Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet – Review
[This is a study of the English edition (June 2007). The American edition (2008) was heavily edited by Lynas to be a mostly bit more optimistic.] The IPCC says that in the 21st century global warming could bring temperatures anywhere from 1 to 6 degrees hotter. Lynas uses peer-reviewed technical literature to show what these temperature rises could mean. In 6 chapters he outlines 6 degrees. Once temps find past 2 or 3 degrees, like a fierce fire slowly burning out of control, the planet could continue to heat up no matter we do because nature leads releasing great stores of CO2 from slowly burning forests, melting tundra, warming oceans etc.. This is the first thorough attempt I have seen that outlines what a warmer world could be like, relying exclusively on the most new peer reviewed technical literature. No one can predict the future with 100% accuracy, these are not things that will happen just as describes, but they have previously happened in the past when temperatures made this high, therefore there is a percentage-possibility of them really happening again in comparable ways – not something to be discounted – in the same way we buy fire insurance or flood insurance, even if the risk of a fire or flood is very small, we know from history they do happen. Lynas’ book is one part in the currently learning curve of global warming, it could be widely read in conjunction with a couple other books out of England recently, such as George Monbiot’s Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning , which offers viable solutions to keep temps below 2 or 3 degrees, and With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change , which discusses the character of runaway tipping points and why a rise above 2 or 3 degrees is so potentially dangerous. See also the National Geographic documentary of the same name based on the book.