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Less Heat, More Light: A Guided Tour of Weather, Climate, and Climate Change
A straightforward and fact-based exploration of how weather happens, how it relates to climate, and how science answers major questions about Earth as a system
Climate change is one of the most hotly contested environmental topics of our day. To answer criticisms and synthesize available information, scientists have been driven to devise increasingly complex models of the climate system. This book conveys that the basics of climate and climate change have been known for decades, and that relatively simple descriptions can capture the major features of the climate system and help the general public understand what controls climate and weather, and how both might be changing.
Renowned environmental scientist and educator John D. Aber distills what he has learned from a long fascination with weather and climate, the process of science, and the telling of the story of science. This is not a book about policies and politics. Instead, it explores how weather happens, how it relates to climate, and how science has been used to answer major questions about the Earth as a system and inform policies that have reversed environmental degradation. By providing a guided tour of the science of weather, this thoughtful survey will contribute clarity and rationality to the public understanding of climate change.
Climate change is one of the most hotly contested environmental topics of our day. To answer criticisms and synthesize available information, scientists have been driven to devise increasingly complex models of the climate system. This book conveys that the basics of climate and climate change have been known for decades, and that relatively simple descriptions can capture the major features of the climate system and help the general public understand what controls climate and weather, and how both might be changing.
Renowned environmental scientist and educator John D. Aber distills what he has learned from a long fascination with weather and climate, the process of science, and the telling of the story of science. This is not a book about policies and politics. Instead, it explores how weather happens, how it relates to climate, and how science has been used to answer major questions about the Earth as a system and inform policies that have reversed environmental degradation. By providing a guided tour of the science of weather, this thoughtful survey will contribute clarity and rationality to the public understanding of climate change.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
288 pages, Hardcover
Published June 13, 2023
2 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 1, 2024
This book does a phenomenal job at laying out the science of climate change, but also *why* and *how* the climate changes. Data and sources used are freely accessible and the author readily asks the reader to go ahead to look at the data themselves. The book is structured in a way that reaches both the hardcore climate scientist and the person just reading for fun.
Climate change is unequivocally happening, humans are materially contributing to it, and there are literally tens of thousands of pages of freely available, cross-referenced, peer-reviewed data to support it. Those who revert back to the “only 97% of scientists say global warming is real” or “we’re too small on this Earth to impact the climate” arguments are not just wrong, but stuck in the 1990s and early 2000s, when climate change was just beginning to come to the fore.
The world would be a better place if everyone read this book. At the very least, you’ll come to more fully appreciate how well we understand the changing climate and how materially humans are impacting it.
Climate change is unequivocally happening, humans are materially contributing to it, and there are literally tens of thousands of pages of freely available, cross-referenced, peer-reviewed data to support it. Those who revert back to the “only 97% of scientists say global warming is real” or “we’re too small on this Earth to impact the climate” arguments are not just wrong, but stuck in the 1990s and early 2000s, when climate change was just beginning to come to the fore.
The world would be a better place if everyone read this book. At the very least, you’ll come to more fully appreciate how well we understand the changing climate and how materially humans are impacting it.
February 14, 2024
This is a good compliment to The Climate Book Anthology I recently read. In order to truly appreciate the high quality of this read, it helps to understand what the major Climate Change issues are. This assumes such knowledge and jumps into the scientific details.
His title for the book is very clever. It pretty much captures why LEDs are better than incandescent lighting.
I really enjoyed how the Author described thought experiments when he presented a difficult concept, it was much easier to understand.
His historical beginning was a nice lead-in to his scientific explanations and defintions and also clarified the motivation to develop the science.
AMOC is so relevant to European climate and the Gulf Coast but I became aware of how much this is affected by Global Warming. In fact, just today in the news England temperatures starting in 2025 might be affected permanent by the slowing of the AMOC which seems now pretty irreversible.
Being a Californian, I was happy to now understand the reason and effects of El Nino and La Nina which so much affects our climate. Who would have thought that the warming of the waters near the Philippines could have so much affect on California and that the NOAA is monitoring it.
The Author gave terrific insight into the critical work that the EPA does - it is no wonder that Pres Nixon established it after a series of severe pollution problems - e.g. Cayuga River 9Cleveland) again catching fire due to endemic pollution. How a study morphed into a permanent organization within EPA oversight i.e. IPCC.
I loved his explanation of bands of weather as related to latitude and now I understand how important Trade Winds and Westerlies are to navigation. How turbulence is seasonally experience at the interface of these bands and what the various Jet Streams are e.g. Polar Vortex.
I thought my understanding of Acid Rain was pretty good having recently followed the current events involving Norwegian complaints about nearby Russian Manufacturing emissions but this book broadened my understanding substantially. I could go on and on but basically it is an excellent book - well done.
His title for the book is very clever. It pretty much captures why LEDs are better than incandescent lighting.
I really enjoyed how the Author described thought experiments when he presented a difficult concept, it was much easier to understand.
His historical beginning was a nice lead-in to his scientific explanations and defintions and also clarified the motivation to develop the science.
AMOC is so relevant to European climate and the Gulf Coast but I became aware of how much this is affected by Global Warming. In fact, just today in the news England temperatures starting in 2025 might be affected permanent by the slowing of the AMOC which seems now pretty irreversible.
Being a Californian, I was happy to now understand the reason and effects of El Nino and La Nina which so much affects our climate. Who would have thought that the warming of the waters near the Philippines could have so much affect on California and that the NOAA is monitoring it.
The Author gave terrific insight into the critical work that the EPA does - it is no wonder that Pres Nixon established it after a series of severe pollution problems - e.g. Cayuga River 9Cleveland) again catching fire due to endemic pollution. How a study morphed into a permanent organization within EPA oversight i.e. IPCC.
I loved his explanation of bands of weather as related to latitude and now I understand how important Trade Winds and Westerlies are to navigation. How turbulence is seasonally experience at the interface of these bands and what the various Jet Streams are e.g. Polar Vortex.
I thought my understanding of Acid Rain was pretty good having recently followed the current events involving Norwegian complaints about nearby Russian Manufacturing emissions but this book broadened my understanding substantially. I could go on and on but basically it is an excellent book - well done.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews