In 1958, Charles David Keeling began measuring the concentration of
carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere at the Mauna Loa
Observatory in Hawaii. His project kicked off a half century of
research that has expanded our knowledge of climate change. Despite
more than fifty years of research, however, our global society has
yet to find real solutions to the problem of global warming. Why?
In "Behind the Curve," Joshua Howe attempts to answer this
question. He explores the history of global warming from its roots
as a scientific curiosity to its place at the center of
international environmental politics. The book follows the story of
rising CO2--illustrated by the now famous Keeling Curve--through a
number of historical contexts, highlighting the relationships among
scientists, environmentalists, and politicians as those
relationships changed over time.
The nature of the problem itself, Howe explains, has privileged
scientists as the primary spokespeople for the global climate. But
while the "science first" forms of advocacy they developed to fight
global warming produced more and better science, the primacy of
science in global warming politics has failed to produce meaningful
results. In fact, an often exclusive focus on science has left
advocates for change vulnerable to political opposition and has
limited much of the discussion to debates about the science
itself.
As a result, while we know much more about global warming than
we did fifty years ago, CO2 continues to rise. In 1958, Keeling
first measured CO2 at around 315 parts per million; by 2013, global
CO2 had soared to 400 ppm. The problem is not getting better - it's
getting worse. "Behind the Curve" offers a critical and levelheaded
look at how we got here.
Joshua P. Howe teaches history and environmental studies at Reed
College.
"Scientists have proven to be right about the causes of a
warming planet, but they have failed to stop the warming. Stopping
it involves politics and economics more than science, and in this
important book Joshua Howe examines how scientists and
environmentalists--although both live in intensely political
worlds--have managed to get the science right and the politics
wrong. This is not the usual story of heroes and villains. Howe
tells a more nuanced story-- a tragedy--in which a somewhat naive
faith in science rendered scientists politically impotent in a
complicated world. Few books published this year will tell a more
important story." - Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of
American History, Stanford
"How shall we deal with climate change? That is not just an
important topic but, from the standpoint of future generations,
arguably the most important of all topics. Thorough and
wide-ranging, this book puts the history of global warming policy
in its full political and cultural context." - Spencer Weart,
author of "The Discovery of Global Warming"
""Behind the Curve" is a much-needed book on the history of
climate science and politics stretching back to the immediate
post-World War II period." - Mark Carey, author of "In the Shadow
of Melting Glaciers"
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