Global Warming Combat Manual: Solutions for a Sustainable World

by Bruce E. Johansen

Overview

The Global Warming Combat Manual describes the practical measures that readers can take in their daily lives to reduce their carbon footprints. It also guides the reader on how to link her personal choices with the legal, political, economic, and technological changes that are being orchestrated on the world stage to deal with global warming. The emphasis throughout is on practical tips for how people in their everyday roles as citizens, homeowners, employees, commuters, tourists, sportsmen, business owners, or farmers can help combat global warming. This book gives general readers the tools they need to calculate and put into action the most rational and ethical "green" choices. Dovetailing the personal with the technological and public-policy dimensions, this book lays out the whole battery of existing, emerging, and speculative solutions for global warming: ranging from the humdrum and easy (keeping your tires properly inflated), through the necessary and hard (retooling the ways you transport, house, and feed yourself for maximum energy efficiency and minimum carbon footprint), the possible (switching over a large fraction of our carbon-based energy sector to alternative sectors based on biofuel, wind, solar, and geothermal power), the visionary (creating a bacterium that will consume CO2), and the improbable (deploying giant reflecting mirrors out in space), all the way to the weird and dangerous (pumping sulfur aerosols into the stratosphere).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313352874
Publisher:	Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated
Publication date:	07/30/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Bruce E. Johansen is Frederick W. Kayser Research Professor of Communication and Native American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is the author of dozens of books, including Global Warming in the 21st Century (Praeger, 2006), The Global Warming Desk Reference (Greenwood Press, 2001), The Dirty Dozen: Toxic Chemicals and the Earth's Future (Praeger, 2003), Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Issues (Greenwood Press, 2003), and Silenced! Academic Freedom, Scientific Inquiry, and the First Amendment under Siege in America (Praeger, 2007). Johansen regularly contributes articles on environmental issues to such national periodicals as The Nation, The Progressive, the Wall Street Jourbanal, and The Atlantic Monthly.

Table of Contents

Foreword   James E. Hansen     vii
Preface     xi
Introduction     xvii
Our Cars Are Killing Us: Options in Personal Transport     1
Avoiding Our "Suicide Pact" with Aviation     27
Greening Shelter and Food     43
Biofuels: Where the Money Is     71
The Power Forecast Is Windy     91
Harvesting the Sun     103
Old Wine in New Bottles: Nuclear Power and Changes in Land Use     117
The Political Economy of Global Warming     129
Technofixes     163
Appendix     181
Bibliography     191
Index     209

What People are Saying About This

Gregory J. Nickels

"When people consider global warming, they think big: icebergs melting, seas rising, islands disappearing. But climate pollution comes down to individuals. In Seattle, we recognize the importance of acting locally. And I've encouraged hundreds of mayors around the country to do the same. We understand that cities are essential to averting climate catastrophe and creating a cleaner, more prosperous future. The Global Warming Combat Manual answers the question: What can I do to make a difference?"

Robert Harriss

"This book is a must read for citizens and policymakers looking for practical advice on how to take action on global warming. The Global Warming Combat Manual is a highly readable account of clean technologies, energy policies, and effective consumer decisions that will benefit the environment and improve our overall quality of life. The solutions offered can be integrated into our everyday lives and promise a better future for all humanity."

Editorial Reviews

Books on natural cataclysm, often climate-induced, are in vogue. Bruce Johansens The Global Warming Combat Manual seeks to make readers more environmentally aware. The Global Warming Combat Manual discusses climate-driven changes in US environmental policy and practice. By describing recent switchesthe increasing use of wind power in Texas, for exampleand emerging technologies and trends, Johansen lays out a range of solutions for minimizing climate change.” —Nature

“Packed with recent examples of ways that individuals and corporations are working to reduce their carbon footprints, this book provides a helpful overview of current strategies for addressing global warming…this book may be a good starting point for students investigating practical solutions…good coverage of strategies used in other countries…Recommended. General readers and lower-division undergraduates.” —Choice

From the Publisher