文档介绍：WITH SPEED AND VIOLENCE
BEACON PRESS 25 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-2892
Beacon Press books
are published under the auspices of
the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
© 2007 by Fred Pearce All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America 10090807 87654321
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the uncoated paper ANSI/NISO specifications for
permanence as revised in 1992.
Composition by Wilsted & Taylor Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pearce, Fred.
With speed and violence : why scientists fear tipping points in climate change / Fred Pearce.
p. cm. Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8070-8576-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8070-8576-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Climatic changes. 2. Climatic changes—
History—Chronology. I. Title.
2006 —dc22
2006019901
We are on the precipice of climate system tipping points beyond
which there is no redemption.
J AMES H ANSEN, director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space
Studies, New York, December 2005
CONTENTS
Chronology of Climate Change
The Cast
Preface: The Chimney Introduction
e to the Anthropocene
Fault Lines in the Ice
Riding the Carbon Cycle
Tropical Heat
Inevitable Surprises
Conclusion: Another
Appendix: The Trillion-Ton Challenge Glossary
Acknowledgments
Notes on the References
CHRONOLOGY OF CLIMATE CHANGE
5 billion years ago Birth of Earth
600 million years ago Last occurrence of "Snowball Earth," followed by warm
era
400 million years ago Start of long-term cooling
65 million years ago Short-term climate conflagration after meteorite hit
55 million years ago Methane "megafart" from ocean depths causes another
short-term conflagration
50 million years ago Cooling continues as greenhouse-gas levels in air start to
diminish
25 million years ago First modern ice sheet starts to form on Antarctica
3 million yea