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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 10, OCTOBER 1998

RECENT BOOKS AND PROCEEDINGS

Information given in the annotations is frequently taken from publishers’ promotional literature. Prices and page numbers may be approximate; contact publisher for details and additional information on content. Publishers are named in parentheses at the end of each citation. In most cases, books advertised by publishers with an expected publication date are not listed here until actually in print.

Item #d98oct33

Greenhouse Gas Carbon Dioxide Mitigation: Science and Technology, M. M. Halmann and Meyer Steinberg, 352 pp., 1998, $69.95 (Lewis Publishers).

This survey of current R&D covers techniques for reducing CO₂ in manufacturing waste streams, using waste CO₂ as a feedstock, separating CO₂ from waste-stream gases, reducing CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels, lowering the releases of CO₂ from steel and cement manufacturing, and disposing of CO₂ in oceans and underground aquifers.

Item #d98oct34

Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming’s Unfinished Debate, S. F. Singer, 110 pp., 1997, $14.95 pbk (Independent Institute).

This book reviews scientific, economic, and policy issues related to global warming. It discusses the effects of clouds, oceans, atmospheric aerosols, solar variability, and trace gases in the atmosphere on climate. It also treats the climate record, computer models, crop yields, and climate-change mitigation. It concludes that society should not be unduly concerned about global warming. It was reviewed by R. J. Oglesby in Eos 79, 463 (Sept. 29, 1998), where he commented that “throughout the book the author concludes that because there is still much uncertainty about greenhouse warming, it is not occurring ... this is a political, not a scientific, conclusion. ... Despite the political slant, this is still a book that deserves to be read and digested as good arguments are made and if nothing else, the book can serve as an effective ?devil’s advocate’ for those who may think greenhouse warming is real.”

Item #d98oct35

Is the Temperature Rising? The Uncertain Science of Global Warming, S. G. Philander, 224 pp., 1997, $35 (Princeton Univ. Press).

Based on a course taught by the author, this work explains the complexities of climate science with lyrical language and excellent illustrations, making it very easy to read. However, the title question is only addressed very briefly at the end of the book. Hans von Storch reviewed it in Nature 392, 458-459 (Apr. 2, 1998) and said that “the author reduces the uncertainty of climate science mostly to the fundamental problem of nonlinear dynamics and the related problem of determining accurate initial conditions. Other fundamental aspects are neglected ... the book comes across as over-optimistic about the task of analysing and modelling the climate system and its sensitivity.”

Item #d98oct36

Climate Trend Atlas of Europe: Based on Observations 1891-1990, C.-D. Schönwiese and Jörg Rapp, 224 pp., 1997, $112 hbk (Kluwer Academic).

To ascertain long-term trends, this work studies the temperature, precipitation, pressure, and humidity data recorded by various European weather stations from 1891 to 1990. It also determines trends for 1961 to 1990 for the World Meteorological Organization’s climate normal period. These trends are displayed in 316 charts, following discussions of methods, reliability, and results.

Additional Reviews of Previous Entries

Item #d98oct37

Argument in the Greenhouse: The International Economics of Controlling Global Warming, Nick Mabey, Stephen Hall, Clare Smith, and Sujata Gupta, 442 pp., 1997, $74.95 hbk/$24.95 pbk (Routledge). (Global Climate Change Digest, Nov. 1997)

Reviewed by W. G. Brown in Environment 40 (7), 23 (1998), who says “the technical content of the book will both challenge and reward those who are interested in climate change and related issues but who are not familiar with the current state of quantitative economic analysis.”

Also reviewed in Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79 (5), 898-899 (May 1998).

Item #d98oct38

International Politics of Climate Change: Key Issues and Critical Actors, G. Fermann, Ed., ca. 475 pp., 1997, $45/£31 (Scandinavian Univ.). (Global Climate Change Digest, Sept. 1997)

Reviewed by N. J. Vig in Environment 40 (4), 25 (May 1998), who says this “well-written book traces environmental management in the oil and chemical industries from 1960, when it was heretical to identify with environmentalists’ concerns, to 1993, when it was equally heretical not to.”

Also reviewed by C. Clague, in Energy 23 (3), 249-250 (1998), who noted that the book “reflects the fact that it was conceived and orchestrated by the editor, for it has more coherence than most collections of essays by different authors.”

Item #d98oct39

Assessing Climate Change: Results from the Model Evaluation Consortium for Climate Assessment, W. Howe, A. Henderson-Sellers, Eds., 420 pp., 1997, $140/£91 (Gordon & Breach). (Global Climate Change Digest, Nov. 1997)

Reviewed in Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79 (5), 902 (May 1998): “this book will provide the international policy community with the context underpinning the current range of climate [change] predictions.”

Item #d98oct40

Biomass Burning and Global Change. Vol. 1: Remote Sensing, Modeling and Inventory Development, and Biomass Burning in Africa (632 pp., $80). Vol. 2: Biomass burning in South America, Southeast Asia, and Temperate Boreal Ecosystems, and the Oil Fires of Kuwait (421 pp., $70), J. S. Levine, Ed., 1996 (MIT Press). (Global Climate Change Digest, Nov. 1997)

Reviewed by Julio Betancourt in Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79 (5), 892-894 (May 1998), who says the book is “a must-have reference for anyone interested in biomass burning, atmospheric chemistry, and particularly the Tropics.”