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Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know®
Climate change will have a bigger impact on humanity than the Internet has had. The last decade's spate of superstorms, wildfires, heat waves, and droughts has accelerated the public discourse on this topic and lent credence to climatologist Lonnie Thomson's 2010 statement that climate change "represents a clear and present danger to civilization." In June 2015, the Pope declared that action on climate change is a moral issue.
This book offers the most up-to-date examination of climate change's foundational science, its implications for our future, and the core clean energy solutions. Alongside detailed but highly accessible descriptions of what is causing climate change, this entry in the What Everyone Needs to Know series answers questions about the practical implications of this growing force on our world:
· How will climate change impact you and your family in the coming decades?
· What are the future implications for owners of coastal property?
· Should you plan on retiring in South Florida or the U.S. Southwest or Southern Europe?
· What occupations and fields of study will be most in demand in a globally warmed world?
· What impact will climate change have on investments and the global economy?
As the world struggles to stem climate change and its effects, everyone will become a part of this story of the century. Here is what you need to know.
This book offers the most up-to-date examination of climate change's foundational science, its implications for our future, and the core clean energy solutions. Alongside detailed but highly accessible descriptions of what is causing climate change, this entry in the What Everyone Needs to Know series answers questions about the practical implications of this growing force on our world:
· How will climate change impact you and your family in the coming decades?
· What are the future implications for owners of coastal property?
· Should you plan on retiring in South Florida or the U.S. Southwest or Southern Europe?
· What occupations and fields of study will be most in demand in a globally warmed world?
· What impact will climate change have on investments and the global economy?
As the world struggles to stem climate change and its effects, everyone will become a part of this story of the century. Here is what you need to know.
330 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 30, 2015
249 people are currently reading
3697 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
July 19, 2017
"It is, I promise, worse than you think."
These are the words that David Wallace-Wells used to begin his epic New York Magazine article, The Uninhabitable Earth. In it he paints a picture: vast swaths of the Earth are heated to become inhabitable. Enormous cyclones and snowstorms bury civilization in seas of water. The soil dries up, chokes, and blows away. Mass food riots lead to millions of refugees, and diseases spread up and across the world.
"The basic resources that we rely upon. All of them are adversely impacted by climate change and with a growing global population. So you’ve got more competition over fewer resources among a growing global population. It’s a recipe for a conflict nightmare" David quotes Mike Mann, the bannermen held up as anti-alarmist by climate moderates for quibbling with a single satellite statistic.
In my mailbox was Wallace-Well's first and foremost citation, Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know. I ordered it pretty much immediately. Wallace-Wells was simply being too poetic, too devasting to simply take him at his word. I knew climate change would be bad. But that bad, this fast? That seemed impossible!
But he literally just cribbed his essay from Climate Change's chapter 3.
Romm walks you through the science. Nearly every line is cited as we go from the beginning logic, "Carbon dioxide makes things warm up" to "These are the list of extreme weather events attributable to climate change" to "Vast destruction will rain down upon us". This overall structure is broken down into units of questions. This turns the book, in essence, into a 280 page FAQ. However, it turns out that it is the most readable FAQ I've ever seen. It became a page turner as it builds out a sketch of what we can expect from global warming.
When I reviewed Klein's, "This Changes Everything", I pointed out that there was an inexorable logic to climate change:
Estimates of the number of tons of carbon that we can safely burn before we have to stop range from 250 gigtons of Carbon to 500 gigatons of carbon (the conservative answer that Klein quotes). The number of gigatons that we know about. The number of gigatons that we as a civilization have the power to burn in our lifetime? 2,000 gigatons.
Joseph Romm brought to my attention similarly inexorable mathematics: in order to stay below the "safe" 2 degree threshold, we have to stay under 450 ppm. We are currently raising the atmospheric content at a rate of 2ppm/year. We're at ~410 ppm. You ought to be able to do that math for yourself.
Wallace-Wells says, "Even when we train our eyes on climate change, we are unable to comprehend its scope." He is right. You can reduce the chemistry to numbers or you can reduce the lives of the people endangered to numbers, but its scale is unfathomable.
But Romm's book helps make it a bit less unfathomable.
[1]http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/...
These are the words that David Wallace-Wells used to begin his epic New York Magazine article, The Uninhabitable Earth. In it he paints a picture: vast swaths of the Earth are heated to become inhabitable. Enormous cyclones and snowstorms bury civilization in seas of water. The soil dries up, chokes, and blows away. Mass food riots lead to millions of refugees, and diseases spread up and across the world.
"The basic resources that we rely upon. All of them are adversely impacted by climate change and with a growing global population. So you’ve got more competition over fewer resources among a growing global population. It’s a recipe for a conflict nightmare" David quotes Mike Mann, the bannermen held up as anti-alarmist by climate moderates for quibbling with a single satellite statistic.
In my mailbox was Wallace-Well's first and foremost citation, Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know. I ordered it pretty much immediately. Wallace-Wells was simply being too poetic, too devasting to simply take him at his word. I knew climate change would be bad. But that bad, this fast? That seemed impossible!
But he literally just cribbed his essay from Climate Change's chapter 3.
Romm walks you through the science. Nearly every line is cited as we go from the beginning logic, "Carbon dioxide makes things warm up" to "These are the list of extreme weather events attributable to climate change" to "Vast destruction will rain down upon us". This overall structure is broken down into units of questions. This turns the book, in essence, into a 280 page FAQ. However, it turns out that it is the most readable FAQ I've ever seen. It became a page turner as it builds out a sketch of what we can expect from global warming.
When I reviewed Klein's, "This Changes Everything", I pointed out that there was an inexorable logic to climate change:
Estimates of the number of tons of carbon that we can safely burn before we have to stop range from 250 gigtons of Carbon to 500 gigatons of carbon (the conservative answer that Klein quotes). The number of gigatons that we know about. The number of gigatons that we as a civilization have the power to burn in our lifetime? 2,000 gigatons.
Joseph Romm brought to my attention similarly inexorable mathematics: in order to stay below the "safe" 2 degree threshold, we have to stay under 450 ppm. We are currently raising the atmospheric content at a rate of 2ppm/year. We're at ~410 ppm. You ought to be able to do that math for yourself.
Wallace-Wells says, "Even when we train our eyes on climate change, we are unable to comprehend its scope." He is right. You can reduce the chemistry to numbers or you can reduce the lives of the people endangered to numbers, but its scale is unfathomable.
But Romm's book helps make it a bit less unfathomable.
[1]http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/...
February 3, 2017
Romm gives a good and helpful overview of what climate change entails, why it happens, where it's headed, and what we can do and should do about it. The book opens with a section on the basics, explaining the causes and effects of climate change. It moves on to discuss "extreme weather" and other "climate impacts". Finally, Romm discusses what can be done to avoid the worst impacts, what the options are, and how they are currently and might in future be addressed by governments. I gave the book a four-star rating because three-and-a-half isn't an option. It's well-organised and easy to read. Each chapter is divided into short essays on related topics, most which can easily stand alone. (I suspect most of these sections are taken from articles and blogs written by Romm.) What Romm writes is good so far as it goes, but I think the book might be better if he covered some additional topics and if he were to go into more depth with the science. This is a book of laypeople, but I do think most of Romm's readers could handle a bit more scientific detail if it were included. I found it a bit frustrating that when he discusses solutions and policy, Romm focuses almost exclusively on government policy. He hints at various times at market solutions, but never seems to see them primarily as last-resort responses that will come too late as people realise what's happening to the world around them. Perhaps the greatest omission in the books is a section addressing climate change skeptics. Romm is honest about uncertainties and where theories are especially speculative, but he spends no time addressing arguments against climate change. This is book is, so to speak, for the choir. That said, it was interesting to read the current news regarding the West Antarctic Ice Sheet this week. Romm wrote less than two years ago, noting that current models didn't adequately account for melting/fracturing of Antarctic ice sheets because it was something only just discovered and the science was fairly speculative at the time. He posited that we might see the results, large portions of the WAIS fracturing off, in a decade or so and now we see it on the verge of happening less than two years later.
February 18, 2018
This is the best FAQ I've read on climate change. That being said it's a hell of a dry read. Took me forever to finish this. Still never felt more knowledgeable about the current state of climate science. Despite its dry delivery it's worth reading to know just how dire the consequences of ignoring the problem will be. And I am sure we won't figure this out prior to 2° warming. Maybe 4° but that's arguably too late. We have the tech now and absolutely could figure this out, which is depressing that disinformation of 70+ year old idiots will cost future generations more than these assholes ever gained.
February 3, 2020
This book is important to read. But it's scary. I was reading this at the same time my girlfriend was reading a Stephen King novel, and I'm fairly sure this book was scarier.
Before I started this book, I was a "shallow" believer of climate change - I live in California, and I believed in it because everyone else believed in it and told me to believe in it. But I couldn't tell you why we know humans cause climate change, what will happen if we don't do anything, and (most depressingly) what will certainly happen soon regardless of what we do anymore. Now I have a crisp understanding of all of these things.
One critique: even though the intended audience is a non-scientist, the book still has too many statistics. I tried to ignore/skim past most of them and only focus on the important ones per chapter, and the underlying messages.
