5:26 p.m. | A clarification below |
It’s useful to review shifts in knowledge and perceptions — including one’s own perceptions —
of tough issues over time. So I thought it worth reflecting on my most thorough treatment of human-driven climate change, “Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast.” I wrote this book to accompany
the 1992 exhibition of the same name by the American Museum of Natural History.*
When you have time, give the text a sift (it’s short; the book was heavily illustrated) to see what still holds true (the basics of greenhouse heating, projections of China’s rise, etc.), what was not a focus of concern 20 years ago (the Arctic, for instance) and what conclusions at that time have not held up (the response of hurricanes has proved far more complicated than what was deduced then).
Post your reactions below or on Twitter using the tag #92agw and they’ll be aggregated here. Click here to read the book on Slideshare.
You can download the file or — if inspired — order a used hardcover on Amazon.com.)
[5:26 p.m. | Update | After @tan123 tweeted a passage that sounded dreadfully wrong, I check the final printed version and it’s not there. Note that I marked the text as a draft, not the final fact-checked book. The published version of that page is here.]
David Archer, a climate scientist at the University of Chicago, has a textbook of the same name that is an excellent primer on the basics of greenhouse-driven climate change. Or watch his related video lectures.
| Disclosure note |* The exhibition was organized with substantial grants from the National Science Foundation. The Environmental Defense Fund was a partner, although my book contract was with the museum alone.