Review: What global warming really means...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 15, 2011
One of the problems with the problem of global warming is the phrase "global warming."Everybody knows what "global" means.Everybody knows what "warming" means.Put it together and it means "the world getting hotter."Simple. Right?Not quite.Next winter when a scientifically challenged associate of yours remarks, "So much for all that Global Warming crap! Look at all this snow!" You'll have an opportunity to educate someone as to what global warming really means.It doesn't mean that we're never going to get snow.It doesn't mean that it's going to be warm all of the time.It doesn't mean the oceans are going to boil.All it means is that the bell-shaped curve of weather events is going to get shifted over. There's going to be a new "average."That doesn't mean that there isn't going to ever be day with nice weather in the future.It means that the average temperature has risen and will keep rising.Powell has written about some complex and confusing science and the effects of the problem in a very accessible way by using lots of illustrative examples. That's commendable. He gives you an appreciation of the spate of natural disasters we're experiencing in 2011 and are likely to experience in the future.