文档介绍：science/environment
CO2 rising
The World’s Greatest Environmental Challenge
“If I had the power, I would assign CO2 Rising to every college freshman in Tyler Volk
America. It is that good. It is that accessible. It is that important.”
—Mitchell Thomashow, President, Unity College The most colossal environmental disturbance in hu-
man history is under way. Ever-rising levels of the
“Tyler Volk is a wonderful expositor who tells is like it is. In CO Rising he has
2 potent greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) are alter-
some feisty carbon atoms take us along on their vividly and clearly described ing the cycles of matter and life and interfering with
romp through the bio and geosphere. A journey we most certainly the Earth’s natural cooling process. Melting Arctic ice
affect.”
—Roald Hoffmann, Department of Chemistry, Cornell University, winner of the symptoms of what will result from this disruption of
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
the ary energy balance. In CO2 Rising, scientist
Tyler Volk explains the process at the heart of global
photo by Metcalfe
“Here’s the most important math of our time on Earth. Straightforward, simple, warming and climate change: the global carbon cycle.
powerful—Tyler Volk lays out the numbers to show why we need a far more Vividly and concisely, Volk describes what happens
Tyler Volk is Science Director of Environmental Studies
urgent and dramatic response to global warming than we’ve attempted to date.” when CO is released by bustion of fossil fuels
and Associate Professor of Biology at New York Univer- 2
—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and founder of (coal, oil, and natural gas), letting loose carbon atoms
sity. He is the author of Gaia’s Body: Toward a Physiology
once trapped deep underground into the interwoven
of the Earth (MIT Press, 2003), Metapatterns: Across Space,
web of air, water, and soil.
Time, and Mind, and other books. personal story in this wise and a