Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction

Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge facing humanity. This book describes the substantial evidence for climate change and considers its potentially catastrophic impacts worldwide in the coming decades. It also discusses the geopolitical aspects, and explores what actions can be taken by individuals, companies, and governments.

Mark Maslin FRGS, FRSA is a Professor of Earth System Science at University College London. He is a leading scientist with expertise in past and future climate change. Maslin appears regularly on radio and television, and has written ten books, including The Cradle of Humanity (2017), The Human Planet (2018, co-authored with Simon Lewis), and How to Save Our Planet: The Facts (2021). He is a Royal Society Industrial Fellow, working with Rezatec Ltd, a geoanalytics company he co-founded, and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Scholar.

Preface to the fourth edition xix
Acknowledgements xxi
List of illustrations xxiii
Abbreviations xxvii
1 What is climate change? 1
2 History of climate change 12
3 Evidence for climate change 26
4 Modelling future climate 44
5 Climate change impacts 64
6 Climate surprises 90
7 Politics of climate change 106
8 Solutions 122
9 Changing our future 148
Further reading 157
Index 163