Understanding Climate Change: Science, Policy, and Practice, Second Edition

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Conversations about climate change are filled with challenges involving complex data, deeply held values, and political issues. Understanding Climate Change examines climate change as both a scientific and a public policy issue. Sarah L. Burch and Sara E. Harris explain the basics of the climate system, climate models and prediction, and human and biophysical impacts, as well as strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The second edition has been fully updated throughout, including coverage of new advances in climate modelling and of the shifting landscape of renewable energy production and distribution. A brand new chapter discusses global governance, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, as well as mitigation efforts at the national and subnational levels. This new chapter makes the book even more relevant to climate change courses housed in social sciences departments such as political science and geography.

An effective and integrated introduction to an urgent and controversial issue, this book is well-suited to adoption in a variety of introductory climate change courses found in a number of science and social science departments. Its ultimate goal is to equip readers with the tools needed to become constructive participants in the human response to climate change.

From the Publisher

Understanding Climate Change: Science, Policy, and Practice, Second Edition

Conversations about climate change are filled with challenges involving complex data, deeply held values, and political issues. Understanding Climate Change examines climate change as both a scientific and a public policy issue. Sarah L. Burch and Sara E. Harris explain the basics of the climate system, climate models and prediction, and human and biophysical impacts, as well as strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The second edition has been fully updated throughout, including coverage of new advances in climate modelling and of the shifting landscape of renewable energy production and distribution. A brand new chapter discusses global governance, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, as well as mitigation efforts at the national and subnational levels. This new chapter makes the book even more relevant to climate change courses housed in social sciences departments such as political science and geography.

An effective and integrated introduction to an urgent and controversial issue, this book is well-suited to adoption in a variety of introductory climate change courses found in a number of science and social science departments. Its ultimate goal is to equip readers with the tools needed to become constructive participants in the human response to climate change.

Reviews

“Packed with intuitive analogies and compelling examples, this book simply and clearly unpacks the complex science and impacts of climate change. It’s perfect for the student who wants to understand not only why climate is changing, but why it matters so profoundly to every living thing on this planet. I wish this book were available when I took my first climate class!” Katharine Hayhoe, The Nature Conservancy and Texas Tech University

“Sarah L. Burch and Sara E. Harris provide a refreshing perspective on what is arguably the greatest challenge of our time. They dive in quickly to the core issues, providing foundational knowledge while offering a hopeful perspective. I recommend this as a core text for undergraduate courses on climate change.” Sophia Carodenuto, University of Victoria

“As warned by Sarah L. Burch and Sara E. Harris, climate change is complicated. Logically organized for undergraduate students, Understanding Climate Change aims to merge the scientific and human dimensions of climate change.” Andrea Olive, University of Toronto Mississauga

About the Author Sarah Burch

Sarah Burch holds a Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Governance and Innovation, and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Canada. She is an expert in transformative responses to climate change at the community scale, innovative strategies for making progress on sustainability, and the unique contributions that small businesses can make to this solving this complex challenge. She leads the international partnership-based research project TRANSFORM: Accelerating sustainability entrepreneurship experiments in local spaces, and is the Director of the Sustainability Policy Research on Urban Transformations (SPROUT) Lab

About the Author Sara E. Harris

Sara E Harris is a Canadian scientist, and Professor in the department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, and the Associate Dean Academic in the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia. In 2015, she was named a 3M National Teaching Fellow for her MOOC on climate change. Harris obtained her PhD in Oceanography from Oregon State University in 1998. From 1998 to 2005, she served as the chief scientist at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In this role, she would take students out to sea for six weeks to teach methodologies for collecting oceanographic data as well as navigation and sailing.

Table of Contents

1. Climate Change in the Public Sphere

2. Basic System Dynamics

3. Climate Controls: Energy from the Sun

4. Climate Controls: Earth’s Reflectivity

5. Climate Controls: The Greenhouse Effect

6. Climate Change Mitigation: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Transforming the Energy System

7. Climate Models

8. Future Climate: Emissions, Climatic Shifts, and What to Do about Them

9. Impacts of Climate Change on Natural Systems

10. Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Human Systems 11. Climate Change Policy and Governance 12. Understanding Climate Change: Pathways Forward

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Toronto Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 4, 2021
Edition ‏ : ‎ 2nd
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1487522797
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1487522797
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #251,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #16 in Canadian Politics #77 in Sustainable Business Development #132 in Environmental Policy
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