Global Warming and the Climate Crisis: Science, Spirit, and Solutions

Preface
	Watching the Skies
	Welcome to the Anthropocene
	Reference
Acknowledgments
Contents
1: Introduction
	1.1	 Introduction to Climate Change
		1.1.1	 The Eclectic Nature of Climate Science
		1.1.2	 Climate Change and Presidential Politics
	1.2	 Chapter-by-Chapter Descriptions
		1.2.1	 Cooperation Is Required
		1.2.2	 Early Evidence of Extreme Warmth: The “Heat Dome”
		1.2.3	 The Power of Denial
		1.2.4	 The Importance of Jet Stream Movements
		1.2.5	 Thermal Inertia and Ocean Rises
		1.2.6	 Nationalism and War as Suicide Missions
	1.3	 Summary
	1.4	 Questions and Exercises
	References
		Further Reading
2: Science: Why So Urgent?
	2.1	 Scientific Background
		2.1.1	 Carbon Dioxide Has No Motives. It Just Holds Heat
		2.1.2 A Variety of Malign Weathers
		2.1.3 A Path That Stabilizes Climate
		2.1.4 Why Is Action so Urgent Now?
		2.1.5 Thermal Inertia and the Geophysical Facts of Global Warming
		2.1.6 Carbon Dioxide’s Natural Cycle
		2.1.7 Thermal Inertia and Sea-Level Rise
		2.1.8 Destroying Creation for Future Generations
	2.2	 Impact of Global Warming Around the Globe
		2.2.1	 Permafrost Is Not Longer so Permanent
		2.2.2 Carbon Sinks to Sources
		2.2.3 The Perils of Warmer Nights
		2.2.4 Why Warmer Nights Are Deadlier
		2.2.5 Why Are Nights Getting Warmer?
		2.2.6 Patterns of Warming: Nighttime, Urban Hot Spots
		Where Was Our Warming? It Was AWOL in the Arctic
		“Bomb Cyclones”
		2.2.7 A Long Decline in Ice Cover
		2.2.8 We Are Asphyxiating the Oceans
		2.2.9 Corals: Death Due to Rising Temperatures
		2.2.10 Displaced Seasons in the Himalayas
		Mar-a-Lago Is Due to a Dunking
		Warming and Birthing Complications
		2.2.11 On a Beach in the Pliocene
		2.2.12 Greenhouse Gas Levels Correlate with Melting Ice
		2.2.13 West Antarctica’s Tipping Point
		2.2.14 Drought and Deluge
		2.2.15 South Asian Downpours
		2.2.16 Floods: Columbia to China
		2.2.17 Wildfires to Drowning, and Back Again, in Australia
		2.2.18 Water Shortages and Floods Across India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan
		2.2.19 Extreme Precipitation and Scary Math
		2.2.20 Rising Levels of Greenhouse Gases and Extreme Precipitation
		2.2.21 Food Crises Add to Cross-Border Migrations
		2.2.22 Long-Term Drought Patterns in the US West (and Other Places)
		2.2.23 Ocean Acidity and Coming Extinctions
		2.2.24 “Doomsday Scenario” for the Oceanic Food Chain
		2.2.25 Accelerating Ocean Acidity and Coral Reefs
		2.2.26 Drought in the Amazon Valley
		The Senator from Coal Country
		Mosquitos and Earthworms: Prosaic but Potent Climate Changers
		2.2.27 Earthworms Spread Northward, Too
		2.2.28 Earthworms’ Eating Habits and Rising CO2 Levels
		2.2.29 California Fires: Why There, Why Now?
		2.2.30 Drought and Syria’s Civil War
		2.2.31 Heat, Drought, and the Rise of Boko Haram
		2.2.32 Most of Boko Haram Are Not Muslim Fanatics
	2.3	 Outlook and Solutions
		2.3.1	 How Much Heat and Drought Will Destroy Agriculture?
		2.3.2 Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050?
		2.3.3 Toward an Ice-Free Arctic?
		2.3.4 A Dramatic Acceleration of Warming at Mid-Century?
		2.3.5 The Endurance of Feedbacks
		2.3.6 The “Methane Burp” Hypothesis
		2.3.7 Methane Burp as an Energy Source?
		Carbon Dioxide Levels: How Much Is Too Much?
