Main description:

Every year, droughts, floods, and fires impact hundreds of millions of people and cause massive economic losses. Climate change is making these catastrophes more dangerous. Now. Not in the future: NOW. This book describes how and why climate change is already fomenting dire consequences, and will certainly make climate disasters worse in the near future. Chris C. Funk combines the latest science with compelling stories, providing a timely, accessible, and beautifully-written synopsis of this critical topic. The book describes our unique and fragile Earth system, and the negative impacts humans are having on our support systems. It then examines recent disasters, including heat waves, extreme precipitation, hurricanes, fires, El Ninos and La Ninas, and their human consequences. By clearly describing the dangerous impacts that are already occurring, Funk provides a clarion call for social change, yet also conveys the beauty and wonder of our planet, and hope for our collective future.

Contents:

1. Drought Flood Fire; 2. Welcome to an Awesome Planet: A Series of Delicate Balances Supports Earth's Fragile Flame; 3. The Earth is a Negentropic System or 'the Bright Side of Empty'; 4. Do it Yourself Climate Change Science; 5. 2015-2018 Temperature Extremes: Attribution and Impacts; 6. 2015-2018 Precipitation Extremes: Observations and Impacts; 7. Hurricanes, Cyclones and Typhoons; 8. Conceptual Models of Climate Change and Prediction; 9. Climate Change made the 2015-16 El Nino More Extreme; 10. Bigger La Ninas and the East African Climate Paradox; 11. Fire and Drought in the Western US; 12. Fire and Australia's Black Summer; 13. Driving Towards +4 DegreesC on a Dixie Cup Planet; 14. We Can Afford to Wear a White Hat; Index.