[.uk] The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, The Cover-up, The ... (ISBN 0738200255)

Invasion of the weather-snatchers:
Coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are dying because of rising water temperatures. Butterflies are migrating northward. Antarctica is melting. Northern hemisphere forests are being decimated by climate-related fires and insect infestations. The Great Plains states are becoming deserts, as are areas of Southern Europe. Tropical diseases such as malaria and West Nile fever are spreading northwards as temperatures rise. These are all facts that are incontestably documented by science today, and each of them is directly linked to the climate change brought about by global warming. The earth and its species are in for a tough time in the century ahead. Extreme weather patterns caused by the heating up of the planet is already creating climatic chaos: horrible downpours and snow in some areas, rising temperatures and drought in others, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, and so on. And for the most part it's been caused by the incredibly high rate of fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions--6 billion tons (and counting) a year. Ross Gelspan argues that the science is clear; most of the world's leading scientists agree that fossil fuels are causing the problem. The rub is that the oil and coal industries--at $10 trillion, the largest in human history--have an obvious vested interest in convincing the public and lawmakers that global warming is all Chicken Little stuff. So they fund a handful of dissenting scientists who, like tobacco industry scientists a few years ago, are in the business of convincing the public that global warming is a myth. Conservative lawmakers have been particularly receptive to their line, and this in turn has affected public policy for the worse. Gelbspan's book is horrifying in its diagnosis of global warming and the extent to which the fossil fuel industry has protected its own interests at the expense of the planet's. But the book also makes clear that the technology to replace the world's use of fossil fuels already exists, and concludes with a plan of action for weaning ourselves from our oil addictions. Make no mistake about it, however: things will get worse, and perhaps much worse, before they get better. We're only beginning to feel the effects of carbon dioxide emissions from 50 years ago. We've yet to feel the whammy from our current frenzied use. When we do, God help us.

Another global warming demagogue:
The Earth has a climate, and that climate has been warming up since 1850, when the Little Ice Age ended. During the medieval warming period the climate was warmer than it is today, leaving ruined medieval farmsteads at higher latitudes and altitudes than are possible today. The Vikings headed for the Arctic, even settling there, and rediscovered the Americas. The atmosphere isn't warming the Earth -- the Earth is orders of magnitude more massive than the atmosphere. The oceans are not warming at depth. The planet Mars has about as much atmospheric density as the Earth does at 40 MILES altitude and has never been warmed by greenhouse gases. The atmosphere of Venus isn't made primarily of CO2. Venus' density is slightly less than that of Earth's, same goes for its diameter. CO2 won't be found at the hideously high pressures known to exist on the Venusian surface. Surprise! Ross Gelbspan didn't win a Pulitzer, as the DJ claims: "'The Heat Is On' -- in which Gelbspan complains about how global warming critics distort the truth -- touted Gelbspan as a 'Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist' and Gelbspan has apparently done little in the intervening years to dissuade people of this falsehood despite being called on it on a number of occasions." -- Brian Carnell "Ross Gelbspan's Pulitzer Prize" (Thursday, January 22, 2004) What a surprise! Global warming shills don't ever say things that are not true, do they? "We've got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory (sic) of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing." -- Timothy Wirth "Each of us has to decide the right balance between being effective and being honest." -- Stephen Schneider

READ THIS BOOK!:
Excellent primer on this unprecedented all-encompassing problem. Although much more updated is "Boiling Point" out in 2004. Beware the glib reviews on this site of detractors that don't support their negative opinions. These could very well be shills for the coal and oil industries deliberately muddying the waters with their reviews. Yes they are doing this, and they are being paid to. Global warming isn't any more debatable now than Newton's Laws. Science has spoken, and Nature has begun to. There ARE solutions but they are exacting and they are hard, and we need to get behind them immediately. Famine, species extinction and disease are the alternatives, and they have already begun. The only group that stands to gain from global warming are insects. They're loving it.

Heat about the heat:
A chilling look at the current evidence of widespread climatalogical change and its possible ramifications, this book includes the first thoughtful treatment I encountered of the sociological and political implications of global warming. The author warns that totalitarian governments are very likely to emerge in the upheaval of massive starvation and dislocation brought by rising seas and increasingly chaotic weather. Gelbspan, a science writer and editor for The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, explains how a handful of scientists employed by oil and coal companies have managed to confuse the U.S. public about the greenhouse effect and the realistic choices we face. In this curiously hopeful book (considering its ominous theme), the author notes that the fossil fuel companies are now facing an increasingly powerful opposition led by island nations, Germany and international insurers (who may be bankrupted by escalating weather-related claims). He also notes that science has already invented our way out of the heat trap, and that all we need to do is shift gears (quickly, to be sure) and install sustainable technologies. This is good news/bad news on a global scale -- a sobering look even for those familiar with the facts and the prospects -- and a reminder that the punch line may be very unfunny.

Good background:
By now, there are obviously many books on global warming available, but this is a good book if anyone is interested in the supposed controversy about global warming. In the first place, Gelbspan goes through a whole list of observable features which should get people's attention. This part of the book is well-researched and written. It took me about half the book to realize that Gelbspan isn't actually a scientist. Probably the most controversial, yet useful part of the book is when he describes the attempts to mislead and discredit. Gelbspan goes through much of the history of this and, to his credit, gives long quotes from the naysayers at the end of the book. This should be compared to some of the books written by skeptics who give all sorts of short quotes out of context. Gelbspan is apparently considered to be somewhat of an expert on skeptics and their tactics as he is referenced in many other books on global warming.