Climate Code Red: the Case for Emergency Action - Softcover

Spratt, David; Sutton, Phillip

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1921372206 ISBN 13: 9781921372209

Publisher: Scribe Publications, 2008

Synopsis

In this call to action, David Spratt and Philip Sutton reveal extensive scientific evidence that the global warming crisis is far worse tahn official reports and national governments have indicated, and that we are almost at the point of no return. P Sutton is a former president of The Aust & NZ Society for Ecological Economics.

About this title

Review

'It is wrong-headed for society to mundanely think about addressing "climate change," because this term, and its sister phrase "global warming," both imply a sedate and gradual transition. Yet recent science, and the history of past climates, tell us that this is an absurdly optimistic expectation. The Earth's climate is a complex and interconnected system, dominated by amplifying feedbacks, thresholds, delays and non-linearities. We have already witnessed surprises -- the recent dramatic loss of Arctic summer sea ice and the rapid polewards expansion of tropical weather systems causing drying of the mid-latitudes are just two of many examples -- and we should expect more: large and abrupt climatic lurches are likely this century and perhaps within years. That is why Spratt and Sutton speak of the "climate emergency" and argue that there is a supremely urgent need for society to take immediate, transformational action to restore a safe climate. Climate Code Red is a superb, visionary blueprint for development in a new century which tackles the tough questions of how humanity can, in practice, rapidly secure a sustainable future. But it is also a work in progress, a draft strategy, which is primed to be shaped and developed by those who step up to meet the challenge we all now face.'

--Professor Barry W. Brook, Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change, Director of Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability, The University of Adelaide

'The stark fact is that we face a global sustainability emergency. But it is impossible to design realistic solutions unless we first understand and accept the size of the problem. Climate Code Red is a sober, balanced analysis of this challenge, unadorned by political spin, proposing a realistic framework to tackle the emergency.'

--Ian Dunlop, former international oil, gas, and coal industry executive

'Having been involved with global warming climate change as a researcher in environmental health for 25 years, I can say that this is without question by far the best book to date on this issue -- the first book to have the integrity to say how the situation really is.'

--Dr Peter Carter, Canada

'This book is essential reading for everyone.'

--Catherine Money "Park Watch "

'This is a frightening but clear-eyed, well-informed, and sober consideration of the weight of evidence and argument on the imminent and quite possibly cataclysmic impacts of climate change. It is a wake-up call and antidote to the sanitised reporting on the state of the planet and global warming. As a social and environmental psychologist reader, this critical overview is impressive, comprehensive, and convincing.'

--Dr Joseph Retter

'David Spratt and Philip Sutton have provided a valuable and sobering contribution to the policy challenge of climate change at a pivotal moment, with their key insight that the expectation of failure has become the norm in climate policy. Climate Code Red is a significant contribution which should be read by anyone seriously contemplating how to set greenhouse emission-reduction targets.'

--Senator Christine Milne, Australian Greens Party

'Climate Code Red applies an uncommon degree of common-sense to the latest climate science, and is a well-researched basis for building a truly meaningful response. It makes it abundantly clear that greenhouse-gas emissions have to stop entirely, and that even this must sit in a larger plan to manage our destabilised earth-atmosphere system.'

--Tim Helweg-Larsen, Director, Public Interest Research Centre, UK

'Perhaps the two most outstanding books on global warming to have been published lately are The Hot Topic .. and Climate Code Red. Were I a philanthropist, I would purchase several hundred copies of both and send them to our politicians and policy-makers.'

--Robert Manne "The Monthly "

'Recent greenhouse gas emissions place the Earth perilously close to dramatic climate change that could run out of our control, with great dangers for humans and other creatures. There is already enough carbon in the Earth's atmosphere for massive ice sheets such as West Antarctica to eventually melt away, and ensure that sea levels will rise metres in coming decades. Climate zones such as the tropics and temperate regions will continue to shift, and the oceans will become more acidic, endangering much marine life. We must begin to move rapidly to the post-fossil fuel clean energy system. Moreover, we must remove some carbon that has collected in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. This is the story that Climate Code Red tells with conviction. It is a compelling case for recognising, as the UN secretary-general has said, that we face a climate emergency.'

--Dr James Hansen, director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Institute for Space Studies

'The book draws on a vast array of information to build a cogent and compelling case that we do have a genuine emergency on our hands if we are to limit the rise of greenhouse gas emissions to a level at which we can limit the degradation of our planet to manageable levels ... There is no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest problem confronting mankind at this time and that it has reached the level of a state of emergency.'

--Professor David de Kretser, A.C., Governor of Victoria

About the Author

Authors Bio, not available

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribe Publications
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1921372206
• ISBN 13: 9781921372209
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320