		2.3.8 “Natural Gas” Is a Fossil Fuel, Too
		2.3.9 Global Warming and Natural Limits
		2.3.10 The Due Bills for Our Use of Fossil Fuels Are Being Served
		2.3.11 Dawn of the Anthropocene
		2.3.12 A Narrow Window to Avert Catastrophe
		2.3.13 Building a Sustainable Future Is Not a Luxury
		2.3.14 Sea Levels Are Still Rising
		2.3.15 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accelerate
		2.3.16 We Have Seen the Last Ice Age
		2.3.17 When Will Feedbacks Take Control?
		2.3.18 Human Political Inertia: Are We in Trouble Yet?
		2.3.19 The Limits of Climate Diplomacy
		Jim Hansen’s Climate Forecast: Hot and Hotter
		2.3.20 A Changing Atmosphere and Spreading Drought
		2.3.21 Local Droughts in a Worldwide Pattern
		2.3.22 More Human Contributions to a Steadily Warming Atmosphere and Oceans
		Ice Free, Human Free, Eventually?
		In the Long Range: Earth and Venus
	2.4	 Ten Reasons for Concern About Global Climate Change
	2.5	 Questions and Exercises
	References
		Further Reading
3: Climate Crisis: Code Red for Humanity and Our Home Planet
	3.1	 Scientific and Legal Background
		3.1.1 Climate Change Diplomacy
		3.1.2 Distortion of Atmospheric Circulation (Jet Stream)
		3.1.3 Necessary Changes in Legal Systems
	3.2	 Effects of Global Warming Around the World
		3.2.1 Major Findings from the 2021 IPCC’s Report
		3.2.2 Historic Heat in Alaska (2019)
		3.2.3 A Looming Worldwide Food Crisis
		3.2.4 Water Temperature Crisis in the Great Lakes
		3.2.5 A Heat Wave Scorches the Middle East (2021)
		3.2.6 Shrinking Lakes, Warming Temperatures, and Political Upheaval
		3.2.7 Melting Ice Changes Atmospheric Circulation
		3.2.8 July 14, 2021: Summer Heat on Steroids
		3.2.9 August 1, 2021
		3.2.10 August 5, 2021: Turkey’s and Greece’s Fires, Drought, and Deluge
	3.3	 Drought and Deluge Worldwide
		3.3.1	 August, 2021: Drought and Deluge in England, Germany, China, etc.
		3.3.2 August 8, 2021: Monsoon Rains in Phoenix
		3.3.3 August, 2021: Firefighters Look Small Against Walls of Scorching Flames
	3.4	 The Summer of 2021 Burned into Memory
		3.4.1	 July 11, 2021: Toasted in Death Valley
		3.4.2 August 2021: Fire Season Now Year-Round
		3.4.3 August 2021: Sweating at the Tokyo Olympics
		3.4.4 July and August 2021: Under a Heat Dome in the US West
		3.4.5 August 6, 2021: “We Lost Greenville”: Dixie Fire Wipes Out Much of a Northern California Community
		3.4.6 During Early August 2021: Wildfires Reignite in Turkey
		3.4.7 Early August 2021: Pyrocumulous Clouds Form from Wildfires
		3.4.8 August 2021: Sizzling in Siberia
		3.4.9 July and August 2021: Megafires with Names
		3.4.10 August 11, 2021: “The Fire from Hell”
		3.4.11 Greece: “A Natural Disaster of Unprecedented Dimensions”
		3.4.12 Mid-August 2021: Fires Scorch Evia, Greece
		3.4.13 August 2021: Air-Conditioning—Where Does the Hot Air Go?
		3.4.14 August 12, 2021: The Heat Death Toll in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest
		3.4.15 August 13, 2021: Smoke in Your Eyes
		3.4.16 August 15, 2021: Six Inches of Rain for El Paso in 2 Days and Then Back to Drought
		3.4.17 August 15, 2021: Meanwhile, Along the Gulf Stream
		3.4.18 August 5, 2021: “Agricultural Emergencies” in Manitoba and Alberta
		3.4.19 Smoke Replaces Ice at Lake Winnipeg
		3.4.20 August 2, 2021: Forest Fire Smoke Detected at the North Pole
		3.4.21 August, 2021: “The Murdoch Legacy”
		3.4.22 August 2021: US Congress’ Bipartisan Cooperation on Climate?
		3.4.23 July 31, 2021: The Hottest Single Month in US Recorded History
		3.4.24 August 2021: Some (Squid) Like It Hot
		3.4.25 July Through September 2021: Salmon Die as Habitat Warms