Before I started this book, I was a "shallow" believer of climate change - I live in California, and I believed in it because everyone else believed in it and told me to believe in it. But I couldn't tell you why we know humans cause climate change, what will happen if we don't do anything, and (most depressingly) what will certainly happen soon regardless of what we do anymore. Now I have a crisp understanding of all of these things.
One critique: even though the intended audience is a non-scientist, the book still has too many statistics. I tried to ignore/skim past most of them and only focus on the important ones per chapter, and the underlying messages.
August 30, 2020
I wanted an overview of the science of climate change--its causes, effects, implications, and solutions.
This book was dry (insert climate change related zinger here) and sometimes poorly edited, but it referenced solid sources and taught me what I signed up for.
This book was dry (insert climate change related zinger here) and sometimes poorly edited, but it referenced solid sources and taught me what I signed up for.
April 3, 2020
2019.07.09–2019.08.21
Contents
Romm J (2015) Climate Change - What Everyone Needs to Know
Preface: Why You Need to Know About Climate Change
Acknowledgments
1. Climate Science Basics
• What is the greenhouse effect and how does it warm the Earth?
• Why are scientists so certain the climate system is warming?
• How does global warming increase sea levels and what has been observed to date?
• Where does most of human-caused warming go?
• What fraction of recent global warming is due to human causes versus natural causes?
• How certain are climate scientists that humans are the primary cause of recent warning?
• How do scientists know that recent climate change is primarily caused by human activities?
• Why has the climate changed in the past, before there were human-caused greenhouse gas emissions?
• What are the climate system’s amplifying feedbacks that turn a moderate initial warming into a big ultimate warming?
• Is the current level of atmospheric CO2 concentration unprecedented in human history?
• Are recent climatic changes unprecedented?
• Has recent human-caused climate change been occurring faster or not as fast as scientists predicted?
• Is there a difference between global warming and climate change?
• What are the sources of the most important human-caused pollutants that drive global warming?
• How does deforestation contribute to warming?
• What is global warming potential and why is it different for various greenhouse gases?
• Why does the rate of warming appear to vary from decade to decade?
• Has global warming slowed down or paused in recent years?
• Can we reach a point where emitting more CO2 into the air will not cause more climate change?
• Have we already crossed tipping points (points of no return) in the climate system?
2. Extreme Weather and Climate Change
• What is the difference between weather and climate?
• Which extreme weather events are being made worse by climate change and which are not?
• What is the role of natural climatic variation, such as the El Niño–La Niña cycle, in extreme weather?
• Did climate change cause Hurricane Sandy (and why is that the wrong question to ask)?
• How does climate change affect heat waves?
• How does climate change affect droughts?
• How does climate change affect wildfires?
• How does climate change affect the chances of deluges or severe precipitation?
• Does climate change mean more snow or less, worse snow storms or weaker ones?
• How does climate change affect storm surge?
• Is climate change making hurricanes more destructive?
• What is Arctic amplification and how does it affect extreme weather?
• Is climate change and/or Arctic amplification affecting extreme weather in the northern hemisphere?
• Is climate change affecting tornado formation?
• In a warming world, why do some winters still seem unusually severe?
3. Projected Climate Impacts
• What kind of impacts can we expect this century from business-as-usual climate change?
• What are the biggest sources of uncertainty in projecting future global warming?
• What do previous hot periods in Earth’s climate tell us about what the future may hold in store?
• How could the thawing permafrost speed up global warming beyond what climate models have projected?
• How could an increase in wildfires speed up global warming beyond what climate models have projected?
• What are some other key positive or amplifying feedbacks affecting the climate system?
• What will the impacts of sea-level rise be?
• How will climate change lead to more destructive superstorms this century?
• What kind of droughts can we expect this century?
• What are the expected health impacts of climate change?
• How does global warming affect human productivity?
• Does carbon dioxide at exposure levels expected this century have any direct impacts on human health or cognition?
• What is ocean acidification and why does it matter to sea life?
• What is biodiversity and how will climate change impact it?
• How will climate change affect the agricultural sector and our ability to feed the world’s growing population?
• How is climate change a threat to national, regional, and global security?
• What is the plausible best-case scenario for climate change this century?
• What is the plausible worst-case scenario for climate change this century?
• What do scientists mean by “irreversible impacts” and why are they such a concern with climate change?
4. Avoiding the Worst Impacts
• What is the biggest source of confusion about what humanity needs to do to avoid the worst climate impacts?
• What is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change?
• Why did scientists and governments decide 2°C (3.6°F) was the limit beyond which climate change becomes “dangerous” to humanity?
• What kind of greenhouse gas emissions reductions are needed to achieve a 2°C target?
• What would the economic cost of meeting the 2°C target be?
• What happens if we miss the 2°C target?
• Can we adapt to human-caused climate change?
• What is geoengineering and can it play a major role in reducing the impact of climate change?
5. Climate Politics and Policies
• What climate policies are governments around the world using to fight climate change?
• What is a carbon tax?
• What are cap-and-trade and carbon trading?
• What is China doing to restrict carbon dioxide emissions?
• What is the United States doing to restrict carbon dioxide emissions?
• How do different political parties view climate science and policies in the United States and around the world?
• Is there are a large-scale effort to spread misinformation on climate science and, if so, who funds it?
• What are climate science deniers?
6. The Role of Clean Energy
• What kind of changes in our energy system would a 2°C target require?
• What is energy efficiency and what role will it play?
• Will nuclear power be a major factor in the effort to minimize climate change?
• What role does natural gas have in the transition to a 2°C world?
• How much can solar power contribute to averting dangerous climate change?
• How big a role will wind power play in averting dangerous climate change?
• What is carbon capture and storage (a.k.a. carbon sequestration) and what role can it play?
• What is bioenergy and what is its role in cutting carbon pollution?
• What other carbon-free forms of energy can contribute to cutting greenhouse gas emissions?
• How can we reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector?
• What challenges have limited the marketplace success of alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles to date?
• What role can electric vehicles play?
• What are hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles?
• What are the challenges facing hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles as a climate solution?
• What role can energy storage play in the transition off of fossil fuels?
• What can the agricultural and livestock sector do to minimize climate change?
• What role can energy conservation play?
7. Climate Change and You
• How will climate change impact you and your family in the coming decades?
• How might climate change affect the future price of coastal property?
• How might climate change affect decisions about where to live and retire in the coming decades?
• What should students study today if they want to prepare themselves for working in a globally warmed world?
• Should climate change affect how you invest for the future?
• How can you reduce your carbon footprint?
• What role can dietary changes play in reducing your carbon footprint?
• What is the best way to talk to someone who does not accept the growing body of evidence on climate science?
• Do we still have time to preserve a livable climate?
Primary Sources
Notes
Index
Contents
Romm J (2015) Climate Change - What Everyone Needs to Know
Preface: Why You Need to Know About Climate Change
Acknowledgments
1. Climate Science Basics
• What is the greenhouse effect and how does it warm the Earth?
• Why are scientists so certain the climate system is warming?
• How does global warming increase sea levels and what has been observed to date?
• Where does most of human-caused warming go?
• What fraction of recent global warming is due to human causes versus natural causes?
• How certain are climate scientists that humans are the primary cause of recent warning?
• How do scientists know that recent climate change is primarily caused by human activities?
• Why has the climate changed in the past, before there were human-caused greenhouse gas emissions?
• What are the climate system’s amplifying feedbacks that turn a moderate initial warming into a big ultimate warming?
• Is the current level of atmospheric CO2 concentration unprecedented in human history?
• Are recent climatic changes unprecedented?
• Has recent human-caused climate change been occurring faster or not as fast as scientists predicted?
• Is there a difference between global warming and climate change?
• What are the sources of the most important human-caused pollutants that drive global warming?
• How does deforestation contribute to warming?
• What is global warming potential and why is it different for various greenhouse gases?
• Why does the rate of warming appear to vary from decade to decade?
• Has global warming slowed down or paused in recent years?
• Can we reach a point where emitting more CO2 into the air will not cause more climate change?
• Have we already crossed tipping points (points of no return) in the climate system?
2. Extreme Weather and Climate Change
• What is the difference between weather and climate?
• Which extreme weather events are being made worse by climate change and which are not?
• What is the role of natural climatic variation, such as the El Niño–La Niña cycle, in extreme weather?
• Did climate change cause Hurricane Sandy (and why is that the wrong question to ask)?
• How does climate change affect heat waves?
• How does climate change affect droughts?
• How does climate change affect wildfires?
• How does climate change affect the chances of deluges or severe precipitation?
• Does climate change mean more snow or less, worse snow storms or weaker ones?
• How does climate change affect storm surge?
• Is climate change making hurricanes more destructive?
• What is Arctic amplification and how does it affect extreme weather?
• Is climate change and/or Arctic amplification affecting extreme weather in the northern hemisphere?
• Is climate change affecting tornado formation?
• In a warming world, why do some winters still seem unusually severe?
3. Projected Climate Impacts
• What kind of impacts can we expect this century from business-as-usual climate change?
• What are the biggest sources of uncertainty in projecting future global warming?
• What do previous hot periods in Earth’s climate tell us about what the future may hold in store?
