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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 11, NUMBER 1-2, JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1998

BOOKS AND PROCEEDINGS...
GENERAL INTEREST AND POLICY

Item #d98feb59

Climate Change Policy: Facts, Issues and Analyses, C.J. Jepma, M Munasinghe, 352 pp., 1997, $69.95 hbk./$27.95 pbk. (Cambridge).

This concise, practical book is prompted by the results of the Second Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Presents a synopsis of climate change and its real impacts on society. Explains the risks involved in mitigation, and how to start taking action.

Item #d98feb60

Does the Weather Really Matter? The Social Implications of Climate Change, W. Burroughs, 242 pp., $24.95, 1997 (Cambridge).

Combines an historical perspective with economic and political analyses to give relevance and weight to the impact of weather and climate change. Called a balanced, accessible analysis by the publisher. A brief comment in New Scientist (p. 47, Dec. 6, 1997) calls the portion on past climate change admirably lucid, but considers the section on how to respond to current climate change turgid and obtuse.

Item #d98feb61

Population, Environment and Development, R.K. Pachauri, L.F. Qureshy, Eds., 357 pp., 1997, $40 (TERI).

Contains papers from the title conference (Washington, D.C., Mar. 1996), organized by the Tata Energy Research Institute—North America (TERI-NA). Includes discussion and debate on environmental subjects such as water scarcity, deforestation, biodiversity and global warming, and on social issues including consumption patterns, energy policy, and migration. The foreword, by Maurice Strong, concludes that this compilation succinctly highlights the need for concerted efforts at all governmental levels, and reinforces the need to take a comprehensive view of economic development processes as a whole, and consumption levels in particular, when evaluating the impacts of population change.

Item #d98feb62

Global Spin, S. Beder, 1997, £10.5 (Green Books).

Reviewed by H. Warwick (New Scientist, p. 50, Dec. 13, 1997). This book traces the rise of the backlash against the environmental movement, most recently manifest by the skeptics of climate change, which includes funding by think-tanks, promotion of the "Wise Use" movement, and creation of an artificial grass-roots movement. Also discusses law suits (SLAPP suits, or strategic lawsuits against public participation) filed against individuals who voice their concerns.

Item #d98feb63

Ecotaxation, T. O'Riordan, Ed., 304 pp., 1997, £45 hbk./£17.95 pbk. (Earthscan).

A collection of essays by leading government, academic, private and voluntary sector experts, this book is the first to look at the case for environmental taxes at both macro- and micro-levels. Presents the experiences of several countries with ecotaxes, and includes essays on the politics of carbon taxation and the European Commission's carbon-energy tax.

Item #d98feb64

Environmental Accounting: Emergy and Environmental Decision Making, H.T. Odum, 370 pp., 1995, $95 (Wiley).

Introduces the concept of "emergy" as a way of placing the value of commodities, services and environmental goods on a common basis. Attempts to place environmental decision making on a more rational and less emotional basis by finding a common measure of the value of environmental and other assets.

Item #d98feb65

The Endangered Atmosphere: Preserving a Global Commons, M.S. Soroos, 1997, $39.95 hbk./$19.95 pbk. (Univ. S.C.).

A thoughtful look at the atmosphere's rapid deterioration and the international response to this crisis. Reviewed by R. Somerville in Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. (pp. 104-105, Jan. 1998), who recommends the book strongly for atmospheric scientists and others concerned about the interface between environmental science and public policy.

Item #d98feb66

Canada and the State of the Planet—Annual Report 1996-1997, M. Keating, 100 pp., 1997, CDN$12.95 (Oxford Univ. Press, English Ed.; Editions MultiMondes, French Ed.)

Prepared for the Canadian Global Change Program as the nation's first concise, annual report on global environmental changes that are affecting the lives and future of Canadians. Intended to be the summit of the global information pyramid in a Canadian context, and essential reading for staying on top of global trends. Covers both environmental trends and the social and economic forces involved.

Item #d98feb67

World in Transition: The Research Challenge, ca. 236 pp., 1997, $79.95 (Springer).

The 1996 Annual Report of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Criticizes the global change research community for its lack of international orientation, its bias toward individual disciplines, and its weakness in translating scientific results into a form readily accessible to policy makers. Identifies alternatives for restructuring the research agenda, focusing on a new "Syndrome Approach," which allows scientists to systematically describe and analyze diseases afflicting the earth, enabling them to develop response options.