Download BOOK REVIEWS INTRODUCTION TO MODERN CLIMATE CHANGE

BOOK REVIEWS
INTRODUCTION TO MODERN CLIMATE CHANGE
Andrew E. Dessler, 2012, 238 pp., $110.00, hardbound, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-00189-3
I
t is no longer sufficient to simply understand the
science of climate change in order to engage in the
public discourse on the topic. A solid basis in the
science is, of course, necessary; an understanding of
the evidence for climate change, of humanity’s role in
causing the change, and the current challenges facing climate science are all central to a well-developed
understanding of the issue. However, the science of
climate change is now well established, whereas the
question of how to respond to it is fiercely
debated. It would therefore be incomplete
to focus uniquely on the science, while
leaving out the fundamental concepts that
inform decision-making around climate
change.
Evidently cognizant of this fact, Andrew
Dessler has authored a new textbook
that covers the salient features of both
the scientific evidence and the economic
and policy frameworks for responding
to climate change. Many climate science
textbooks discuss climate policy (e.g., The Climate
Crisis, by David Archer and Stefan Rahmstorf), but
few devote more than a concluding chapter to the
topic. The converse is generally true of climate policy
textbooks. Dessler’s textbook is unique in that nearly
half of the text is devoted to an overview of the fundamentals of climate policy.
The result is a textbook that covers the majority
of issues needed to have a general understanding
of climate change and the public debate thereof.
Intended for an undergraduate-level survey course,
the textbook is appropriate for classes including science and nonscience majors alike. The text covers
topics including radiation balance, the carbon cycle,
climate sensitivity, the “IPAT” relation, and carbon
pricing. Chapters are short enough to be read in one
sitting, each one containing a readable, easy-to-follow
discussion of the topic at hand. The writing is very
accessible: Dessler succeeds in keeping the language
AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY
mostly free of jargon, with helpful examples and
analogies where needed.
With an introductory topic, it can be difficult to
strike the right balance between too much math and
too little. In the case of this textbook, the author appears to have succeeded. Equations, where they are
included, never stray beyond the realm of algebra in
their complexity. Although the math is simplified, it
is not absent: Dessler makes good use of equations to
highlight concepts, and does not shy away
from using numbers to add quantitative information to a discussion (e.g., comparing
the climate forcing of aerosols and CO2).
An entire chapter is devoted to a discussion
of exponential growth. Although at first
glance this seems unnecessary—the topic,
after all, is covered in introductory algebra
texts—the chapter effectively highlights the
important nonintuitive aspects of nonlinear growth, while placing these in the context of decision-making on climate change.
The text provides a readable, concise summary
of the science of climate change, but it is the nonscientific aspects of the book that set it apart. These
sections provide an important context for the science, as well as the pertinent economic and policy
considerations mentioned above. For example, in an
introductory section titled “Why You Should Believe
This Book,” Dessler discusses the question of what
to believe, given the confusing array of claims and
counterclaims often present in the public dialogue
around climate change. Another example is the
discussion of discount rates, a key assumption in
assessing the costs and benefits of greenhouse gas
mitigation. Although simplified in his discussions,
Dessler treats such topics with fairness, leaving judgment (and further reading) to the reader. However,
there are a few places where important details are
either misstated or lacking. The discussion of carbon
offsets, for example, does not address the problems
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of “leakage” and permanence—offsets must not result
in greater emissions elsewhere, and emissions must
remain offset for long periods of time. Similarly,
past debates over regulating sulfate emissions and
CFCs are presented as analogs of the present-day
debate over climate mitigation. These are instructive parallels, but Dessler fails to mention that they
are also different from the climate change problem,
most notably in terms of scope and the cost of
implementation.
The climate science sections of the book occasionally lack detail as well. The chapter on the evidence
for human influence on the climate, for example, is
largely devoted to eliminating other candidates: the
sun, volcanoes, orbital changes, and natural variability. This is an important point to make, and probably
helpful for a newcomer to the topic. However, the
point could be strengthened by highlighting the fact
that the observed “fingerprint” of warming matches
that expected due to greenhouse gases (e.g., more
warming at the poles, cooling in the stratosphere,
etc.). In a later section on geoengineering, Dessler
omits the important point that reductions in solar
radiation would only offset greenhouse warming in
the global average. Regionally, the effects would vary,
since the global distribution of insolation is different
than the warming caused by greenhouse gases. The
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book contains a few other similar situations, in which,
presumably in an effort to remain concise, important
facts are left out.
Overall, I think this is a well-crafted textbook. The
writing is very accessible without being too simplistic.
Chapters function well as independent summaries,
but also come together to form a well-organized story
line for the textbook as a whole. The combination of
a broad overview of the science and policy of climate
change is both novel and appropriate for the intended
audience: an introductory-level survey course on climate change. The few minor omissions could easily be
addressed in a lecture or class discussion. Reading the
book was a learning experience for me, and I would
happily recommend this book to anyone seeking an
introduction to climate change.
—Guillaume Mauger
Guillaume Mauger is a climate scientist and member
of the Climate Impacts Group at the University of
Washington, Seattle.
FOR FURTHER READING
Archer, D., and S. Rahmstorf, 2010: The Climate Crisis:
An Introductory Guide to Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 249 pp.