• How could the thawing permafrost speed up global warming beyond what climate models have projected?
• How could an increase in wildfires speed up global warming beyond what climate models have projected?
• What are some other key positive or amplifying feedbacks affecting the climate system?
• What will the impacts of sea-level rise be?
• How will climate change lead to more destructive superstorms this century?
• What kind of droughts can we expect this century?
• What are the expected health impacts of climate change?
• How does global warming affect human productivity?
• Does carbon dioxide at exposure levels expected this century have any direct impacts on human health or cognition?
• What is ocean acidification and why does it matter to sea life?
• What is biodiversity and how will climate change impact it?
• How will climate change affect the agricultural sector and our ability to feed the world’s growing population?
• How is climate change a threat to national, regional, and global security?
• What is the plausible best-case scenario for climate change this century?
• What is the plausible worst-case scenario for climate change this century?
• What do scientists mean by “irreversible impacts” and why are they such a concern with climate change?
4. Avoiding the Worst Impacts
• What is the biggest source of confusion about what humanity needs to do to avoid the worst climate impacts?
• What is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change?
• Why did scientists and governments decide 2°C (3.6°F) was the limit beyond which climate change becomes “dangerous” to humanity?
• What kind of greenhouse gas emissions reductions are needed to achieve a 2°C target?
• What would the economic cost of meeting the 2°C target be?
• What happens if we miss the 2°C target?
• Can we adapt to human-caused climate change?
• What is geoengineering and can it play a major role in reducing the impact of climate change?
5. Climate Politics and Policies
• What climate policies are governments around the world using to fight climate change?
• What is a carbon tax?
• What are cap-and-trade and carbon trading?
• What is China doing to restrict carbon dioxide emissions?
• What is the United States doing to restrict carbon dioxide emissions?
• How do different political parties view climate science and policies in the United States and around the world?
• Is there are a large-scale effort to spread misinformation on climate science and, if so, who funds it?
• What are climate science deniers?
6. The Role of Clean Energy
• What kind of changes in our energy system would a 2°C target require?
• What is energy efficiency and what role will it play?
• Will nuclear power be a major factor in the effort to minimize climate change?
• What role does natural gas have in the transition to a 2°C world?
• How much can solar power contribute to averting dangerous climate change?
• How big a role will wind power play in averting dangerous climate change?
• What is carbon capture and storage (a.k.a. carbon sequestration) and what role can it play?
• What is bioenergy and what is its role in cutting carbon pollution?
• What other carbon-free forms of energy can contribute to cutting greenhouse gas emissions?
• How can we reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector?
• What challenges have limited the marketplace success of alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles to date?
• What role can electric vehicles play?
• What are hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles?
• What are the challenges facing hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles as a climate solution?
• What role can energy storage play in the transition off of fossil fuels?
• What can the agricultural and livestock sector do to minimize climate change?
• What role can energy conservation play?
7. Climate Change and You
• How will climate change impact you and your family in the coming decades?
• How might climate change affect the future price of coastal property?
• How might climate change affect decisions about where to live and retire in the coming decades?
• What should students study today if they want to prepare themselves for working in a globally warmed world?
• Should climate change affect how you invest for the future?
• How can you reduce your carbon footprint?
• What role can dietary changes play in reducing your carbon footprint?
• What is the best way to talk to someone who does not accept the growing body of evidence on climate science?
• Do we still have time to preserve a livable climate?
Primary Sources
Notes
Index
May 3, 2025
This book gives a great overview of all that we understand is expected to happen in our country and around the world based on the track that we are on. I wouldn’t say it gives hope about the situation at hand, but it gives a lot of detailed information about all the options we have to tackle climate change as it impacts our world moving forward. It’s a little outdated since the third edition was published in 2022 and a lot has changed since then. I do think it gives a good perspective on what will have to change in how we live in this world and what could come over the next 75 years. The most interesting change in thought I gained from this book is that there are no “sanctuary city’s” that will exist from climate change, we will all be greatly affected moving forward if we can’t make changes. This lines out very specific changes us as individuals can make to reduce our carbon footprint. Not all of it is feasible for everyone and caveats are given for dietary changes and stopping air travel. My favorite line is the very last in the book from the pope “We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for other and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.”
February 21, 2016
This is a really great reference book, but not a page turner. I enjoyed being able to bounce around, and it provided great, succinct, well organized information. I particularly enjoyed the questions about weather. However, it's not a non fiction with any sort of narrative. Use this for talking points and quick answers to questions, but not as an introduction to this topic for someone outside the choir.
March 1, 2020
This is a great book to get a general understanding of what is climate change (or, climate crisis as it is called these days) and how it affects you.
The parts about the green technologies and the governments' policies to combat the climate crisis are somewhat out of date now. These are changing very quickly.
The parts about the green technologies and the governments' policies to combat the climate crisis are somewhat out of date now. These are changing very quickly.
March 2, 2022
Well referenced and informative. Definitely worth a read, although the transportation sector has a glaring lack of focus on anything but electric cars, which is the main reason I bumped it down from five stars.
June 21, 2020
Very thorough, and not relentlessly boring... If you work in the field. This is not a useful book to recommend to the general public, nor is it an easy read by any means.
September 28, 2017
Dr. Joseph Romm knows Climate Change, focused completely on it for over a decade and involved since his Scripps/MIT PhD in the late 80s. This essential book is both comprehensive and persuasive. Answers every important question with full authority. My new favorite recommendation for deniers and slacktivists alike.
Both Greenland and WAIS become irreversibly unstable at 2ºC, and they contain enough ice to raise sea levels by >10-15m each. Just 3 meters inundates Florida, Bangladesh, and large sections of both the eastern US and China.
35m years ago, CO2 was at 1000ppm and temps were 16C (29F) higher, and with no Greenland or WAIS ice, the sea levels were 80-100m (200ft+) higher.
IPCC(5, Paris) didn’t include the impact of the largest forward feedback loops: burning peat, melting tundra methane, and both tropical and boreal forest fires. The 2C Paris target is now clearly too high, as well as unlikely to be achieved. Ironically, by investing 1% of Global GDP by 2050 to stay under 2C (at 450ppm), we could save $71T in just fuel costs alone. (p155) Fighting climate change is both inexpensive and cost-effective! And we only need to reinvest <1/40th of just future growth. Only just the labor productivity lost from working in greater heat is 100x that figure. (Must read it, just to deeply understand these economic facts)
The most completely realistic and very sad forecast is for: Droughts ravaging over 1/3 of arable land, annual floods the size of Katerina or Sandy by 2050, and extreme summer heat making the middle east and southern US almost unlivable, with sea levels rising, 6-10ft by 2100 and 1ft or more each decade thereafter.
On top of this we’ll see food shocks, water tables collapsing, and resource wars, like Syria. The impacts may come faster than forecast, and have financial foreshadowing. Methane (fracking, the arctic) may produce much worse short term heating, which could function as a global wake up.
While geoengineering (via stratospheric sulfates or others) is shot down in a few pages, China’s massive ambitions (to create 800GW+ of renewable energy by 2030, the equivalent of the entire US electric grid) are lauded. (p178) China’s coal consumption likely already peaked in 2013. The alternative energy chapter is encouraging, and it notes that nuclear may be a large part of the solution but only if it obviates its massive water use challenges in drought regions like Georgia. (p201) Corn ethanol is just a political toy with no climate benefit. Interesting facts abound such as: In 2013, half of the electricity used in Denmark was wind generated, and Germany has 40% of the world installed PV capacity. The EV section feels dated already (!), speculating with the IEA when batteries will fall under $250/kwH while Tesla has already broken through $150/kwH at current materials prices. (p230-243) It correctly explains the wide multitude of problems with Hydrogen and Fuel Cells such as Mirai.
The book isn’t perfect, with the gradient maps illegible in white/Grey, and the “projected impacts" section about twice as long as bearable. As sad and frustrating as it feels, everyone must read this and remain realistic.
Both Greenland and WAIS become irreversibly unstable at 2ºC, and they contain enough ice to raise sea levels by >10-15m each. Just 3 meters inundates Florida, Bangladesh, and large sections of both the eastern US and China.
35m years ago, CO2 was at 1000ppm and temps were 16C (29F) higher, and with no Greenland or WAIS ice, the sea levels were 80-100m (200ft+) higher.
IPCC(5, Paris) didn’t include the impact of the largest forward feedback loops: burning peat, melting tundra methane, and both tropical and boreal forest fires. The 2C Paris target is now clearly too high, as well as unlikely to be achieved. Ironically, by investing 1% of Global GDP by 2050 to stay under 2C (at 450ppm), we could save $71T in just fuel costs alone. (p155) Fighting climate change is both inexpensive and cost-effective! And we only need to reinvest <1/40th of just future growth. Only just the labor productivity lost from working in greater heat is 100x that figure. (Must read it, just to deeply understand these economic facts)
The most completely realistic and very sad forecast is for: Droughts ravaging over 1/3 of arable land, annual floods the size of Katerina or Sandy by 2050, and extreme summer heat making the middle east and southern US almost unlivable, with sea levels rising, 6-10ft by 2100 and 1ft or more each decade thereafter.