		3.4.26 August 17, 2021: Lakes Mead and Powell—Major Water Sources for the US Southwest, Fall to an All-Time Lows
		3.4.27 The Climatic Cost of Excess Rains in China
		3.4.28 India, 2021: Heat Waves and Monsoon Deluges
		3.4.29 2021: Great Britain—The Ocean Is Very Large and Very Wet
		3.4.30 System Collapse in the Kalahari?
		3.4.31 August 2012: Siberia Burning, Again
		3.4.32 August 21–23, 2021: Deluges from Tropical Storm Henri
		3.4.33 Giant Fires Burn Toward Lake Tahoe
		3.4.34 Hurricane Ida Mauls the Southern and Eastern United States
		3.4.35 Heat and Drought Devastate California’s Almond Crop
		3.4.36 Chile: “Water Towers” Running Dry
		3.4.37 Utah: The Grit Salt Lake; Not What Brigham Young Had in Mind
		3.4.38 September 11, 2021: A Hurricane Hits Newfoundland
		3.4.39 September 14, 2021: Front-Page News in Seattle: RAIN!
		3.4.40 January 3, 1955: When Pigs Fly
		3.4.41 Fires Encircle California’s Sequoia National Park
		3.4.42 September 23, 2012: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Becomes a Vanquisher of Carbon Dioxide
		3.4.43 September 24, 2021: Two Million Acres Burned in the United States in 9 Months
		3.4.44 September 24, 2021: Coastal Flood Insurance Premiums May Rise
		3.4.45 September–October 2021: “Green Slime” That Thrives on Warming Water Invades Toledo’s Water Supply and Creates Other Problems in the Pacific Northwest
		3.4.46 Corals Continue to Decline Worldwide as Waters Become Warmer
		3.4.47 Ocean Acidity Accelerates
		3.4.48 October 8, 2021: Google Jacks Ads Claiming Climate Change Is a “Hoax”
		3.4.49 2021: A Record-Breaking Year for Fires in Sakha, Siberia
		3.4.50 Wind and Solar Advancing, but Not Fast Enough
		3.4.51 October 13, 2021: President Biden Embraces Wind Turbines Coast to Coast to Coast
		3.4.52 October 12–13, 2021: Torrential Rains Submerge Parts of Urban China for the Second Time in 3 Months
		3.4.53 October 18, 2021: Climate Change in the Arts
		3.4.54 October 2021: Venice’s Lagoon Filling, Again
		3.4.55 October 20, 2012: Africa’s Last Five Glaciers Melting
		3.4.56 October, 2021: Out-of-Season Rains in India and Nepal
		3.4.57 October 21, 2021: The Death Penalty for Forest Arson?
		3.4.58 October 22, 2021: Climate Change and National Security
		3.4.59 October 24–25, 2012: Drought Turns to Deluge in California
		3.4.60 October 2021: Turkey’s Flamingos’ Lake Dries Up
		3.4.61 October 28, 2021: Oil Company Executives Grilled Before Congress
		3.4.62 October 31, 2021: National Leaders of Carbon Emitters Meet and Produce Little Except Hot Air
		3.4.63 November 1, 2021: Rifts at COP 26
		3.4.64 November 3, 2021: “Historic” Storm Pummels Alaska; COP26 Takes “Baby Steps”
		3.4.65 November 2, 2021: Krill, Anyone? Temperatures Rise Rapidly on the Antarctic Peninsula
		3.4.66 November 4, 2021: The Persistence of Coal, Even Among Those Who Should Know Better
		3.4.67 Late 2021: US Congress Passe Billions for Climate Work, but Senate Turns Thumbs Down
		3.4.68 “We Are Still Knocking on the Door of Climate Catastrophe”
		3.4.69 November 17, 2021: New Delhi—Smothered in Coal Pollution, Car Exhaust
		3.4.70 November 26, 2021: Soaking the Smithsonian
		3.4.71 December 2019: Devastating Out-of-Season Tornadoes in the US Midwest
		3.4.72 December 2021: Windstorm, Sandstorm, Firestorm, and Snowstorm
		3.4.73 The Olympics’ Brown Slopes: February 2022
		3.4.74 Violent Rain and Wind Storms Now Routine Worldwide
	3.5	 Questions and Exercises
	References
		References and Resources (NASA Earth Observatory)
		Further Reading
4: Mother Earth vs. Mother Lode
	4.1	 Native American Philosophy: Spiritual and Environmental Themes Combined
		4.1.1	 Native American Examples of Earth as Mother
		4.1.2	 “Welcome to My Moonscape”
