Introduction to Modern Climate Change

This does exactly what it says on the cover: it is a clear and up to date introduction to our changing climate, and at undergraduate geography level. It is well written and supported up by good scientific plots. Dessler constructs a simple energy balance model, discusses carbon cycling and shows why the only sensible answer to the question “why is the climate changing” is that it is a result of human impacts. He then summarizes with some useful graphics some of the key impacts so far. Particularly striking for me was a plot of property values against time for a house in Houston TX, that was flooded twice – one massive flooding event didn’t alter the value too much, but the second massive flood caused the value to crash (Figure 9.5 if you’re interested). The last 1/3 of the book is a very useful introduction to climate change policy through adaptation and mitigation including economic regulation and geoengineering. There is also a good chapter on the history of climate science and politics which explains how we have arrived where we are. I am a climate scientist and I like how Dessler finishes the book, “I do not know what the future holds. But I do know that, if we are going to navigate the coupled problems of energy and climate, we are going to need people like you to get involved in all parts of the problem: The political, the economic and the scientific. Given the enormous creativity and inventiveness of humans, there is no question that we can solve the problem. I encourage you to get involved and ensure that we do.”