On top of this we’ll see food shocks, water tables collapsing, and resource wars, like Syria. The impacts may come faster than forecast, and have financial foreshadowing. Methane (fracking, the arctic) may produce much worse short term heating, which could function as a global wake up.
While geoengineering (via stratospheric sulfates or others) is shot down in a few pages, China’s massive ambitions (to create 800GW+ of renewable energy by 2030, the equivalent of the entire US electric grid) are lauded. (p178) China’s coal consumption likely already peaked in 2013. The alternative energy chapter is encouraging, and it notes that nuclear may be a large part of the solution but only if it obviates its massive water use challenges in drought regions like Georgia. (p201) Corn ethanol is just a political toy with no climate benefit. Interesting facts abound such as: In 2013, half of the electricity used in Denmark was wind generated, and Germany has 40% of the world installed PV capacity. The EV section feels dated already (!), speculating with the IEA when batteries will fall under $250/kwH while Tesla has already broken through $150/kwH at current materials prices. (p230-243) It correctly explains the wide multitude of problems with Hydrogen and Fuel Cells such as Mirai.
The book isn’t perfect, with the gradient maps illegible in white/Grey, and the “projected impacts" section about twice as long as bearable. As sad and frustrating as it feels, everyone must read this and remain realistic.
August 30, 2017
Romm explains the science behind climate change (beyond simply citing the greenhouse effect) in accessible language, and demonstrates why addressing climate change is such an urgent issue, laying out the impacts we're already experiencing and the dramatic impacts we can expect to experience in our lifetimes - in the next several decades - without aggressive action.
Regardless of your political views, contains information relevant to you if you care about any of the following: poverty, science and innovation, social justice, food security, national security, responsible government spending, smart personal investment, coastal communities, public health, etc.
Highly recommend informing yourself on this issue - as Romm points out, we will all have to adjust to climate change in dramatic ways in the coming decades whether we like it or not. Romm also explores some of the major policy, lifestyle, and infrastructure changes that could be utilized in the immediate and in the coming decades as we attempt to avoid even worse/catastrophic levels of warming, and in the context of politicians pushing deregulation and denying a major scientific consensus, I think it's especially important for regular citizens to understand what those necessary changes might look like.
Regardless of your political views, contains information relevant to you if you care about any of the following: poverty, science and innovation, social justice, food security, national security, responsible government spending, smart personal investment, coastal communities, public health, etc.
Highly recommend informing yourself on this issue - as Romm points out, we will all have to adjust to climate change in dramatic ways in the coming decades whether we like it or not. Romm also explores some of the major policy, lifestyle, and infrastructure changes that could be utilized in the immediate and in the coming decades as we attempt to avoid even worse/catastrophic levels of warming, and in the context of politicians pushing deregulation and denying a major scientific consensus, I think it's especially important for regular citizens to understand what those necessary changes might look like.
June 4, 2022
This is essential reading for everyone who lives on planet Earth. Climate change is the fight of our generation, but it’s consequences will ring for the rest of humanity. Romm’s account is deeply researched and intensely persuasive of this idea. It demonstrates the complexity of climate science and why climate change deniers have no legs to stand on, while explaining clearly what has scientists so alarmed. It is written more as an FAQ or reference than a narrative, but I am still giving it 5 stars because the content is so indispensable. I will recommend it to everyone I know because 1) we need to know what we’re up against, and 2) he gives a good explainer on what kinds of policies and personal decisions we should all be making.
Read this book if: You live on planet earth.
Don’t read this book if: You are already a world expert on climate science and could spend that time saving us instead of reading facts you already know. Outside of this small circle, it is a must read.
Read this book if: You live on planet earth.
Don’t read this book if: You are already a world expert on climate science and could spend that time saving us instead of reading facts you already know. Outside of this small circle, it is a must read.
May 21, 2019
It's a very interesting book about the most actual theme. Scientist or not, you have to know what is happening, it's your duty to learn and inform yourself about it. This book could be a good starting point, even if i think that in certain parts could appear a bit boring (facts oriented, with a lot of statistics, data, paper references).
Read
May 31, 2018I learned plenty, especially about extreme weather and the different possible feedback loops. What I most liked about reading this was it made climate change more concrete for me, which gives me more of an impetus to act. And it did leave me feeling that there is still hope--at least for a few more years.
My biggest criticism is that the author, I presume in the interest of simplifying and shortening complex science, made some things seem more black and white (and made some predicitions seem more certain) than I imagine they really are. Being a layperson, I don't know which areas are more uncertain, and I wish the author had been willing to be a bit less definite sometimes. Though I realize it would have made the book a much more difficult read.
My biggest criticism is that the author, I presume in the interest of simplifying and shortening complex science, made some things seem more black and white (and made some predicitions seem more certain) than I imagine they really are. Being a layperson, I don't know which areas are more uncertain, and I wish the author had been willing to be a bit less definite sometimes. Though I realize it would have made the book a much more difficult read.
July 23, 2019
Un dels llibres més clars, entenedors i sintètics sobre canvi climàtic. Imprescindible.
January 2, 2024
Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know by Joseph Romm.
4/5 rating. 268 pages.
Book #45 of 2020. Read July 6, 2020.
If you are only going to ever read one book about climate change/the environment, make it this one. It lays out, in simple, yet detailed terms why climate change is happening, what it is doing to our environment, and why it needs to be stopped at all costs! If you give one damn about the earth, people's future, or your descendants, you cannot continue to be ignorant on this issue.
As Joseph explained:
"'Warming of the climate system is unequivocal' and a 'settled fact.'"
"The science linking human activities to climate change is analogous to the science linking smoking to lung and cardiovascular diseases."
The governments and scientists of the world are completely clear on what is required:
"Cut carbon pollution sharply starting now (at a very low cost) or risk 'severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems.'"
Even with humanity drastically cutting CO2 and other greenhouse gases (to zero or negative carbon emissions by 2100), the effects felt through stronger and stranger weather, sea-level rise, and food and water shortages will still be very apparent. These will all occur even if we keep the average global warming to below 2°C. At our current business-as-usual rate the warming will amount to at least 6°C (11°F) and it could be more. These models are even without some serious feedback loops that could further exacerbate warming. This means that we HAVE TO seriously cut back and make the required moves towards a carbon-free world.
As Pope Francis implored: "We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."
This book taught me so much about the mechanisms and concerns and everyone needs to read it!!
Quotes:
"Four decades ago, climate scientists began seriously sounding the alarm about the dangers posed by unrestricted emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels."
"In the ensuing years, the science has gotten stronger, in large part because observations around the world confirmed the vast majority of the early predictions made by climate scientists."
"The Arctic began losing sea ice several decades ahead of every single climate model used by the [United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], which in turn means the Arctic region warmed up even faster than scientists expected."
"In the last several years, we have experienced a spate of off-the-charts extreme weather events that scientists had predicted decades ago - heat waves, droughts, wildfires, superstorms, and super storm surges."
"Leading scientists and governments say that would mean keeping total warming as close to 2°C (3.6°F) as possible and preferably below it. Meeting such a warning target would require all nations to replace fossil fuels with clean energy at an even faster rate than we are currently planning - and for total global carbon dioxide emissions to be zero (or negative) by century's end."
"For instance, in the past quarter century, the price of solar-powered electricity from photovoltaic panels has dropped by 99%, which has been accompanied by an equally impressive 60% annual increase in global solar capacity."
"My June 2015 trip to meet with leading Chinese climate and energy experts made clear the country is likely to beat its stated targets - with carbon dioxide peaking by 2025 and coal use peaking as early as right now."
"Rather, it takes as a starting point the overwhelming consensus of our top global experts and governments, as laid out in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change summary reviews of the literature, culminating with the November 2014 'Synthesis Report.' The 2014 Report issued their bluntest statement yet to the world: Cut carbon pollution sharply starting now (at a very low cost) or risk 'severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems.'"
"At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago, CO2 levels in the atmosphere were approximately 280 parts per million (ppm). Since then, humankind has been pouring billions of tons of extra greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing more and more heat to be trapped. The main human-caused greenhouse gas is CO2, and the rate of growth of human-caused CO2 emissions has been accelerating. Emissions today are six times higher than they were in 1950."
"As a result, the Earth has warmed 1.5°F (0.85°C) since 1900. Most of this warming, approximately 1°F, has occurred only since 1970."
"The world's leading scientists and governments have stated flatly, 'Warming of the climate system is unequivocal' and a 'settled fact.'"
"Globally, some 90% of glaciers are shrinking in size."
"They found that the Greenland ice sheet saw 'nearly a five-fold increase' in its melt rate between the mid-1990s and 2011."
"In other words, the best estimate is that humans are responsible for all of the warming we have experienced since 1950 - based on a review of observations and analysis published in the scientific literature."
"One reason the world's top scientists have confidence that humans are responsible for so much of the warming is that most of the naturally occurring things that affect global temperature would tend to be cooling the Earth. That is, in the absence of human activity and the warming that results from it, the planet would likely have cooled in recent decades. For instance, the sun's level of activity tends to have a modest, cyclical impact on global temperatures. In recent years, we have seen 'the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century,' as NASA explained in 2009 - an unusually low level of solar activity that would otherwise be cooling the Earth slightly. Similarly, volcanic activity in recent decades has released particles that partially block the sun and also serve to cool the planet slightly. Finally, the underlying long-term trend for the Earth - driven largely by changes in our orbit - has been a very slow cooling. Human activity has overwhelmed all of these trends."
