing Choices 95 Flawed Reasoning Unmasked 98 Where The Experts Are And How To Judge Them 101 Just The Facts Ma’am, Just The Facts 105 Unfortunately, We Are Built To Believe Lies 106 Sowing Doubt The Professional Way 107 Silver Bullets For Those Special Vampires In Our Lives 109 The Face Of The Enemy 115 Social Media Exploits Our Emotions And Beliefs 117 Connecting The Dots 120 Afterthought: Humpty Dumptyisms 121 REFERENCES 122 Part II. The What’s and How’s of Global Warming 124 Energy Drives Global Warming 125 [A Road Map to this Chapter] 127 A Road Map to this Chapter 127 Heat And Temperature––Similar But Different 128 Just Like Diamonds, Energy Is Forever 132 Radiation And Its Various Colors Are An Important Key 135 How Earth Heats Up And Cools Down 139 CO2 Reduces Earth’S Cool Down, Leading To Rising Global Temperatures 140 Fossil Fuels Provide Our Energy and, Unwittingly, CO2 As Well 145 CO2 Is The Visiting Uncle Who Never Seems To Leave 148 Bad News––Earth’s Reflectivity Is Going Down 148 More Bad News––Melting Permafrost Will Release Alarming Amounts Of Greenhouse Gases 149 Just When You Thought It Couldn’T Get Any Worse 149 But There Is Hope 150 Connecting The Dots 150 Afterthought: “This Is The Way The World Ends, Not With A Bang But With A Whimper”––T. S. Eliot 151 REFERENCES 152 Rising Temperatures are a Problem, but Not the Only Problem 153 153 Air and Ocean Temperatures are Increasing 155 Storms are Getting Bigger and Meaner 157 Don’t Buy Beachfront Property 158 Diseases will Get Worse 161 Food will be Harder to Find 162 Plants and Animals are Disappearing in Droves 163 Changes are Occurring Quicker than any Time in Earth’s History 165 Increased Violence is Inevitable 167 But Living has Always been Hazardous to our Health 168 Connecting the Dots 169 Afterthought: can Global Warming cause Cold Weather? 170 REFERENCES 171 Where Heat Trapping Gases Come From 174 [It Took a Revolution] 177 It Took a Revolution 177 Going on a Carbon Diet 177 CO2 is the Greenhouse Gas King 180 Methane 184 The Bit Players 185 For The People and by the People 186 Connecting the Dots 187 Afterthought: Cows on Mars? 188 REFERENCES 190 Part III. Why We Believe Global Warming Is Real and Significant 191 Global Warming is Undeniable. Here’s Why 192 [How Far Can Tom Brady Throw a Football On The Moon?] 194 How Far Can Tom Brady Throw a Football On The Moon? 194 “to Measure is to Know”––lord Kelvin 198 Dead Men Do Tell Tales 201 Putting it all Together 203 Yes, Global Warming has its Uncertainties 205 IPCC: The Go-to Guy 206 Connecting the Dots 207 Afterthought: Facts Need Not Apply 207 REFERENCES 209 Science doesn’t Work the Way You Think it Should 211 [The Minimalist’S Guide To Science] 213 The Minimalist’S Guide To Science 213 But Science, Like Life, is Never that Simple 218 And Journalists Don’t Always Get It 223 The Limits of Science 224 Connecting the Dots 224 Afterthought: Resistance is Futile 225 REFERENCES 227 Nothing in Life Can Ever Be Certain. Nature Forbids It 228 [Vanilla-flavored Uncertainty is all Around us] 231 Vanilla-flavored Uncertainty is all Around us 231 Beating the House 233 Fundamentally, Certainty Doesn’t Exist and Never Will 237 And So, The Science of Global Warming Must Also Be Uncertain. Nothing Else can be Expected 240 Connecting the Dots 240 Afterthought: Sherlock Holmes was Wrong 241 REFERENCES 242 If the Military is Concerned, We Should Be Too 243 [Our National Security is at Risk] 246 Our National Security is at Risk 246 Military Bases are Under Threat 248 Humanitarian Missions will be Compromised 249 The Insurance Industry is Worried about Mounting Losses 249 Even the Financial Folks are Hedging their Bets 250 Connecting the Dots 251 Afterthought: Long Shots aren’t what they used to Be 252 REFERENCES 254 Part IV. The Final Verdict 256 So How Bad is It? 257 [Tipping Points] 259 Tipping Points 259 Our Democracy In Peril 260 Population Correction 260 Extinction? 260 The Perfect Storm 261 It's Going To Be A Challenge 265 And We are Dragging Our Feet 266 But We are Making Progress 267 Connecting the Dots 267 Afterthought: God’s New Covenant 268 REFERENCES 269 Can Anything Be Done, or is It Game Over? 270 [Technologies We Must Install] 273 Technologies We Must Install 273 Renewables Work and Should Be Expanded 273 A Carbon Tax Adds to the Mix of Tools We Have 275 Nuclear Energy––The Comeback Kid 277 Is Fusion Energy the Holy Grail That May Never Be? 280 Methane Leaks and Cow Belches: The Forgotten Greenhouse Gas 283 Carbon Capture Has Now Become Essential. We Can’t Leave Home Without It 284 Blocking the Sun––A Dangerous Game We May Be Forced to Play 287 Decisions We Must Make 289 Both Conservatives and Liberals Must Be Convinced or Nothing We Do Matters 289 A Bridge Too Far? 291 The Fossil Fuel Energy Industry is the 800-Pound Gorilla. Are They Friends or Foe? 295 Fool’s Gold 299 But Ultimately, It Is Up To Us 299 Four Things You and I Must Do 299 Connecting The Dots 300 The First is to Deploy Equipment to Directly Reduce or Remove CO2 300 But what good are the above if we don’t have the leadership to back it up? 302 Afterthought: On This Day in History, 124 Years Ago 303 REFERENCES 304 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt 307 Epliogue 310 Acknowledgements 311 Subject Index 312 End User License Agreement 319