Summary: A call to arms to combat the drivers of man made climate change. The author contextualises the issue quite well and urges everyone to take action before the impacts outstrip our ability to cope.

Things I liked:

Structure: The first section contextualises the issue; second section makes the argument that things are pretty bad and getting worse; the third section provides some angles on actions that can be taken and provides additional detail and supporting arguments. The structure works well and provides a good pace with information provided in the same order that I required it.

Impartial ?!?: Caveat; I was expecting a rabid, zealous call to arms for action and general trashing of all sceptics. The arguments, by contrast I I found remarkably restrained and even handed. This stopped my arguments from closing over, which, ironically, probably made the authors arguments more effective for me.

Things I thought could be improved:

The authors bias as a biologist comes through. I thought there were a few too many specific stories of particular fauna that is being impacted by global warming. Arguments would have been more effective if they kept the focus on the impact climate change was going to have on humans.

Bias: The author can't avoid an occasional intolerant dig at the 'sceptics' I noticed a couple of times when this happened and found it off putting each time that I did. Basically I don't think you need to go there if your arguments are strong enough.

Highlight: The story about the dude in like 1850 who worked out that ice ages on the earth were being driven by the earth having a non-circular orbit around the sun. Loved it, made me want to read more about geology. ( )

Tim Flannery has a knack for picking subjects which make best sellers. It is partly the subject and partly the fact that he is a captivating writer. The weather makers was first published in 2005 ....somewhat in the early stages of the great climate debates which have raged for the last 30 years or so. Though it is my impression that the debate about the impact of fossil fuel burning on the climate is no longer being denied by the majority of the world....though a rearguard action is being fought about delaying the response. Tim's book is jam packed with facts and figures and interesting information. For example, he draws attention to the idea that it is the rate of change in world temperatures that is most important. and climate scientists are arguing that warming rates above 0.1 degrees C per decade are likely to rapidly increase the risk of significant ecosystem damage. Similarly rates of sea level rise above two cm per decade would be dangerous. The idea is that all life is flexible given sufficient time to adapt. Tim just doesn't focus on the problem but looks at potential solutions including engineering solutions. He concludes that engineering solutions to the carbon problem have proved neither as straightforward or as cost effective as industry would like. He also mentions artificial photosynthesis and I'm interested to see how this will play out. Nuclear energy has been touted as a solution....Tim doesn't rule it out but points out that nuclear waste disposal and safely issues are a concern> His solution to the problem is the widespread adoption of solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy but also the adoption by individuals of energy saving measures...such as domestic solar power. (which he's done himself).
He doesn't really seem to touch on one of the biggest drivers of climate change which is population growth. I guess this looks like it is going to hit a plateau in the medium term but stronger action to curb population growth would have a major impact on carbon dioxide emissions.
Overall.an important and well written book. Easily worth five stars. ( )

Historia del calentamiento global

Mammologist and paleontologist Flannery (The Eternal Frontier), who in recent years has become well known for his controversial ideas on conservation, the environment and population control, presents a straightforward and powerfully written look at the connection between climate change and global warming. It's destined to become required reading following Hurricane Katrina as the focus shifts to the natural forces that may have produced such a devastating event. Much of the book's success is rooted in Flannery's succinct and fascinating insights into related topics, such as the differences between the terms greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change, and how the El Ni?o cycle of extreme climatic events "had a profound re-organising effect on nature." But the heart of the book is Flannery's impassioned look at the earth's "colossal" carbon dioxide pollution problem and his argument for how we can shift from our current global reliance on fossil fuels [...]. Flannery consistently produces the hard goods related to his main message that our environmental behavior makes us all "weather makers" who "already possess all the tools required to avoid catastrophic climate change."

Fossil fuels - oil, coal, and gas - are all that remains of organisms that, many millions of years ago, drew carbon from the atmosphere. When we burn wood, we release carbon that has been out of atmospheric circulation for a few decades, but when we burn fossil fuels, we release carbon that has been out of circulation for eons. Digging up the dead in this way is a particularly bad thing for the living to do.

A comprehensive and easily accessible book covering climate change and all it's complexities. I had no idea how complex climate change is -- water temperatures, plankton blooms, changes in migratory patterns, the Gulf Stream and el Niño. I'm shocked by the number of peoples in the Arctic and on Pacific Island atolls that are about to lose their nations as conditions worsen and the land (actually ice or coral reefs) and food sources disappear. Sadly I am not surprised to learn of the bullying by Australia and the US of their neighbors and other nations. I was shocked though, that an Australian politician publicly stated that it would be easier to evacuate all the Pacific Island atolls than it would be to require that Australia decrease carbon emissions. Flannery also covers potential solutions that might lower the carbon in the atmosphere -- wind power, solar power, current and tidal power, utilization of different fuels for cars and cargo ships, legal action against corporations and governments that don't comply with set carbon emission levels and, unfortunately, increased use of nuclear power.
This is the third book I've read by Flannery. Like the others this book is easy to read, yet without the feeling that it was dumbed down for a general audience. It's one of those books that I want to push on everyone and tell them to read it, right now. Highly recommended. ( )