Neal Wyatt, Editor
Denise A. Brush, Guest Columnist
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Reduce, reuse, recycle: It’s the simple mantra of a movement to help save the earth. While most of us have installed eco-efficient light bulbs and neatly bundle our old newspapers for weekly pickup, crafting environmental collections that serve the needs of our patrons is often a haphazard process at best. Global warming is a hot topic for publishers, so much so that it is hard to separate the important, well-researched, and useful books from all the noise surrounding the issue. Denise A. Brush, subject librarian for science and engineering at Rowan University Libraries in Glassboro, New Jersey, is well qualified to suggest a strategy for developing a solid collection in this area of environmental studies. While earning her BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MIT, she worked for the late climatologist Helmut Landsberg at the University of Maryland’s Department of Meteorology. A public services librarian, she earned her library degree from Drexel University in 2004 and is a reviewer for Science Books & Films.—Editor
While the rest of the world has recognized the reality of global warming since the 1990s, the United States has not taken it seriously until very recently. The 2008 presidential election was the first time that both major party candidates campaigned on the need for the United States to address global warming.
The 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to former vice president Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ‘‘for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change.”1 The IPCC, in their April 2007 report, stated that there is a 90 percent probability that the measured increase in global temperatures in the past three decades was caused by greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere since 1950 by humans.2 The report described the many climate changes that have already occurred and their consequences for communities and ecosystems, making it clear that global climate change is happening, whether it is man-made or natural.
According to columnist Gregg Easterbrook of the New York Times, there is now a consensus among American scientists that global warming is real:
The American Geophysical Union and American Meteorological Society in 2003 both declared that signs of global warming had become compelling. In 2004 the American Association for the Advancement of Science said that there was no longer any ‘‘substantive disagreement in the scientific community’’ that artificial global warming is happening. In 2005, the National Academy of Sciences joined the science academies of Britain, China, Germany, Japan and other nations in a joint statement saying, “There is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring.”3
This is a time when libraries can provide a vital educational service. The following bibliography recommends books, films, reference works, journals, scholarly articles, databases, and websites to help students, faculty, and the public learn about global warming.
Books
Global warming is a field that is changing extremely rapidly as new research results come to light. Except for some key historical books identified below, purchases of books on global warming should focus exclusively on the past few years. University libraries should also consider reviewing and updating their collections on renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, nuclear, biofuels, and hydrogen power.
Alley, Richard B. The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and our Future. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Pr., 2002 (ISBN: 978-0-691-10296-2). Penn State geology professor Richard Alley explains how ice cores can tell the story of past climates hundreds of millions of years ago, and also provide valuable insight into what the future could bring. This older book remains relevant because it describes a scientific methodology that continues to play a big part in climate science. For academic and public libraries.
Braasch, Gary. Earth under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World. Berkeley, Calif.: Univ. of California Pr., 2007 (ISBN: 978-0-520-26025-2). In this important book, photojournalist Gary Braasch presents photographic evidence from his six years of travel around the globe that the environmental effects of global warming are real. Key ecosystem and climate changes, from glacial and permafrost melting to physical changes in the oceans to a multitude of effects on animals and plants, are described in photographs and with essays contributed by experts. For all libraries.
Coward, Harold and Andrew J. Weaver, eds. Hard Choices: Climate Change in Canada. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Pr., 2004 (ISBN: 978-0-88920-442-3).This collection discusses the political, economic, and social implications of global warming for Canada. Each chapter is written by an expert in a particular academic discipline. Some experts favor adaptation and others argue for various types of efforts to slow global warming, but all agree that Canada is experiencing real climate change already and will continue to do so. For academic libraries.
Flannery, Tim. The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth. New York: Grove/ Atlantic, 2006 (ISBN: 978-0-8021-6502-2). Also available in e-book and audio formats from Recorded Books.This is one of the most comprehensive and readable overviews of the subject of global warming. It was nominated for the 2007 ALA Notable Books Award. Tim Flannery, who provides an Australian perspective, explains how climate change research has lead to the current scientific consensus and describes some of the options for solving the crisis. This book summarizes many of the other top books on global warming as well as key scholarly articles, making it an essential purchase. For public and academic libraries.
Goodstein, Eban. Fighting for Love in the Century of Extinction: How Passion and Politics Can Stop Global Warming. Burlington, Vt.: Univ. of Vermont Pr., 2007 (ISBN: 978-1-58465-657-9). In his third book on economics and the environment, liberal economics professor Eban Goodstein warns that habitat destruction and species extinction is happening now and will continue unless the climate is stabilized. He explains the importance of biodiversity in our natural environment and argues for political activism and education to raise American consciousness. A nationwide teach-in on global warming at American colleges and universities, first proposed in this book, occurred on January 31, 2008. For academic libraries.
Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It. Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale, 2006 (ISBN: 978-1-59486-567-1). Also available on CD. Former vice president Al Gore explains global warming to the general public and makes the case for action, in this book that accompanied the documentary film and launched the worldwide campaign that resulted in the Nobel Peace Prize. For public and academic libraries.
Hoffman, Andrew J. Carbon Strategies: How Leading Companies are Reducing their Climate Change Footprint. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Univ. of Michigan Pr., 2007. (ISBN: 978-0-472-03265-5). This how-to manual is written for companies that want to develop a proactive plan to cope with climate change. It recommends specific business strategies, and offers numerous case studies detailing what various companies have done both to plan for future carbon emissions regulation and to take advantage of climate-related market opportunities. A very useful source of ideas for business students and faculty interested in climate change, as well as for business owners. For academic and public libraries.
Houghton, John T. Global Warming: The Complete Briefing. 3rd ed. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 2004 (ISBN: 978-0-521-52874-0). This book, now in its third edition, developed from the original briefing on global warming given to Prime Minister Thatcher in 1990 by Sir John Houghton, former chairman of the Scientific Assessment Working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It “aims to state the current scientific position on global warming clearly, so that we can make informed decisions on the facts.” This work has become an essential primary source that is frequently cited. For academic libraries.