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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 5, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1992

BOOKS AND PROCEEDINGS...
OF GENERAL INTEREST

Item #d92feb42

Global Climate Change: The Economic Costs of Mitigation and Adaptation, J.C. White, Ed., 438 pp., 1991, $125 (Elsevier).

Contains 25 papers presented orally at a conference in Washington (Dec. 1990) by individuals from government, industry, universities and policy research, which span economics, engineering, ecology and other disciplines. In a summary paper, P.R. Portney concludes that economists must understand that their point of view is not the only important one in the debate, while others must realize economics has a legitimate and essential role.

Item #d92feb43

Global Warming: The Debate, P. Thompson, Ed., 160 pp., Oct. 1991, $202.15/£95 (Wiley).

Contains over two dozen papers by diverse, international authors from a conference in the U.K. which considered scientific controversy, the energy role, implications for future transport systems, framework policy and legislation, financial benefits and costs, and the responses of businesses. Includes an audio cassette.

Item #d92feb44

Future Climatic Change and Radioactive Waste Disposal, C.M. Goodess, J.P. Palutikof, Eds., 261 pp., May 1991. Available from first author at Clim. Res. Unit, Sch. Environ. Sci., Univ. E. Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.

Contains 21 papers and a summary from a conference at Norwich (Nov. 1989) sponsored by UK Nirex Ltd., on the implications of natural and anthropogenic changes in climate likely to occur during long-term underground radioactive waste storage. Participants from the UK, France and USA compared their respective approaches, and determined specific areas of needed research, mostly on climatic problems.

Item #d92feb45

Global Climate Change and California: Potential Impacts and Responses, J.B. Knox, Ed., 228 pp., 1991, $12.95 pbk./$29.95 hbk (Univ. Calif.).

Consists of essays discussing the greenhouse effect, the latest climate modeling capabilities, and implications for California in terms of water resources, agriculture, biological ecosystems, human behavior and energy.

Item #d92feb46

Greenhouse Glasnost: The Crisis of Global Warming, T.J. Minger, Ed., 292 pp., 1990, $17.95 (Ecco). Contains 20 essays by U.S. and Soviet experts presented at a symposium (Sundance, Colorado, Aug. 1989), organized by Robert Redford's Institute for Resource Management, which seeks a common ground between traditional adversaries on controversial issues. Presents alternatives, and recommends actions to motivate citizens and consumers.

Item #d92feb47

Managing Water Resources Under Conditions of Climate Uncertainty, National Res. Council, 344 pp., 1991, $39 (Nat. Academy Press).

Consists of 22 presentations from a colloquium (Scotts-dale, Ariz., Nov. 1990) organized by the Water Science and Technology Board at the request of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. They address a variety of issues: sharing water resources with future generations; the science of climate change; the physical, economic and legal implications of climate change in the western U.S.; management responses to climatic variability; building public consensus.

Item #d92feb48

Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living, IUCN/UNEP/WWF, 228 pp., Oct. 1991, $19.95 (Island Press; Earthscan).

Expands on and details specific guidelines for fulfilling the 1980 World Conservation Strategy published by IUCN, UNEP and WWF, which proposed the principle of sustainable development. Intended to be used by those who shape policy and make decisions that affect the course of development, from politicians to citizens.

Item #d92feb49

Healing the Planet: Strategies for Resolving the Environmental Crisis, P.R. Ehrlich, A.H. Ehrlich, 366 pp., 1991, $22.95 (Addison-Wesley).

Argues that the potential exists for mass starvation in the first few decades of the next century as population growth outpaces food production; agricultural disruptions from greenhouse warming could intensify this. Population control is needed. Reviewed by R. Bazell in New York Times (Dec. 15, 1991), who also reviews Saving the Planet by L.R. Brown (GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST, Books/General Interest, Nov. 1991).

Item #d92feb50

Making Peace with the Planet, B. Commoner, 292 pp., 1990 (Pantheon).

Expands on the author's earlier books, arguing that we should prevent pollution, not regulate it through cumbersome regulations that have proved lacking. Attacks the risk-benefit analysis that underlies much present policy, and expresses disdain for the role of the marketplace in pollution control. Reviewed by W.R. Moomaw, Issues Sci. Technol., pp. 83-85, Fall 1991.

Item #d92feb51

Global Environmental Politics, G. Porter, J.W. Brown, 160 pp., 1991, $38.50 hbk./$10.95 pbk. (Westview).

Explores past international environmental negotiations and their political settings to determine elements of success, using eight case studies. Three possible tracks the world may take to global challenges are incremental change, global governance and global partnership; the first is most likely to be followed. Reviewed by H.F. French in World Watch, pp. 39-40, Jan.-Feb. 1992.

Item #d92feb52

Reviewed by N. Myers in Nature, p. 332, Nov. 28, 1991:

Linking the Natural Environment and the Economy, C. Folke, T. Kaberger, Eds., 305 pp., 1991, $100/£52 (Kluwer). Using examples and case studies, discusses several types of ecological-economic linkages, empirical analyses of the relevance of environmental resources in economics, and human impacts on environments in developing countries.

Values for the Environment, J.T. Winpenny, 277 pp., 1991, £14.95 (HMSO). Written by a development economist and aimed at economists working with project responsibilities. Reviews techniques including cost-benefit analysis and environmental benefit estimators; gives practical examples of application to problems including climatic change.

Item #d92feb53

1992 Information Please Environmental Almanac, World Resour. Inst., 606 pp., Nov. 1991, $21.95 hbk./$9.95 pbk. (Houghton Mifflin).

According to the Institute, this is the first book of its kind, containing the largest collection of local, national and international environmental facts ever compiled for general use. Gives environmental profiles (that include energy use) of all U.S. states, Canadian provinces and most countries; has sections on global warming, ozone depletion and tropical forests.

Item #d92feb54

Gaia: The Practical Science of Planetary Medicine, J. Lovelock, 192 pp., £16.99 (Gaia Books).

Reviewed by F. Pearce (New Scientist, pp. 43-44, Nov. 2, 1991), who finds this the most accessible of Lovelock's three books on Gaia, especially in its explanation of the controversial theory. Lovelock condemns the hubris of scientists and environmentalists who would act as stewards for the planet, recants his own previous bent for technological fixes, and advocates "preventive medicine" instead.

Item #d92feb55

Papers from the Deauville Conference on Global Warming. Available (no charge) from Inst. de la Vie, 3 rue de l'Arrivée, BP 244, 75749 Paris Cedex 15, France.

Scientists from ten countries met in Deauville, France (Nov. 1990) to examine the dilemmas associated with the possibility of global warming, and the strength of various scientific disciplines to make predictions. The papers reflect a variety of views about these questions and what political action is needed. (See summary in Eos, pp. 42-43, Jan. 28, 1992.)