Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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222 S notes <strong>to</strong> pages 2-18<br />
2. “Carbon cycle feedbacks” refers <strong>to</strong> positive feedbacks that occur as temperatures<br />
rise above <strong>the</strong>ir normal range. The most commonly cited are those<br />
presently occurring in <strong>the</strong> Arctic in which surfaces covered with ice with<br />
high albedo that refl ects sunlight back in<strong>to</strong> space melt and are replaced with<br />
dark land and water surfaces that absorb solar radiation, <strong>the</strong>reby adding <strong>to</strong><br />
fur<strong>the</strong>r warming. There are many, many such mechanisms that are sensitive<br />
<strong>to</strong> slight changes that initiate accelerating changes. See Woodwell (1995) and<br />
Archer (2009), pp. 125–136.<br />
3. For <strong>the</strong> sake <strong>of</strong> clarity, I assume that scenarios presented by Lester Brown<br />
(2008) as <strong>the</strong> “great mobilization,” Krupp (2008), and Thomas Friedman<br />
(2008) more or less describe what will come <strong>to</strong> be true. In o<strong>the</strong>r words, I<br />
will be as optimistic as <strong>the</strong> science and rationality permit one <strong>to</strong> be, but no<br />
more.<br />
4. See, for example, Holdren, “Science and Technology” (2008): “A 2007 report<br />
for <strong>the</strong> UN Commission on Sustainable Development . . . concluded that <strong>the</strong><br />
chances <strong>of</strong> a ‘tipping point’ in<strong>to</strong> unmanageable degrees <strong>of</strong> climatic change<br />
increase steeply once <strong>the</strong> global average surface temperature exceeds 2°C<br />
above <strong>the</strong> pre-industrial level. . . . Having a better-than-even chance <strong>of</strong> doing<br />
this means stabilizing atmospheric concentrations <strong>of</strong> greenhouse gases and<br />
particles at <strong>the</strong> equivalent <strong>of</strong> no more than 450 <strong>to</strong> 400 parts per million by<br />
volume <strong>of</strong> CO 2 .” See also Gulledge (2008).<br />
5. The evidence that <strong>climate</strong> change could be more rapid and more severe than<br />
commonly thought is summarized in Pit<strong>to</strong>ck (2008); also Alley (2004).<br />
6. For a good summary <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> science about changes at given levels <strong>of</strong> <strong>climate</strong><br />
forcing see Lynas (2007) and Romm (2007), pp. 27–95.<br />
7. See also Porritt (2006), p. 219.<br />
Chapter 1<br />
1. See also Robert Nelson’s thoughtful critique (Nelson, 2006).<br />
2. The National Environmental Policy Act <strong>of</strong> 1970 is a notable exception, but<br />
its infl uence has been considerably less than its authors hoped. See Caldwell<br />
(1998).<br />
3. See Kalinowski (unpublished manuscript).<br />
4. Congressional politics has compounded <strong>the</strong> problems <strong>of</strong> executive power<br />
by rendering <strong>the</strong> body less effective than it ought <strong>to</strong> have been. Mann<br />
and Ornstein (2006) provide a useful analysis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> problem and possible<br />
solutions.<br />
5. See Sunstein (2004).<br />
6. Useful summaries <strong>of</strong> <strong>climate</strong> change effects are in Lynas (2007) and Walker<br />
and King (2008), pp. 53–86.