Climate change

A warming planet may reshape human life more deeply than the internet has. Recent years have brought a run of enormous storms, wildfires, heat waves and droughts, which have pushed the subject further into public conversation. Climatologist Lonnie Thomson argued in 2010 that the problem threatens civilization directly and immediately. In 2015 the Pope went further, calling action on the climate a moral obligation.

The book reviews the core science behind climate change in current terms and explains the main clean energy options for responding to it. Its explanations of what drives the change are detailed but written to be easy to follow. It then turns to practical consequences: how the change may affect a reader and their family in the coming decades, what it means for owners of waterfront homes, whether to retire to South Florida, the American Southwest or Southern Europe, which jobs and fields of study will be in demand, and how investments and the wider economy may fare.

The author presents climate change as a story that will involve everyone as the world tries to limit it and cope with its effects. This is part of the What Everyone Needs to Know series.