Despite all the controversy and hype that climate change has generated, there now exists an overwhelming body of scientific evidence that the problem is real and that its effects are already being felt on a global scale. Part of what makes this a volatile and controversial issue is that it is not just confined to the realms of the scientific community, nor does it have just one simple, predefined solution—it has multifaceted dimensions involving economic, sociological, political, psychological, and personal issues, making this a topic that affects every person on earth now and in the future. Connecting the dots, Climate Management Issues: Economics, Sociology, and Politics is the first book to propose a truly comprehensive solution to effectively deal with climate change in both the short and long term. It reaches across diverse sectors of society to link issues in climate change management and offer new insights into the complex interrelationships. As the author emphasizes, climate change extends far beyond the physical sciences to affect lifestyles, cultural values, political systems, economics, and health. An overview of the physical science of climate change gives readers a firm understanding of the concepts they need for policy and decision making, sociological applications, and community leadership. The book then focuses on multifaceted aspects such as international cooperation, journalistic balance, human psychology, international policy, national security, socioeconomic impacts, agricultural conservation, healthcare, the economics of mitigation, climate modeling, and error amplification. This timely volume puts on center stage those crucial ideas that are usually overlooked, misunderstood, or lost in media sensationalism. Enlightening and empowering readers, it looks at the decisions that must be made to mitigate climate change problems before irreversible damage is done.

Soil Carbon in Sensitive European Ecosystems - From Science to Land Management is a comprehensive overview of the latest research in this field drawn together by a network of scientists from across Europe. Soil carbon assessments are crucial at present to our understanding of the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems and our ability to assess implications for the global carbon exchange and its consequences on the future climate. This book focuses primarily on ecosystems and their soil carbon stocks. The book identifies three key sensitive ecosystems within Europe: Mediterranean Forest and Agricultural Systems; Mountains; and Peatland. Contributors include those currently working for the European research programme, COST Action 639 BurnOut (www.cost639.net; 2006-2010). COST Action 639 emerged from a demand from policy makers in Europe for more detailed information on soil carbon dynamics. The cooperation between experts for reporting and experts for soil dynamics is the focus of the book. This book seeks to provide an up-to-date account on the state-of-the-art research within this topical field.

Collection of the monthly climatological reports of the United States by state or region with monthly and annual national summaries.

Collection of the monthly climatological reports of the United States by state or region, with monthly and annual national summaries.

The 7-volume Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Second Edition maintains the reputation of the highly regarded original, presenting the most current information available in this globally crucial area of research and study. It brings together the dimensions of biodiversity and examines both the services it provides and the measures to protect it. Major themes of the work include the evolution of biodiversity, systems for classifying and defining biodiversity, ecological patterns and theories of biodiversity, and an assessment of contemporary patterns and trends in biodiversity. The science of biodiversity has become the science of our future. It is an interdisciplinary field spanning areas of both physical and life sciences. Our awareness of the loss of biodiversity has brought a long overdue appreciation of the magnitude of this loss and a determination to develop the tools to protect our future. Second edition includes over 100 new articles and 226 updated articles covering this multidisciplinary field— from evolution to habits to economics, in 7 volumes The editors of this edition are all well respected, instantly recognizable academics operating at the top of their respective fields in biodiversity research; readers can be assured that they are reading material that has been meticulously checked and reviewed by experts Approximately 1,800 figures and 350 tables complement the text, and more than 3,000 glossary entries explain key terms

This book compiles available knowledge of the response of mountain ecosystems to recent climate and land use change and intends to bridge the gap between science, policy and the community concerned. The chapters present key concepts, major drivers and key processes of mountain response, providing transdisciplinary orientation to mountain studies incorporating experiences of academics, community leaders and policy-makers from developed and less developed countries. The book chapters are arranged in two sections. The first section concerns the response processes of mountain environments to climate change. This section addresses climate change itself (past, current and future changes of temperature and precipitation) and its impacts on the cryosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and human-environment systems. The second section focuses on the response processes of mountain environments to land use/land cover change. The case studies address effects of changing agriculture and pastoralism, forest/water resources management and urbanization processes, landscape management, and biodiversity conservation. The book is designed as an interdisciplinary publication which critically evaluates developments in mountains of the world with contributions from both social and natural sciences.

Climate change has been identified as one of the greatest threats to humanity of all times. In addition to producing adverse environmental conditions such as rising sea level, drought, crop failure, vector-borne diseases, extreme events, degradation of water/air quality and heat waves, climate change is also considered a threat multiplier that leads to local and international conflicts and armed interventions. Urban areas may bear the brunt of climate change, as they are the centers of human habitation, anthropogenic stressors and environmental degradation, and the ensuing health impacts are of grave societal concern. The papers in this volume span a suite of climate change repercussions, paying particular attention to national security and human health aspects. It is an outcome of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop held during April 28-30, 2011 in Dubrovnik, Croatia, sponsored by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Program. The contributions cut across the elements of modeling, natural, political and social sciences, engineering, politics, military intervention, urban planning, industrial activities, epidemiology and healthcare.