The climate book, p.1
The Climate Book, page 1
Average global temperatures have risen approximately 1.2°C since the pre-industrial age.[*]
In the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2021 report a group of 234 top scientists from 66 countries concluded that ‘it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.’
Greenhouse gas emissions – which include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases – from human activities have risen to concentrations in the atmosphere that have not been seen in millions of years, since a time when trees grew at the South Pole and the sea level rose by 20 metres.
Despite dire warnings in the 1980s and 1990s, we have emitted more CO2 since 1991 than in the rest of human history.
According to the IPCC’s estimate, our remaining carbon budget for a 67 per cent chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C at the beginning of 2020 was 400 gigatonnes.[*] At the current rate of emissions, we will exceed this carbon budget before 2030.
Some countries are vastly more historically responsible for emissions than others; the largest emitters released hundreds of billions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere between 1850 and 2021.
In 2015, nearly every country in the world – 195 in total – committed to the Paris Agreement. The goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit global warming to well below 2°C, and ideally below 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels.
The world is not on track to meet these goals. There is a vast gap between the promises governments have made and the actions they have taken. Many emissions – such as those from international transport and shipping, as well as many of those associated with the military – go unrecorded or are unaccounted for.
Based on current policies, the IPCC estimates that global warming will reach 3.2°C by 2100.
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Compilation copyright © 2022 by Greta Thunberg
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First published in Great Britain by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK, 2022.
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Names: Thunberg, Greta, 2003– compiler.
Title: The climate book : the facts and the solutions / Greta Thunberg.
Description: New York : Penguin Press, 2023. | “First published by Allen Lane, 2022”— Title page verso.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022049218 (print) | LCCN 2022049219 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593492307 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593492314 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Climatic changes. | Climate justice.
Classification: LCC QC903 .T59 2023 (print) | LCC QC903 (ebook) | DDC 363.738/7452—dc23/eng20230113
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022049218
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022049219
Cover design: Darren Haggar
Cover image: Warming Stripes by Professor Ed Hawkins, National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading
Designed by Jim Stoddart, adapted for ebook by Cora Wigen
pid_prh_6.0_142488116_c0_r0
PART ONE /
How Climate Works
1.1 ‘To solve this problem, we need to understand it’ / Greta Thunberg
1.2 The Deep History of Carbon Dioxide
Peter Brannen / Science journalist, contributing writer at the Atlantic and author of The Ends of the World.
1.3 Our Evolutionary Impact
Beth Shapiro / Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of California, Santa Cruz and author of Life as We Made It.
1.4 Civilization and Extinction
Elizabeth Kolbert / Staff writer for the New Yorker and the author, most recently, of Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future.
1.5 ‘The science is as solid as it gets’ / Greta Thunberg
1.6 The Discovery of Climate Change
Michael Oppenheimer / Atmospheric scientist, Princeton University’s Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs and long-time IPCC author.
1.7 Why Didn’t They Act?
Naomi Oreskes / Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University.
1.8 Tipping Points and Feedback Loops
Johan Rockström / Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor at Potsdam University.
1.9 ‘This is the biggest story in the world’ / Greta Thunberg
PART TWO /
How Our Planet Is Changing
2.1 ‘The weather seems to be on steroids’ / Greta Thunberg
2.2 Heat
Katharine Hayhoe / Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor at Texas Tech University and author of Saving Us.
2.3 Methane and Other Gases
Zeke Hausfather / Climate research lead at Stripe, research scientistat Berkeley Earth.
2.4 Air Pollution and Aerosols
Bjørn H. Samset / Senior researcher at CICERO Centre for International Climate Research, an IPCC lead author, and expert on the effects of non-CO2 emissions.
2.5 Clouds
Paulo Ceppi / Lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute and the Department of Physics at Imperial College London.
2.6 Arctic Warming and the Jet Stream
Jennifer Francis / Senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center and formerly Research Professor in Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University.
2.7 Dangerous Weather
Friederike Otto / Senior lecturer in Climate Science at the Grantham Instituteat Imperial College London and co-lead of World Weather Attribution.
2.8 ‘The snowball has been set in motion’ / Greta Thunberg
2.9 Droughts and Floods
Kate Marvel / Climate scientist at the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
2.10 Ice Sheets, Shelves and Glaciers
Ricarda Winkelmann / Professor of Climate System Analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Potsdam.
