|
| Global Warming: The Threat of Earth's Changing Climate | 
| Author: Laurence Pringle
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Category: Book
List Price: $6.95
Buy New: $4.68
You Save: $2.27 (33%)
New (5) from $4.68
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 958662
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 48
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 8.5 x 0.2
ISBN: 1587172283
Dewey Decimal Number: 577
EAN: 9781587172281
ASIN: 1587172283
Publication Date: February 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Light on Facts January 18, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
The purpose of this book is to scare children about global warming. On the back cover: "Global Warming Can Lead to Global Disaster" is not intended to do anything else. Author Pringle would have been equally accurate to write: "Global Cooling Can Lead to Global Disaster".
The text begins with a call to act now to halt global warming. Some history since the Ice Ages is given. The insularity of the author is shown by his comment (p6): "...the year-round climate on the north side of a house...is cooler than the south side, where more sunlight falls." There was no qualification that this works in the northern hemisphere only and away from the equator. Why mislead children?
Chapter 3 on the greenhouse effect leads off with misinformation, namely, that nitrogen makes up 79% of the atmosphere and oxygen 20%. No mention of 1.5% water vapor and 1% argon. The explanation (p10) and diagram of the greenhouse effect does not explain how heat absorbed by the atmosphere results in a warmer surface, including oceans, on Earth. On p12 one of the common fables is presented -- that for 420,000 years the CO2 level in air was under 325 ppm, and paralleled the temperature. This is grossly wrong as shown by 90,000 direct chemical assays of air for CO2 by dozens of Chemists from 1812-1965, showing higher levels than NOW at least 3 times. See: Beck, E.-G. (2007). 180 Years of Atmospheric CO2 Gas Analysis by Chemical Methods, Energy & Environment, 18(2), 259-282. And these levels did NOT parallel temperature, but Followed rises and falls. Thus the graph on p34 is seriously in error.
Cement making does NOT release carbon atoms from carbonate rocks (p13, 33), but CO2. Its concentration in air is not likely to reach 600 ppm by 2050; 500 ppm is a better guess. The contribution of methane to warming is exaggerated by omission of its tiny concentration, as is also true for nitrous oxide and CFCs. A better explanation of variable ozone concentrations over the poles is Earth's magnetic lines of force leading micrometeorites toward the pole where they catalyze the normal decomposition of ozone into oxygen. The pie chart on p16 ignores water vapor.
The retreat of glaciers is dramatized without the evidence that non-Alps glaciers stopped receding in 1975. See: Oerlemans, J. (2005). Extracting a Climate Signal from 169 Glacier Records. Science, 308, 675-677. The "awful" warming caused an 11-day increase in growing season (p19). Why is this bad? A certain butterfly species moved north 100 miles. Is that bad? Possibility of further sea level rise was presented as a horrifying certainty (p25). The 1990s were "honored" for having the most floods, storms, etc., but the 1940s actually did. See: Michaels, P. J., Meltdown, 2004. Deaths from excessive heat (p30) were not balanced by tales of more deaths from excessive cold. Common scares about the spread of insect-borne diseases (p31) are not backed by facts.
Computer modeling of clouds was said to include the effects of clouds since 1989 (p21). This is greatly disputed by Prof. Richard K. Lindzen of M. I. T. and others. The UN's IPCC is given great credibility, but whole books have been written to show bias at the IPCC. See: Michaels, P. J., Ed. (2004). Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global warming. Lanham, MD:Rowan & Littlefield. The straw man that fossil fuel industries have tried to show that global warming is a myth (p34) somehow missed the point that CO2 emissions are uncorrelated with warming (see above). Finally the warmer's standard propaganda ploy is used: repeat the phrase "greenhouse gases" over and over, but then push the Kyoto treaty and other means of limiting emissions of ONE gas: CO2, even though it is responsible for 2-20% of any warming, ignoring water vapor. See: Singer SF, Avery DT (2008). Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1,500 Years. Lanham, MD: Roman and Little field.
Alternate energy sources are given the standard treatment. Nuclear is said to be too costly and dangerous, while wind, water and solar are pushed (p40). "In 1996, 2,000 economists, including 4 Nobel Prize winners, signed a statement that the benefits of of action on global warming [entirely cutting CO2 emissions] outweigh the costs. Since when are economists scientists or engineers? In 1998 20,000 degree-holding scientists and engineers signed a statement that humans have not caused global warming. See: [...] under petition project.
Finally, after sporadic lip service to climate reality, there is a call for supporting the Kyoto Protocol for CO2 emissions reductions (p42) because there "...is no longer a choice..." according to "...the best information available.." For an antidote to such nonsense see: [...]
My advice is to keep this nightmare of scares away from your children.
Good emotion, but light on facts December 30, 2006
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
While I was looking for a critical analysis of the dicussion regarding global warming, this book rather presents one side and ignores half of the evidence regarding the phenomina. This book is poorly researched, weak arguments, but high on emotion.
 Global Warming February 17, 2006
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is about what is happening on our world. Global warming can lead to global disaster. Discover how this worldwide warming trend beagan, what problems it is causing, and how it can be reversed.This book talkes about how each day earth is geting warmer and that humans are warming earth's atmosphere by their every day activities.As a result,the polar ice is melting, and the sea level are racing nearly about two feet in this century. Warming climates are also causing more frequentand violent thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes.These effects of climate changes will almost certainly increase and accelerate. The author examines the causes of this worldwide warming trend, from the burning of the heattrapping gases into the atmosphere to the destruction of forests. Scientists explore the present and future damage to the world's climate, ecology, and economy. Scientists offer parctical solutions that could avert a global disaster of our own making.
BY:Wendy B.
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