"The Climate Science Panel of the world's largest general scientific society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, issued a report in March 2014 'What We Know'. That report described the scientific consensus this way: 'The science linking human activities to climate change is analogous to the science linking smoking to lung and cardiovascular diseases. Physicians, cardiovascular scientists, public health experts and others all agree smoking causes cancer. And this consensus among the health community has convinced most Americans that the health risks from smoking are real. A similar consensus now exists among climate scientists, a consensus that maintains climate change is happening, and human activity is the cause."
"The U.S. National Academy and United Kingdom's Royal Society note: 'The observed patterns of surface warming, temperature changes through the atmosphere, increases in ocean heat content, increases in atmospheric moisture, sea level rise, and increased melting of land and sea ice also match the patterns scientists expect to see due to rising levels of CO2 and other human-induced changes.'"
"Satellites measure less heat escaping out to space, at the particular wavelengths that CO2 absorbs heat, thus finding 'direct experimental evidence for a significant increase in the Earth's greenhouse effect.'"
"One important amplifying feedback occurs because, as the planet warms, the extent of both sea ice and land-based ice (glaciers) shrinks. Thus white ice, which is very reflective, is replaced by the blue sea or dark land, each of which absorb much more solar radiation."
"Another key rapidly acting amplifying feedback is driven by water vapor. As the planet starts to heat up, evaporation increases, which puts more water vapor into the air. Water vapor is a potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas. So an increase in water vapor causes an increase in warming, which causes an increase in water vapor, and so on."
"A 2012 study, 'Comparing climate projections to observations up to 2011,' confirmed that climate change is happening as fast - and in some cases faster - than climate models had projected."
"The new findings highlight that the IPCC is far from being alarmist and in fact in some cases rather underestimates possible risks."
"Warming also puts more water vapor in the atmosphere, so that wet areas of the world become wetter and deluges become more intense and more frequent."
"Studies also find that global warming makes the strongest hurricanes more intense, because hurricanes draw their energy from ocean warmth, so that once a hurricane forms, global warming provides it more fuel."
"As climatologists Stefan Rahmstorf and Dim Coumou of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research put it, 'the same amount of global warming boosts the probability of really extreme events, like the [2012] US heat wave, far more than it boosts more moderate events.'"
"Historically, in a typical summer in the 1951-1980 period, 'only 0.1-0.2% of the globe is covered by such hot extremes.' However, their analysis found that this type of previously rare monster heat wave 'now typically covers about 10% of the land area' during the summer months..."
"Westerling et al. (2006) found that, in the last three decades, the wildfire season in the western U.S. has increased by 78 days, and burn durations of fires > 1000 ha have increased from 7.5 to 37.1 days, in response to a spring-summer warming of 0.87°C."
"Thus, the best evidence and analysis finds that although we are not seeing more hurricanes, we are seeing more of the Category 4 or 5 super-hurricanes, the ones that historically have done the most damage and that have destroyed entire coastal cities."
"Since the 1970s, the Arctic has warmed by 2°C (3.6°F)."
"It would seem that the only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change. The view that weather extremes are more frequent and intense due to global warming coincides with the current state of scientific knowledge."
"April 2011 set records in the United States for most tornadoes in a month and in 24 hours. The 'Katrina of tornado outbreaks,' as some called it, saw 758 tornadoes, with 316 on April 27 alone. NOAA notes that 'The previous record for April tornadoes was set in April 1974 with 267 tornadoes', and 'The previous record number of tornadoes during any month was 524 tornadoes set in May 2004.'"
"Readers who are younger than 30 years old have never lived through a single month in which the planet's average surface temperature was below average."
"Now, however, the chances of greatly exceeding 550 ppm are substantial, much greater than 50% on our current trajectory."
"Boreal forests store more than 30% of all the carbon stored on land (in vegetation and soil). Although tropical forests get most of the attention, they store a little more than half the carbon per acre that boreal forests do."
"'For every ton of carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere, we are leaving more and more in the atmosphere' each passing year, as study coauthor Josep Canadell explained to me."
"One of the authors of the WAIS collapse work, NASA's Eric Rignot, told me at the time, 'I think that the minimum will be the upper end of the IPCC projections (90 cm [3 feet]) by 2100.'"
"It projected that severe to extreme drought in the United States, then occurring every 20 years or so, could become an every-other-year phenomenon by mid-century."
"To summarize, several recent robust studies find that human-caused carbon emissions are putting large parts of the habited and arable land of the developed and developing world on track for the worst imaginable multidecadal droughts this century. Such Dust-Bowlification would be one of the most consequential impacts of climate change for the world."
"In my dissertation I did some back-of-the-envelope estimates using [this data about productivity decline because of increased temperature] and found that productivity impacts alone might reduce per capita output by ~9% in 2080-2099 (in the absence of strong adaptation). This cost exceeds the combined cost of all other projected economic losses combined.
"In surveys of elementary school classrooms in California and Texas, average CO2 concentrations were above 1,000 ppm, a substantial proportion exceeded 2,000 ppm, and in 21% of Texas classrooms peak CO2 concentration exceeded 3,000 ppm."
"At 1,000 ppm CO2, compared with 600 ppm, performance was significantly diminished on six of nine metrics of decision-making performance. At 2,500 ppm CO2, compared with 600 ppm, performance was significantly reduced in seven of nine metrics of performance, with percentile ranks for some performance metrics decreasing to levels associated with marginal or dysfunctional performance."
"[Professor John Beddington] warned that by 2030, 'A "perfect storm" of food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts, amd mass migration as people flee from the worst-affected regions,' as the UK's Guardian put it."
"The plausible best-case scenario for climate change this century would be keeping total warming below 2°C (3.6°F). That likely requires stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide below 450 parts per million. Because we are already at 400 ppm and rising more than 2 ppm a year, and because concentrations of CO2 in the air will not stop rising until we cut global emissions of CO2 to 80% or more below current levels, that would require an aggressive worldwide effort."
"If we stay near the high emissions pathway, and 'If carbon-cycle feedbacks are stronger [than currently modeled], which appears less likely but still credible, then 4°C warming could be reached by the early 2060s in projections that are consistent with the IPCC's "likely range".'"
"(Surface temperatures will remain approximately constant at elevated levels for many centuries after a complete cessation of net anthropogenic CO2 emissions. A large fraction of anthropogenic climate change resulting from CO2 emissions is irreversible on a multi-century to millennial time scale)(bold), except in the case of a large net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere over a sustained period..."
"Perhaps the biggest source of confusion in the public climate discussion is that avoiding catastrophic warming requires stabilizing carbon dioxide concentrations not emissions."
"It takes a while for the Earth's climate system to actually reach its equilibrium temperature for a given level of CO2. If CO2 levels stopped rising now, temperatures would keep rising for another few decades, albeit slowly."
"Roughly speaking, to have a significant chance - greater than 50% - of keeping total warming below 2°C, we need to cut the emissions of carbon dioxide and other major GHG pollutants by more than 50% by mid-century, which in turn means that global GHG emissions must peak within a decade or so and start a rapid decline. That decline must continue through century's end so that by 2100, the world's total net emissions of GHG's needs to be close to zero, and preferably below zero, especially if we delay serious actions much longer."
"As a result, for most developed countries, an 80% to 90% reduction in GHGs by mid-century is the target needed to give the world a reasonable chance of stabilizing temperatures below 2°C."
"The [International Energy Agency] said that a systematic effort to use renewable energy and energy efficiency and energy storage to keep global warming below the 2°C threshold (their 2DS scenario) would require investments in clean energy of approximately 1% of global gross domestic product (GDP) per year."
"The $44 trillion additional investment needed to decarbonise the energy system in line with the 2DS by 2050 is more than offset by over $115 trillion in fuel savings - resulting in net savings of $71 trillion."
"[E]very major independent study has found a remarkably low net cost for climate action and a high cost for delay."
"[T]he transition to a low-carbon economy may increase annual GDP growth in many countries."
"As for the cost of delay, back in 2009, the IEA warned that 'the world will have to spend an extra $500 billion to cut carbon emissions for every year it delays implementing major assault on global warming."
"There is no substitute for dramatic reductions in the emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change, and concurrently to reduce ocean acidification."
"Albedo modification at scales sufficient to alter climate should not be deployed at this time. There is significant potential for unanticipated, unmanageable, and regrettable consequences in multiple human dimensions from albedo modification at climate altering scales, including political, social, legal, economic, and ethical dimensions."
"The BC tax started at $10 per metric ton of carbon dioxide, and it hit $30 a metric ton in 2012. That translates into approximately $0.25 a gallon of gasoline. From 2008 to 2012, one study found that fossil fuel consumption fell 17% in BC (and 19% compared to the rest of Canada)."