2.11 Warming Oceans and Rising Seas
Stefan Rahmstorf / Head of Earth System Analysis at the Potsdam Institute and Professor of Physics of the Oceans at the University of Potsdam.
2.12 Acidification and Marine Ecosystems
Hans-Otto Pörtner / Climatologist, physiologist, Professor and Head of the Department of Integrative Ecophysiology at the Alfred Wegener Institute.
2.13 Microplastics
Karin Kvale / Senior researcher at GNS Science and expert in modelling the role of marine ecology in global biogeochemical cycles.
2.14 Fresh Water
Peter H. Gleick / Co-founder and president-emeritus of the Pacific Institute, member US National Academy of Sciences, hydroclimatologist.
2.15 ‘It is much closer to home than we think’ / Greta Thunberg
2.16 Wildfires
Joëlle Gergis / Senior lecturer in Climate Science at the Australian NationalUniversity and lead author on the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.
2.17 The Amazon
Carlos A. Nobre / Earth System scientist on the Amazon, Chair of the Science Panel for the Amazon and the convener of the Amazonia 4.0 project.
Julia Arieira / Plant Ecologist and Earth system scientist at Brazil’s Federal University of Espírito Santo.
Nathália Nascimento / Geographer and Earth system scientist at Brazil’s Federal University of Espírito Santo.
2.18 Boreal and Temperate Forests
Beverly E. Law / Professor Emeritus of Global Change Biology and Terrestrial Systems Science at Oregon State University.
2.19 Terrestrial Biodiversity
Adriana De Palma / World Economic Forum Young Scientist andsenior researcher at the Natural History Museum in London.
Andy Purvis / Biodiversity researcher at the Natural History Museum in London; led a chapter of the first IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services.
2.20 Insects
Dave Goulson / Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex; author of over 400 scientific articles on insect ecology and, among other books, Silent Earth.
2.21 Nature’s Calendar
Keith W. Larson / Ecologist researching environmental change in the Arctic and Director of the Arctic Centre at Umeå University.
2.22 Soil
Jennifer L. Soong / Soil carbon scientist at Corteva; affiliate scientist at Colorado State University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
2.23 Permafrost
Örjan Gustafsson / Professor in Biogeochemistry at Stock holm University, and elected Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
2.24 What Happens at 1.5, 2 and 4°C of Warming?
Tamsin Edwards / Climate scientist at King’s College London, an IPCC lead author and science communicator specializing in uncertainties in sea-level rise.
PART THREE /
How It Affects Us
3.1 ‘The world has a fever’ / Greta Thunberg
3.2 Health and Climate
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus / Director-general of theWorld Health Organization.
3.3 Heat and Illness
Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera / Environmental epidemiologist, leader of the Climate Change and Health research group at the University of Bern.
3.4 Air Pollution
Drew Shindell / Climate scientist and Distinguished Professor at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, author on multiple IPCC Assessments.
3.5 Vector-borne Diseases
Felipe J. Colón-González / Assistant Professor at the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
3.6 Antibiotic Resistance
John Brownstein / Chief innovation officer, Boston Children’s Hospital; Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School.
Derek MacFadden / Clinician scientist at the Ottawa Hospital; Junior Clinical Research Chair in Antibiotic Use and Antibiotic Resistance at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Sarah McGough / Infectious disease epidemiologist, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Mauricio Santillana / Professor of Physics, Northeastern University, and Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
3.7 Food and Nutrition
Samuel S. Myers / Principal research scientist, Harvard T. H. Chan School ofPublic Health and Director, Planetary Health Alliance.
3.8 ‘We are not all in the same boat’ / Greta Thunberg
3.9 Life at 1.1°C
Saleemul Huq / Director of the International Centre for Climate Changeand Development at the Independent University, Bangladesh.
3.10 Environmental Racism
Jacqueline Patterson / Founder and Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project, a resource hub for Black front-line climate justice leadership.
3.11 Climate Refugees
Abrahm Lustgarten / Investigative reporter for ProPublica and the New York Times Magazine; author of a forthcoming book about climate-driven migration in the US.
3.12 Sea-level Rise and Small Islands
Michael Taylor / Caribbean climate scientist, IPCC lead author, professor and dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, the University of the West Indies, Mona.
3.13 Rain in the Sahel
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim / Indigenous woman, geographer and coordinatorof the Association of Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad; UN Sustainable Development Goals advocate.
