Theories and opinions about climate change abound – from those
claiming human-induced climate change is already beyond control to
those who express scepticism about the real extent of these
changes. How should we weigh up the scientific evidence, and
what role does climate change play in the history of the Earth? In
this comprehensive history of the climate and climate change,
Antonello Provenzale explains how the planetary climate system
works and how the climate has evolved over millions of
years. Starting from the catastrophic events that marked the
early history of the Earth, including seas of magma, global
glaciations and mass extinctions, he demonstrates how the climate
has fluctuated between hot and cold periods, with the Earth hot and
lush with forests at certain times and almost entirely covered by a
thick layer of ice at others. The mechanisms that determine
the modifications of the climate are multiple and complex and
include external factors, such as solar luminosity and variations
in the Earth's orbit, as well as internal processes connecting the
atmosphere, the oceans, the crust, the mantle and the biosphere,
composed of living organisms. While the climate has fluctuated a
great deal over the Earth’s long history, there are two features
of our current situation that are a source of real concern.Â
First, the rise in temperature of the last fifty years has been
extremely fast, making it difficult for the environment to adapt to
the new conditions. Second, the human population is much
greater than it was in the past, and this population needs water,
food, energy and shelter to survive and flourish. If
temperatures continue to rise as they have in recent decades, ours
will not be an easy world in which to live. To appreciate what is
at stake, we need to understand how the climate works and how human
activity is affecting it – not in order to save the planet, which
will do just fine on its own and probably better without us, but to
save ourselves.
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