"The cap-and-trade system is designed to achieve a comparable target level of overall economy-wide emissions reductions as the other pollution-reduction strategies while (1) rewarding the companies that are the most innovative or efficient at cutting pollution and (2) making certain that the target level of emissions is achieved at the least possible cost."
"In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan's Environmental Protection Agency put in place a trading program to phase out leaded gasoline. It produced a more rapid elimination of leaded gasoline from the marketplace than had been anticipated, and at a savings of some $250 million per year compared with a conventional no-trade, command-and-control approach."
"For more than 2 decades, the fossil fuel industry has been funding scientists, think tanks and others to deny and cast doubt on the scientific understanding of human-caused global warming."
"The media does not write about 'tobacco science skeptics' and no longer gives airtime to people who deny the dangerous health consequences of cigarette smoking. However, many in the media continue to quote those who deny basic climate science."
4/5 rating. 268 pages.
Book #45 of 2020. Read July 6, 2020.
If you are only going to ever read one book about climate change/the environment, make it this one. It lays out, in simple, yet detailed terms why climate change is happening, what it is doing to our environment, and why it needs to be stopped at all costs! If you give one damn about the earth, people's future, or your descendants, you cannot continue to be ignorant on this issue.
As Joseph explained:
"'Warming of the climate system is unequivocal' and a 'settled fact.'"
"The science linking human activities to climate change is analogous to the science linking smoking to lung and cardiovascular diseases."
The governments and scientists of the world are completely clear on what is required:
"Cut carbon pollution sharply starting now (at a very low cost) or risk 'severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems.'"
Even with humanity drastically cutting CO2 and other greenhouse gases (to zero or negative carbon emissions by 2100), the effects felt through stronger and stranger weather, sea-level rise, and food and water shortages will still be very apparent. These will all occur even if we keep the average global warming to below 2°C. At our current business-as-usual rate the warming will amount to at least 6°C (11°F) and it could be more. These models are even without some serious feedback loops that could further exacerbate warming. This means that we HAVE TO seriously cut back and make the required moves towards a carbon-free world.
As Pope Francis implored: "We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."
This book taught me so much about the mechanisms and concerns and everyone needs to read it!!
Quotes:
"Four decades ago, climate scientists began seriously sounding the alarm about the dangers posed by unrestricted emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels."
"In the ensuing years, the science has gotten stronger, in large part because observations around the world confirmed the vast majority of the early predictions made by climate scientists."
"The Arctic began losing sea ice several decades ahead of every single climate model used by the [United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], which in turn means the Arctic region warmed up even faster than scientists expected."
"In the last several years, we have experienced a spate of off-the-charts extreme weather events that scientists had predicted decades ago - heat waves, droughts, wildfires, superstorms, and super storm surges."
"Leading scientists and governments say that would mean keeping total warming as close to 2°C (3.6°F) as possible and preferably below it. Meeting such a warning target would require all nations to replace fossil fuels with clean energy at an even faster rate than we are currently planning - and for total global carbon dioxide emissions to be zero (or negative) by century's end."
"For instance, in the past quarter century, the price of solar-powered electricity from photovoltaic panels has dropped by 99%, which has been accompanied by an equally impressive 60% annual increase in global solar capacity."
"My June 2015 trip to meet with leading Chinese climate and energy experts made clear the country is likely to beat its stated targets - with carbon dioxide peaking by 2025 and coal use peaking as early as right now."
"Rather, it takes as a starting point the overwhelming consensus of our top global experts and governments, as laid out in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change summary reviews of the literature, culminating with the November 2014 'Synthesis Report.' The 2014 Report issued their bluntest statement yet to the world: Cut carbon pollution sharply starting now (at a very low cost) or risk 'severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems.'"
"At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago, CO2 levels in the atmosphere were approximately 280 parts per million (ppm). Since then, humankind has been pouring billions of tons of extra greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing more and more heat to be trapped. The main human-caused greenhouse gas is CO2, and the rate of growth of human-caused CO2 emissions has been accelerating. Emissions today are six times higher than they were in 1950."
"As a result, the Earth has warmed 1.5°F (0.85°C) since 1900. Most of this warming, approximately 1°F, has occurred only since 1970."
"The world's leading scientists and governments have stated flatly, 'Warming of the climate system is unequivocal' and a 'settled fact.'"
"Globally, some 90% of glaciers are shrinking in size."
"They found that the Greenland ice sheet saw 'nearly a five-fold increase' in its melt rate between the mid-1990s and 2011."
"In other words, the best estimate is that humans are responsible for all of the warming we have experienced since 1950 - based on a review of observations and analysis published in the scientific literature."
"One reason the world's top scientists have confidence that humans are responsible for so much of the warming is that most of the naturally occurring things that affect global temperature would tend to be cooling the Earth. That is, in the absence of human activity and the warming that results from it, the planet would likely have cooled in recent decades. For instance, the sun's level of activity tends to have a modest, cyclical impact on global temperatures. In recent years, we have seen 'the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century,' as NASA explained in 2009 - an unusually low level of solar activity that would otherwise be cooling the Earth slightly. Similarly, volcanic activity in recent decades has released particles that partially block the sun and also serve to cool the planet slightly. Finally, the underlying long-term trend for the Earth - driven largely by changes in our orbit - has been a very slow cooling. Human activity has overwhelmed all of these trends."
"The Climate Science Panel of the world's largest general scientific society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, issued a report in March 2014 'What We Know'. That report described the scientific consensus this way: 'The science linking human activities to climate change is analogous to the science linking smoking to lung and cardiovascular diseases. Physicians, cardiovascular scientists, public health experts and others all agree smoking causes cancer. And this consensus among the health community has convinced most Americans that the health risks from smoking are real. A similar consensus now exists among climate scientists, a consensus that maintains climate change is happening, and human activity is the cause."
"The U.S. National Academy and United Kingdom's Royal Society note: 'The observed patterns of surface warming, temperature changes through the atmosphere, increases in ocean heat content, increases in atmospheric moisture, sea level rise, and increased melting of land and sea ice also match the patterns scientists expect to see due to rising levels of CO2 and other human-induced changes.'"
"Satellites measure less heat escaping out to space, at the particular wavelengths that CO2 absorbs heat, thus finding 'direct experimental evidence for a significant increase in the Earth's greenhouse effect.'"
"One important amplifying feedback occurs because, as the planet warms, the extent of both sea ice and land-based ice (glaciers) shrinks. Thus white ice, which is very reflective, is replaced by the blue sea or dark land, each of which absorb much more solar radiation."
"Another key rapidly acting amplifying feedback is driven by water vapor. As the planet starts to heat up, evaporation increases, which puts more water vapor into the air. Water vapor is a potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas. So an increase in water vapor causes an increase in warming, which causes an increase in water vapor, and so on."
"A 2012 study, 'Comparing climate projections to observations up to 2011,' confirmed that climate change is happening as fast - and in some cases faster - than climate models had projected."
"The new findings highlight that the IPCC is far from being alarmist and in fact in some cases rather underestimates possible risks."
"Warming also puts more water vapor in the atmosphere, so that wet areas of the world become wetter and deluges become more intense and more frequent."
"Studies also find that global warming makes the strongest hurricanes more intense, because hurricanes draw their energy from ocean warmth, so that once a hurricane forms, global warming provides it more fuel."
"As climatologists Stefan Rahmstorf and Dim Coumou of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research put it, 'the same amount of global warming boosts the probability of really extreme events, like the [2012] US heat wave, far more than it boosts more moderate events.'"
"Historically, in a typical summer in the 1951-1980 period, 'only 0.1-0.2% of the globe is covered by such hot extremes.' However, their analysis found that this type of previously rare monster heat wave 'now typically covers about 10% of the land area' during the summer months..."
"Westerling et al. (2006) found that, in the last three decades, the wildfire season in the western U.S. has increased by 78 days, and burn durations of fires > 1000 ha have increased from 7.5 to 37.1 days, in response to a spring-summer warming of 0.87°C."
"Thus, the best evidence and analysis finds that although we are not seeing more hurricanes, we are seeing more of the Category 4 or 5 super-hurricanes, the ones that historically have done the most damage and that have destroyed entire coastal cities."
"Since the 1970s, the Arctic has warmed by 2°C (3.6°F)."
"It would seem that the only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change. The view that weather extremes are more frequent and intense due to global warming coincides with the current state of scientific knowledge."
"April 2011 set records in the United States for most tornadoes in a month and in 24 hours. The 'Katrina of tornado outbreaks,' as some called it, saw 758 tornadoes, with 316 on April 27 alone. NOAA notes that 'The previous record for April tornadoes was set in April 1974 with 267 tornadoes', and 'The previous record number of tornadoes during any month was 524 tornadoes set in May 2004.'"
"Readers who are younger than 30 years old have never lived through a single month in which the planet's average surface temperature was below average."
"Now, however, the chances of greatly exceeding 550 ppm are substantial, much greater than 50% on our current trajectory."
"Boreal forests store more than 30% of all the carbon stored on land (in vegetation and soil). Although tropical forests get most of the attention, they store a little more than half the carbon per acre that boreal forests do."
"'For every ton of carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere, we are leaving more and more in the atmosphere' each passing year, as study coauthor Josep Canadell explained to me."
"One of the authors of the WAIS collapse work, NASA's Eric Rignot, told me at the time, 'I think that the minimum will be the upper end of the IPCC projections (90 cm [3 feet]) by 2100.'"
"It projected that severe to extreme drought in the United States, then occurring every 20 years or so, could become an every-other-year phenomenon by mid-century."
"To summarize, several recent robust studies find that human-caused carbon emissions are putting large parts of the habited and arable land of the developed and developing world on track for the worst imaginable multidecadal droughts this century. Such Dust-Bowlification would be one of the most consequential impacts of climate change for the world."
"In my dissertation I did some back-of-the-envelope estimates using [this data about productivity decline because of increased temperature] and found that productivity impacts alone might reduce per capita output by ~9% in 2080-2099 (in the absence of strong adaptation). This cost exceeds the combined cost of all other projected economic losses combined.
"In surveys of elementary school classrooms in California and Texas, average CO2 concentrations were above 1,000 ppm, a substantial proportion exceeded 2,000 ppm, and in 21% of Texas classrooms peak CO2 concentration exceeded 3,000 ppm."
"At 1,000 ppm CO2, compared with 600 ppm, performance was significantly diminished on six of nine metrics of decision-making performance. At 2,500 ppm CO2, compared with 600 ppm, performance was significantly reduced in seven of nine metrics of performance, with percentile ranks for some performance metrics decreasing to levels associated with marginal or dysfunctional performance."
"[Professor John Beddington] warned that by 2030, 'A "perfect storm" of food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts, amd mass migration as people flee from the worst-affected regions,' as the UK's Guardian put it."
"The plausible best-case scenario for climate change this century would be keeping total warming below 2°C (3.6°F). That likely requires stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide below 450 parts per million. Because we are already at 400 ppm and rising more than 2 ppm a year, and because concentrations of CO2 in the air will not stop rising until we cut global emissions of CO2 to 80% or more below current levels, that would require an aggressive worldwide effort."
"If we stay near the high emissions pathway, and 'If carbon-cycle feedbacks are stronger [than currently modeled], which appears less likely but still credible, then 4°C warming could be reached by the early 2060s in projections that are consistent with the IPCC's "likely range".'"
"(Surface temperatures will remain approximately constant at elevated levels for many centuries after a complete cessation of net anthropogenic CO2 emissions. A large fraction of anthropogenic climate change resulting from CO2 emissions is irreversible on a multi-century to millennial time scale)(bold), except in the case of a large net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere over a sustained period..."
"Perhaps the biggest source of confusion in the public climate discussion is that avoiding catastrophic warming requires stabilizing carbon dioxide concentrations not emissions."
"It takes a while for the Earth's climate system to actually reach its equilibrium temperature for a given level of CO2. If CO2 levels stopped rising now, temperatures would keep rising for another few decades, albeit slowly."
"Roughly speaking, to have a significant chance - greater than 50% - of keeping total warming below 2°C, we need to cut the emissions of carbon dioxide and other major GHG pollutants by more than 50% by mid-century, which in turn means that global GHG emissions must peak within a decade or so and start a rapid decline. That decline must continue through century's end so that by 2100, the world's total net emissions of GHG's needs to be close to zero, and preferably below zero, especially if we delay serious actions much longer."
"As a result, for most developed countries, an 80% to 90% reduction in GHGs by mid-century is the target needed to give the world a reasonable chance of stabilizing temperatures below 2°C."
"The [International Energy Agency] said that a systematic effort to use renewable energy and energy efficiency and energy storage to keep global warming below the 2°C threshold (their 2DS scenario) would require investments in clean energy of approximately 1% of global gross domestic product (GDP) per year."
"The $44 trillion additional investment needed to decarbonise the energy system in line with the 2DS by 2050 is more than offset by over $115 trillion in fuel savings - resulting in net savings of $71 trillion."
"[E]very major independent study has found a remarkably low net cost for climate action and a high cost for delay."
"[T]he transition to a low-carbon economy may increase annual GDP growth in many countries."
"As for the cost of delay, back in 2009, the IEA warned that 'the world will have to spend an extra $500 billion to cut carbon emissions for every year it delays implementing major assault on global warming."
"There is no substitute for dramatic reductions in the emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change, and concurrently to reduce ocean acidification."
"Albedo modification at scales sufficient to alter climate should not be deployed at this time. There is significant potential for unanticipated, unmanageable, and regrettable consequences in multiple human dimensions from albedo modification at climate altering scales, including political, social, legal, economic, and ethical dimensions."
"The BC tax started at $10 per metric ton of carbon dioxide, and it hit $30 a metric ton in 2012. That translates into approximately $0.25 a gallon of gasoline. From 2008 to 2012, one study found that fossil fuel consumption fell 17% in BC (and 19% compared to the rest of Canada)."
"The cap-and-trade system is designed to achieve a comparable target level of overall economy-wide emissions reductions as the other pollution-reduction strategies while (1) rewarding the companies that are the most innovative or efficient at cutting pollution and (2) making certain that the target level of emissions is achieved at the least possible cost."
"In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan's Environmental Protection Agency put in place a trading program to phase out leaded gasoline. It produced a more rapid elimination of leaded gasoline from the marketplace than had been anticipated, and at a savings of some $250 million per year compared with a conventional no-trade, command-and-control approach."
"For more than 2 decades, the fossil fuel industry has been funding scientists, think tanks and others to deny and cast doubt on the scientific understanding of human-caused global warming."
"The media does not write about 'tobacco science skeptics' and no longer gives airtime to people who deny the dangerous health consequences of cigarette smoking. However, many in the media continue to quote those who deny basic climate science."
January 3, 2017
A tremendously valuable book that everyone interested in climate change should read. And we all should be interested in climate change.
Written by a former assistant secretary of energy, with a PhD in physics and decades of science communication expertise, the book, subtitled "What Everyone Needs to Know," covers major facets of climate change in seven major sections. Each section is broken into the questions that most people ask.
For example, section 1 is Climate Science Basics. It includes questions like: "What is the greenhouse effect and how does it warm the Earth?" and "Why are scientists so certain the climate system is warming?" These and other questions (like Where does most of the human-caused warming go?) become the focal point for detailed answers explaining the state-of-the-science.
This same format is used for each of the other sections encompassing: Extreme Weather and Climate Change; Projected Climate Impacts; Avoiding the Worst Impacts; Climate Politics and Policies; The Role of Clean Energy; and Climate Change and You.
The coverage of impacts and policy options in addition to the science makes this book highly useful. Is nuclear power part of the answer? How about "carbon capture and storage?" Bioenergy? Electric cars? Hydrogen cars? What contributions, impacts, and solutions are there in the agricultural and livestock sector? How about transportation?
The last section - Climate Change and You - helps bring the ramifications of climate change back home. What impacts, now and in the future, can your family expect? What can you do as individuals to reduce your carbon footprint? How might this affect your investment decisions?
And "Do we still have time to preserve a livable climate?"
The table of contents lists each of the questions (roughly 12 to 20+ per section) so that readers can go directly to the discussion of the questions most important to them. This makes the book an excellent future resource as well as a comprehensive survey of the science and the options for dealing with that science.
As might be expected, the book is dense with factual information. This is both a blessing (well documented facts abound) and a burden (it is not a quick read). My recommendation is that everyone who wants to know about climate change (or who professes to "know" in Facebook comments) reads this book thoroughly, then keep a copy on your desk for reference. The questions likely any question that may be asked by friends, family, or on online forums.
Read it, and keep it handy.
Written by a former assistant secretary of energy, with a PhD in physics and decades of science communication expertise, the book, subtitled "What Everyone Needs to Know," covers major facets of climate change in seven major sections. Each section is broken into the questions that most people ask.
For example, section 1 is Climate Science Basics. It includes questions like: "What is the greenhouse effect and how does it warm the Earth?" and "Why are scientists so certain the climate system is warming?" These and other questions (like Where does most of the human-caused warming go?) become the focal point for detailed answers explaining the state-of-the-science.
This same format is used for each of the other sections encompassing: Extreme Weather and Climate Change; Projected Climate Impacts; Avoiding the Worst Impacts; Climate Politics and Policies; The Role of Clean Energy; and Climate Change and You.
The coverage of impacts and policy options in addition to the science makes this book highly useful. Is nuclear power part of the answer? How about "carbon capture and storage?" Bioenergy? Electric cars? Hydrogen cars? What contributions, impacts, and solutions are there in the agricultural and livestock sector? How about transportation?
The last section - Climate Change and You - helps bring the ramifications of climate change back home. What impacts, now and in the future, can your family expect? What can you do as individuals to reduce your carbon footprint? How might this affect your investment decisions?
And "Do we still have time to preserve a livable climate?"
The table of contents lists each of the questions (roughly 12 to 20+ per section) so that readers can go directly to the discussion of the questions most important to them. This makes the book an excellent future resource as well as a comprehensive survey of the science and the options for dealing with that science.
As might be expected, the book is dense with factual information. This is both a blessing (well documented facts abound) and a burden (it is not a quick read). My recommendation is that everyone who wants to know about climate change (or who professes to "know" in Facebook comments) reads this book thoroughly, then keep a copy on your desk for reference. The questions likely any question that may be asked by friends, family, or on online forums.
