Peter Wadhams' Youtube video lectures and interviews, as well as innumerable other academic lectures on the science of climate change, led me to this book: A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic.
Dr. Wadhams is a world-renowned expert in his field of Arctic sea ice research. Yet, his humility and scientific integrity shine through on every page of this historic and remarkable work that explains definitively that global warming due to human-caused release of greenhouse gases (principally carbon dioxide and methane) is an inescapable reality based on physical laws that have been well understood for over a century. Using one simple algebraic expression, Dr. Wadhams explains that the response of the planetary climate system to the unprecedented high levels of these greenhouse gases has only just begun and will persist inexorably until an equilibrium state has been reached that will leave much of planet Earth uninhabitable for most species including us. Nowhere has this response been more evident than in the Arctic region that warms at a rate two to three times faster than the rest of the planet.
Dr. Wadhams explains the basic physical principles that underpin climate science, and describes what science knows - and doesn't know - about the global climate system and how it knows it. He also explains how an ice-free Arctic region becomes a net driver of climate change leading to the present torrent of methane release by anaerobic decomposition of shallow-seabed permafrost.that will continue even if humanity could instantly stop all carbon dioxide emissions. Dr. Wadhams also takes the IPCC to task for some flim-flamery, but mostly for being too timid in its estimates of the pace of warming, leading one to believe humanity has more time before it must act to save itself. And, finally, he implores humanity to act swiftly, decisively and persistently to address this problem of human-caused global climate disruption that has already begun and whose effects will become increasingly apparent (as if 2017 were not bad enough) - even to the most ideologically seduced, religiously deluded, politically bribed, or grossly misinformed (read: Dittohead) climate science deniers among us.
We, who have benefited immeasurably from the inherited scientific achievements compounded over the past two centuries in myriad disciplines, would do well to pay attention to the conclusions of this clearly written, concise and approachable book. Looking around, I see a lot of too-little-too-late attempts to nibble around the edges of this existential crisis (read: pseudo-solutions that will affect neither global warming nor corporate profits). When you see the first Direct Air Capture technologies designed to literally suck well over the 35 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide that humanity mindlessly dumps into the atmosphere every year being deployed on a world-wide scale, you will know humanity is taking this threat seriously. And, not before.
(On a side note, being the first human deca-billionaire on Mars is jolly good fun and all that, but our deca-billionaire class will be venerated even more for abandoning these joy rides for oligarchs, plutocrats and empty space suits, and redirecting their talents and resources developing Direct Air Capture technologies. Yes, Mr. Bezos and Mr. Musk: I'm talking to you both.)
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Top reviews from other countries
Federico Riccardo Casci
Bellissimo e pauroso
Reviewed in Italy on November 24, 2021Kon-Tiki
Excellent book from an expert - "must read"
Reviewed in Germany on March 3, 2018Frank M. Rotering
An INDEPENDENT view of the Arctic calamity
Reviewed in Canada on September 5, 2016
Joan A.
A thoughtful, chilling explanation of the part that ice plays in the world, pun intended.
Reviewed in Australia on January 13, 2017