		4.1.3	 A Native American Ecological Ethos Shapes Non-Native Thinking
		4.1.4	 Environmental Ethos: Mother Earth or Mother Lode?
		4.1.5	 Tracing Earth as Mother Through Languages
		4.1.6	 Everything Is Regarded as Having Personality
		4.1.7	 An Environmental Ethos: Through the Eyes of Standing Bear
		4.1.8	 Native Wisdom’s Value for Today
		4.1.9	 Pope Francis’ Sense of Environmentalism
	4.2	 Summary
		4.2.1	 Can Capitalism Change Its Character?
		4.2.2	 Pope Francis’ Words: “A New Sense of the Human Family”
	4.3	 Questions and Exercises
	References
		Further Reading
5: A Struggle to Survive
	5.1	 Effects of Acute Drought on the Navajos and Hopis
		5.1.1	 From Little Water to Nearly None
		5.1.2	 Navajos and Hopis Share Drought Histories
		5.1.3	 Personal Accounts of Rampaging Sand Dunes
		5.1.4	 Elders Recall a Wetter Time
		5.1.5	 Droughts Expected to Intensify
		5.1.6	 Skeptics Differ with the Majority View on Drought and Heat
		5.1.7	 Attempts to Stabilize Spread of Deserts
	5.2	 Questions and Exercises
	References
		Further Reading
6: Specious Solutions and Speculations
	6.1	 The Evidence Becomes More Evident…
		6.1.1 What Can We Do?
	6.2	 From Nearly Nonexistent to Existential in One Human Lifetime
		6.2.1 The Problem Is What We Put in the Air
		6.2.2 IPCC Reports Become More Emphatic
		6.2.3 This Cake Is Already Being Baked
		6.2.4 Did Anyone Mention “Crisis”?
		6.2.5 The Cost of Coal and Oil as Energy Is Now Above That of Solar and Wind
		6.2.6 The “Year-Round Fire Season”
	6.3	 The Need for Solutions: The Scientific Basis
		6.3.1 “Coal is My Worst Nightmare”
		6.3.2 Coal Capture and Sequestration (CCS): A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come—and Gone
		6.3.3 Old Habits Die Hard: Use of Coal Has Been Increasing
		6.3.4 Environmentalists Infiltrate ExxonMobil’s Board of Directors
		6.3.5 Seawalls to the Rescue? Beware Limestone
		6.3.6 The Chief Heat Officer in Athens, Greece
		6.3.7 Mitigation of Global Warming: Shopping Until You Drop?
		6.3.8 Clean Coal: On a Mission to Save the Planet
		6.3.9 The Trouble with Conference Goals
		6.3.10 The Climatic Consequences of Coal
		6.3.11 Coal Worldwide: Easy to Hate, Tough to Ignore
		6.3.12 More and Larger Cargoes of Coal for China and India
		6.3.13 Opposition to New Coal Plants Accelerates
		6.3.14 Goodbye Toxic Ash: Solar In, Coal Power Out
		6.3.15 The Debate Regarding “Mountaintop Removal”
		6.3.16 A Carbon Neutral Airline? When Pigs Fly?
	6.4	 Geo-Engineering: Sulfur as Savior?
		6.4.1	 “Bombing” the Atmosphere with Sulfur?
		6.4.2 Geo-Engineering: One More Try
		6.4.3 “Solar Radiation Management”
		6.4.4 A Really Big Umbrella
		6.4.5 Monumental Problems with Sulfur Shade
		6.4.6 Iron Fertilization of the Oceans
		6.4.7 The Brave New World of “Smart Coral”: Biology with a Genetic-Modification Chaser
		6.4.8 An “Artificial Leaf” May Someday Make Fossil Fuels Obsolete
		6.4.9 Some Tough Questions
	6.5	 Is Global Warming Inevitable? A Contrary View
		6.5.1	 The Coming Baby Bust, or The Imprecision of Predictability
		6.5.2 What May Have Happened to 700 Million People?
		6.5.3 The Imprecision of Predictability
	6.6	 Summary: How Do We Get Off the Road to Climatic Hell?
		6.6.1 COPed Out: So How Do We Fix This Problem?
	6.7	 Questions and Exercises
		6.7.1	 “Clean Coal” and Other Oxymoronic Orwellianisms
	References
		Further Reading