Read it, and keep it handy.
September 12, 2020
Like the subtitle says: everyone needs to know what's in this book.
Climate change, says Romm, is going to change the world in the next twenty years as much as the Internet has changed the world in the last twenty years. As alarming as that is, imagine if you could go back in time to the 1990s armed with a detailed knowledge of how the Internet would develop. Wouldn't it put you at an enormous advantage? We're in a similar situation now - we already know, broadly speaking, what the consequences of climate change are going to be. (Hint: they're bad.) We have a good idea which places are going to become less (or more) desirable to live, which industries are going to grow or decline, which countries are going to become less stable, which investments are going to become less attractive, which skills are going to become more or less valuable, and which careers are going to become more or less worth pursuing. In some cases there's still a lot of uncertainty, in others there's none - for example, south Florida is screwed and if you own property in Miami you'd better sell it quickly before the market realises what's coming.
And that's just assuming that you're purely motivated by self-interest. If you're not a delusional narcissist with no regard for your fellow humans and no care for the future or for your children, Romm's book might teach you something about how to make the world marginally less terrible for people who aren't you. In fact, this is the book that smacked me out of my apathy and made me realise I can no longer sit on the sidelines and literally watch the world burn.
If you don't believe in climate change, this book probably won't change your mind (because nothing will). For everyone else, you can't afford to miss this.
Climate change, says Romm, is going to change the world in the next twenty years as much as the Internet has changed the world in the last twenty years. As alarming as that is, imagine if you could go back in time to the 1990s armed with a detailed knowledge of how the Internet would develop. Wouldn't it put you at an enormous advantage? We're in a similar situation now - we already know, broadly speaking, what the consequences of climate change are going to be. (Hint: they're bad.) We have a good idea which places are going to become less (or more) desirable to live, which industries are going to grow or decline, which countries are going to become less stable, which investments are going to become less attractive, which skills are going to become more or less valuable, and which careers are going to become more or less worth pursuing. In some cases there's still a lot of uncertainty, in others there's none - for example, south Florida is screwed and if you own property in Miami you'd better sell it quickly before the market realises what's coming.
And that's just assuming that you're purely motivated by self-interest. If you're not a delusional narcissist with no regard for your fellow humans and no care for the future or for your children, Romm's book might teach you something about how to make the world marginally less terrible for people who aren't you. In fact, this is the book that smacked me out of my apathy and made me realise I can no longer sit on the sidelines and literally watch the world burn.
If you don't believe in climate change, this book probably won't change your mind (because nothing will). For everyone else, you can't afford to miss this.
March 10, 2020
The book was ok. It was a data dump though, and I felt like the author was debating someone on whether or not climate change would have negative effects. Rather than focus on the objective scientific research, he constantly told us every possible doomsday scenario. This makes sense when talking to policy makers, but I just wanted to learn. I constantly got the feeling that I wasn't getting the whole story. A lot of it was "A 2011 study has shown..." Well, all sorts of studies show all sorts of things, and I need to understand them a bit more, not just have them quoted at me. How was the study done? What is the degree of error? What are the opposing views to that study? Who funded it?
The late part of the book on alternative energies was quite interesting.
I don't think he dealt very well with climate skeptics/deniers. In the earlier part of the book he simply argued that they should be called deniers. In the end of the book he deals with their 'arguments', but does no more than list their bullet point claims and then 'debunks' them. It felt like a high school debate.
The late part of the book on alternative energies was quite interesting.
I don't think he dealt very well with climate skeptics/deniers. In the earlier part of the book he simply argued that they should be called deniers. In the end of the book he deals with their 'arguments', but does no more than list their bullet point claims and then 'debunks' them. It felt like a high school debate.
November 16, 2017
A useful guide to the science of climate change, but a little disingenuous to say the least in trying to focus on the science alone without the politics and economics, especially the neoliberal forces and corporate law ranged against efforts to curtail emissions. Not elegantly or passionately written, this is nevertheless a good place to start in trying to marshal scientific facts against those who disparage the truth of what's happening to the planet. I thought the section on carbon sequestration particularly useful - not least because of my ignorance.
February 3, 2016
This book covers the entire subject from basic science to analysis if corrective actions and description of the politics. It is organized by general topics, but written with specific questions and specific answers to each. Highly recommended to readers who already know some of the basics and especially to those who are still waiting to be convinced that climate change will be a global crisis by the middle of this century. Clearly written.
November 16, 2017
I live in Florida, it's 2017, this book predicts Florida will be ground zero for the effects of climate change. I'm already making plans on what to do, the world is not taking this problem seriously enough. This summer there were several category 5 hurricanes, Maria and Irma were catastrophic, it's a scientific prediction I've heard for several years that this would happen, hurricanes getting stronger. Very good book, I'm going to start focusing on this problem, we all should.
October 26, 2017
Thoroughly researched book on global warming, climate change, and man's contribution to it. Romm references over 50 different reports that show that the world is warming and that it is caused by man's actions. He also discusses multiple ways to correct the problem. Definitely worth reading if you are a climate change denier or if you are undecided.
December 29, 2019
Phew....I did it! Finally finished this book. I genuinely didn't want to start another year with this book on my "currently reading" shelf.
Even though it is generally interesting and I found out interesting facts, at times it was really technical and tedious. That's why it took me 1 year and a half to finish the book.
Even though it is generally interesting and I found out interesting facts, at times it was really technical and tedious. That's why it took me 1 year and a half to finish the book.
September 3, 2020
Very dense. Not a casual read. But I did learn not to buy waterfront property in Florida. So there's that.
October 10, 2021
A bit of a slog to read through, but It gave me a better appreciation of the issue facing us.
June 27, 2018
As a running summary, the state of things is worse than you think. Whether you read this book or not, I recommend you pick up something on climate change. It is going to affect each of our lives.
One of the virtues of the book, as indicated by the title, is its ease of use. Each chapter designates a general topic, such as "Climate Science Basics," "Extreme Weather and Climate Change," and "The Role of Clean Energy." From that general heading, the author writes each chapter in a question-answer format, making every section concise and informative. This layout makes the book an easy tool for quickly answering specific questions, though it can just as well be read all the way through. By the end, you will have covered causes of warming, projections to the end of the century, potential solutions, and many, many obstacles mankind will face.
As a single example for the scale of this problem, a moderate projection of the "business-as-usual" treatment (meaning we do not decrease carbon emissions and chug away as we are now) will likely cause decades long drought by the end of this century in middle and southwest United States, Mexico and Central America, southern Europe, the Middle East, central Asia, and Australia. This would cause drought conditions worse than the Dust Bowl in each of the areas affected. I should note, that does not speak to the strength and regularity that will be given to hurricanes that will make coastal cities in much of the world virtually unusable, causing a forced mass migration inland...to the desertification. It's a troublesome collection of obstacles.
One of the virtues of the book, as indicated by the title, is its ease of use. Each chapter designates a general topic, such as "Climate Science Basics," "Extreme Weather and Climate Change," and "The Role of Clean Energy." From that general heading, the author writes each chapter in a question-answer format, making every section concise and informative. This layout makes the book an easy tool for quickly answering specific questions, though it can just as well be read all the way through. By the end, you will have covered causes of warming, projections to the end of the century, potential solutions, and many, many obstacles mankind will face.
As a single example for the scale of this problem, a moderate projection of the "business-as-usual" treatment (meaning we do not decrease carbon emissions and chug away as we are now) will likely cause decades long drought by the end of this century in middle and southwest United States, Mexico and Central America, southern Europe, the Middle East, central Asia, and Australia. This would cause drought conditions worse than the Dust Bowl in each of the areas affected. I should note, that does not speak to the strength and regularity that will be given to hurricanes that will make coastal cities in much of the world virtually unusable, causing a forced mass migration inland...to the desertification. It's a troublesome collection of obstacles.
October 6, 2023
Romm gives a comprehensive overview of the state of the scientific evidence as it stood in 2016. He lays out a range of possible scenarios of what could happen to our climate by the end of the century, depending on how aggressively we act to curb emissions. Of particular importance to note, and something I had not quite appreciated until I read this book, is the cascading and self-sustaining nature of the warming once certain tipping points are reached. For example, the thawing of the permafrost will release vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which will lead to more warming, and so on in a vicious cycle. Astonishingly, as he points out, the IPCC does not incorporate these kinds of positive feedbacks in its climate models, which means it is likely underestimating how catastrophic things might get. The bottom line is that unless we can keep the warming to 2 degrees Celsius, future generations are in for a world of trouble. I found the book's general argument very persuasive, but I would have appreciated a more rigorous attempt to engage with the claims of climate change deniers. My one substantive criticism of the book was that I felt the latter sections put entirely too much faith in technological developments to save us. At one point he seemed to imply it was a good thing that young people today are exchanging travel and meeting in person for time on the internet! We need to decarbonize and reduce emissions and technology will help us do that, but not at the expense of our humanity. In some respects the author seemed to represent just the kind of "technocratic paradigm" that Pope Francis excoriates in Laudato Si - an encyclical that, to his credit, he recommends to his readers.
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