3.14 Winter in Sápmi
Elin Anna Labba / Sámi journalist and writer working with Indigenous literaturesat Tjállegoahte in Jokkmokk, Sweden.
3.15 Fighting for the Forest
Sônia Guajajara / Brazilian Indigenous activist, environmentalist and politician, and coordinator of the Association of Indigenous People of Brazil.
3.16 ‘Enormous challenges are waiting’ / Greta Thunberg
3.17 Warming and Inequality
Solomon Hsiang / Scientist and economist, Professor and Director of the Global Policy Laboratory at UC Berkeley; co-founder of the Climate Impact Lab.
3.18 Water Shortages
Taikan Oki / Global hydrologist, former Senior Vice-Rector of the United Nations University, and an IPCC Coordinating Lead Author.
3.19 Climate Conflicts
Marshall Burke / Associate Professor in the Department of Earth System Science at Stanford University and co-founder of Atlas AI.
3.20 The True Cost of Climate Change
Eugene Linden / Journalist and author; his most recent book on climate changeis Fire and Flood. Previously, The Winds of Change won a Grantham Award.
PART FOUR /
What We’ve Done About It
4.1 ‘How can we undo our failures if we are unable to admit that we have failed?’ / Greta Thunberg
4.2 The New Denialism
Kevin Anderson / Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the Universities of Manchester, Uppsala and Bergen.
4.3 The Truth about Government Climate Targets
Alexandra Urisman Otto / Climate reporter at the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter and co-author of Gretas resa (Greta’s Journey).
4.4 ‘We are not moving in the right direction’ / Greta Thunberg
4.5 The Persistence of Fossil Fuels
Bill McKibben / Founder of the environmental organizations 350.org and Third Act and author of more than a dozen books, including The End of Nature and Eaarth.
4.6 The Rise of Renewables
Glen Peters / Research Director at the Centre for International Climate Research in Oslo; member of the executive team of the Global Carbon Budget; an IPCC lead author.
4.7 How Can Forests Help Us?
Karl-Heinz Erb / An IPCC lead author, Director of the Institute of Social Ecology and associate Professor at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.
Simone Gingrich / Assistant Professor, Institute of Social Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.
4.8 What about Geoengineering?
Niclas Hällström / Director of WhatNext?, President of the ETC Group, and senior affiliate at Centre for Environment and Development Studies, Uppsala University.
Jennie C. Stephens / Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy at Northeastern University, and author of Diversifying Power.
Isak Stoddard / PhD candidate in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development at the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University.
4.9 Drawdown Technologies
Rob Jackson / Earth scientist at Stanford University and Chair of the Global Carbon Project.
4.10 ‘A whole new way of thinking’ / Greta Thunberg
4.11 Our Imprint on the Land
Alexander Popp / Senior scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate ImpactResearch and leader of a research group on land-use management.
4.12 The Calorie Question
Michael Clark / Environmental scientist at the University of Oxford, focusing on food systems’ contribution to climate, biodiversity and well-being.
4.13 Designing New Food Systems
Sonja Vermeulen / Director of Programs at CGIAR, and Associate at Chatham House.
4.14 Mapping Emissions in an Industrial World
John Barrett / Professor in Energy and Climate Policy, University of Leeds, government advisor to DEFRA and an IPCC lead author.
Alice Garvey / Researcher at the Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds.
4.15 The Technical Hitch
Ketan Joshi / Freelance writer, analyst and communications consultant, who haspreviously worked for a variety of Australian and European climate organizations.
4.16 The Challenge of Transport
Alice Larkin / Vice-Dean and Head of School of Engineering and a Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy at the Tyndell Centre, University of Manchester.
4.17 Is the Future Electric?
Jillian Anable / Co-director of the University of Oxford’s CREDS Centre for Research in energy demand solutions.
Christian Brand / Co-director of UK Energy Research Centre and Associate Professor at University of Oxford. Author of Personal Travel and Climate Change.
4.18 ‘They keep saying one thing while doing another’ / Greta Thunberg
4.19 The Cost of Consumerism
Annie Lowrey / Staff writer at the Atlantic, covering economic policy, and author of Give People Money.
4.20 How (Not) to Buy
Mike Berners-Lee / Professor at Lancaster University’s Environment Centre, Director of Small World Consulting Ltd and author of There Is No Planet B.
4.21 Waste around the World
Silpa Kaza / Senior urban development specialist in the World Bank’s Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice.
