Our Climate Solutions Consensus book

David E. Blockstein and Leo A. W. Wiegman

Island Press (paperback, 388 pages, 44 tables, 40 figures, 15 boxes, appendices, index,

The Climate Solutions website and Book Discount Flyer

Advance Praise for The Climate Solutions Consensus

“Explains the urgency of climate change and what must be done to avert the worst better than anything else I’ve read. . . . essential reading not just by public officials, but by the widest public possible.”

—David Orr, author of Down to the Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse

“Climate change is a serious symptom of a de facto systems design failure that we must address in a systemic, collaborative fashion. In The Climate Solutions Consensus, David Blockstein and Leo Wiegman succinctly outline the scientific consensus on global climate disruption, why it matters to all societal stakeholders, and immediate actions we can to take to address this defining issue of our time.”

—Anthony D. Cortese, President, Second Nature

“The Climate Solutions Consensus will be of value to all—for the public it offers a pathway towards improved quality of life; for policy makers it provides technically feasible and economically beneficial solutions; for educators it synthesizes both the information and motivation needed for social change; and for researchers it frames disciplinary knowledge in the interdisciplinary context of long-term prosperity and security.”

—Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard College, Columbia University, and President of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors

About the book

Global climate disruption is happening even faster now than the Nobel prize winning IPCC projected in 2007. This book is the first major consensus statement by the nation’s leading scientists on the actions needed to address climate change.

The human role in climate change is well-documented and massive. It is already too late to avoid some severe disruptions. The time to act is now–if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences to the nature upon which we depend for human health, and food and water supply. We have one Earth and one health.

Stabilizing future climate requires a radical rethinking of our economy, society, and our lifestyles. How can we place incentives on more carbon neutral ways of living? How can we avoid the business-as-usual habits we that got us all into this situation? This book explains why and how to get started.

Book contents (detailed table of contents coming shortly)

Thirty-Nine Reasons Why We Have to Act Now xxi

Introduction: This Is Not Global Warming! xxvii

Part I How to Think About Climate Solutions

1 The Dance of the Mice and Elephants 9

2 Three Questions Every Citizen Should Ask 17

3 Human Carbon as the Smoking Gun 327

4 Rising Carbon, Rising Oceans 50

Part II How to Think About Climate Solutions

5 The Five Horsemen of Extinction 69

6 The Cheapest Carbon 93

7 No Silver Bullet, Many Silver Wedges 104

8 Energy in the Cycle of Material Life 120

9 Multiple Intensity Disorder 136

Part III How We Work Together Now

10 Carbon Meets Wall Street 155

11 The Climate Message Starts to Stick 171

12 Think Globally, Incubate Locally 185

13 Where Science, Policy, and Public Meet 201

14 Scaling Up Amidst the Curse of Knowledge 212

15 All of the Above! Solutions in Perspective 230

Part IV Thirty-Five Immediate Climate Actions

Actions 1–20: Strategies for Stabilization, Mitigation, & Adaptation 245

Actions 21–28: Guiding and Fostering Multidisciplinary Research 262

Actions 29–35: Expanding Climate Information, Education, & Communication 270

Appendix: Climate Change Time Line 277

About the authors

Ecologist David E. Blockstein, Ph.D., is chair of National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment, executive secretary of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors, and of the Council of Energy Research and Education Leaders. When David is not birding or at his desk as Senior Scientist at the National Council for Science and the Environment, David lives with his family in Takoma Park, Maryland. Leo A. W. Wiegman is founder of E to the fourth, an environmental communications firm, and previously edited and published science and social science books for over twenty five years. Leo is mayor of Croton-on-Hudson in New York’s Hudson Valley.

(Figure 5.1 from the book)
The Kennedy Space Center: science amidst nature

The Kennedy Space Center sits on a coastal island bursting with ecologically rich habitat for hundreds of plant and animal species. But rockets are not the only exotics to invade the island. Thousands of humans visit each month, like Adrian, Lisa, and Sarah seen here.

These waterfowl are mere specks hugging the shore when compared to the rocket towers. The New Horizons rocket seen here on the left blasted off in January 2006 and will not reach Pluto until 2015. Will these birds still be dabbling at the Merritt Island refuge by the time the unmanned space probe gets to Pluto–under even the most modest sea level rise? (image source: etothefourth.com )

Leo and David sign books in DC.