The Next One Hundred Years: Shaping the Fate of Our Living Earth

I read this book when it came out over 15 years ago or so and it is still the book that I remember when someone asks me to recommend something that explains environmental change issues. He has such a concise and personal way of making you see the living sphere of Earth, all the parts of it, and how they are interconnected. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick but in depth read on the causes and effects of global pollution and degradation.

Although written more than 10 years ago, this book lays out in understandable terms to the non-professional scientist reader the foundation of the current global warming debate. Jonathan Weiner{winner of the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for "The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time"}, gives compelling evidence that although a complex issue, global warming, climate change, ozone depletion, etc., are very real phenomena.For those who wish to read more about the policy debate within government, NGO, and business circles; I recommend another Pulitzer Prize winner, Ross Gelbspan's "The Heat is On: The High Stakes Over Earth's Threatened Climate[1997]." I suggest reading Weiner's book first because it helps comprehend the jargon that professional science types tend to use.

Jonathan Weiner's book concerning the Earth and its biosphere and what is imperiled by the major increases in the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of natural resources is one of the most important books for Ecologists, Environmentalists and leaders from all walks of life to read. This book allows the layman with a rudimentary science background to grasp the fundamental scientific facts supporting global warming. It tries to cover many different indications of global warming, from air bubbles frozen for thousands of years in Antartica to ocean temperatures, ground temperatures, carbon monitoring, and many other points of evidence. It introduces one to the history of the exploration of this phenomenon, giving a kind of personal tour of each major discovery and what its implications are. It incorporates actual weather disasters such as the drought of 1988 and how it affected farmers, people, politicians and news reporting. It takes you on the scene to the places where atmospheric composition is being carefully monitored. It covers the full range of toxic gases and what their build up could mean in the future. Most importantly, it describes the interelationship between toxic gases and air polution. In general, it seems to have a more detailed view of global warming than other books on the same topic. Finally, it leaves you with little doubt that time is running out, and something must be done, sooner rather than later. This book should not become out of print, and should be read by leaders the world over. It resolves the ambiguities surrounding the global warming controversy.

Although nearly 10 years old this book is a very readable popular science assessment of the plight of our planet. It provides a provocative view of the forces that will shape our environment in the 21st century. I was inspired to begin collecting information on climate change that might one day form the basis of book of my own.