The Discovery of Global Warming (New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine)
The Discovery of Global Warming (New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine) – Review
Discovery of Global Warming I love methodical detective stories. The fact that the climatological investigation into global warming is ongoing is no barrier to currently learning about all the legwork that has gone into it. This account is especially welcome, as it is an objective account of how the idea of global warming has originally developed over the years. It is literally a textbook example of the workings of comprehensive knowledge. Especially good is the story of climatology’s trip up the blind path of The Coming Ice Age in the 1970s. This as much as anything tarred the advocates of the global warming hypothesis as a group of Chicken Littles who couldn’t make up their minds. But while it may have produced strong policy makers more difficult, like so many other missteps in science it eventually led to a better fully understanding of what was actually going on. And many commonly observed facts have barely survived through the developments of interpretation. You can’t argue with the Keeling Curve, which measures the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere, for instance. The objectivity continues yet in final sections, when modern politics enter the story. In this account the Kyoto Protocols are a missed opportunity, although their shortcomings and the legal objections to them are fairly-enough presented. Plus all the free ends and limitations of the global warming model make spelled out in frank detail. But the previously existing scientific consensus, that CO2 buildup is real, artificial, growing, and a menace, gets the last word. Dr. Weart’s call to action in the end is bitter: more regulation, senior taxes, the whole "wise men" approach to public policy. Principal blame for the crisis is affixed to the U.S., too-as if it is America and not the sainted Third World slowly burning down the world’s rainforests. Some of the prescriptions sound like they would indeed be money savers though, such as aggressively heading off methane leaks by restoring pipelines. In all, this is an informative, challenging account of how we know what we think we know about global warming. Recommended to everyone with any interest in the issue.