Six Degrees - Our Future on a Hotter Planet

"By the end of this century, the planet will heat up between 1.4C and 5.8C, according to the IPCC.  Six degrees might not sound like much...."

That pretty much summarizes the main point of this book by Mark Lynas.  In each chapter, the author examines what our planet might be like as global temperatures increase, degree by degree.

Of course, predicting the future is difficult, but the author bases his predictions on what science knows about conditions on the planet during much earlier times, when CO2 levels were much higher.

A major concern understood by people following this issue is the rapidity with which these changes are happening.  Right now.  To explain the concern, the author notes the following about something called the Paleo Eocene Thermal Maximum:

• CO2 levels were greater than 1000 ppm (we are close to 400 ppm now).
• Rate of CO2 addition now could be 30x faster than then.
• The changes then took place over 10,000 years.
• We only have decades.

For anyone with a concern about what we need to prepare ourselves (and our children and grandchildren) for, it's a worthwhile read.  As you read, just remember that the book was written in 2007.  Evidence continues to come in pointing to a rapidly warming planet, melting sea ice, diminishing land ice, droughts, acidifying oceans, increasingly erratic weather systems.