Earth under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World
ISBN: 9780520943933
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / University of California Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Climatic changes; Global warming; McKibben Bill;

Photojournalist and author Braasch (Photographing the Patterns of Nature) uses his award-winning skill behind the camera to produce a practical, level-headed and thorough overview of the current state of global warming, from a ground-level definition to stunning images of its effects: villages swept away by encroaching water, immigrating plant populations, disappearing glaciers and decimated habitats. Braasch discusses rationally the current and future impact of global warming-showing how "[t]he earth is becoming a different planet as the ice withdraws"-bolstering statistics such as "Americans spend $450,000 a minute on imported oil" and "634 million people are no more than 33 feet above sea level" with well-informed text, charts, maps and sidebars from scholars and activists. The last third is devoted to "choosing a safer, cleaner, and cooler world," looking at how renewable fuels, energy conservation and efficiency, green building standards and local eating have a real impact on the planet?s health. Happily, Braasch?s view is hopeful, even when contemplating the world without us: "[l]ife will go on in some form whether or not coral reefs or rainforests exist, or whether atmospheric oxygen is reduced by half or carbon dioxide quadrupled." Color illus. (Oct.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Braasch Gary :

Gary Braasch is an Ansel Adams Award-winning photojournalist and a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He is the author of Photographing the Patterns of Nature.


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