Drought, Flood, Fire
How Climate Change Contributes to Catastrophes

The latest science and compelling stories describing the impacts of droughts, floods, and fires in the context of climate change.

Chris C. Funk (Author)

9781108839877, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 May 2021

332 pages
22.2 x 14.4 x 2.2 cm, 0.53 kg

'Drought, Flood, Fire is not only a beautifully structured book, but also an impassioned, moving, and eloquent statement about the urgency mankind faces to come to grips with an impending planetary crisis. The author has successfully managed the challenge of writing a book that is easy to follow by anyone with a high-school education … The tendency in many books and papers of this genre is to include a variety of equations and numerical data. Instead, the author here has chosen to deliver his message with clear easy-to-grasp graphics … Anybody wishing to gain a clear understanding of the global warming problem and its serious implications would do well to read this outstanding introduction to a subject that in recent times has caused so much controversy.' Sven Treitel, The Leading Edge

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 Niños and La Niñas, 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.

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 Niñas 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°C on a Dixie Cup Planet
14. We Can Afford to Wear a White Hat
Index.

Subject Areas: Social issues: environment & green issues [Children's / Teenage YXZG], Social impact of environmental issues [RNT], Natural disasters [RNR], Climate change [RNPG], Environmentalist, conservationist & Green organizations [RNB], Popular science [PDZ], Environmental factors [MBNH2], International relations [JPS]