BOOK REVIEWS230

CLIMATE AND HUMAN CHANGE: DISASTER OR OP-PORTUNITY?, J. Cowie, Parthenon Publishing, Carnforth,1998. No. of pages: xiv+368. Price £19.95, US$34.50. ISBN1-85070-971-8.

Any text in which the introduction ends with ‘Now, on withthe show . . . ’ starts alarm bells ringing, the more so when theauthor has previously informed the reader that his book is a‘whirlwind tour of the issues and concerns’. In support of theinterdisciplinary approach which he adopts, the author quiterightly points to the fact that there are already a considerablenumber of texts on climatic change written by specialist clima-tologists. However, one could equally point to the not incon-siderable volume of ‘green’ books on climate change, thelanguage in which is often laced with hyperbolae and issuesare often expressed in terms of crisis and catastrophe. Cowiechooses the term ‘disaster’. Amongst these latter the authorhas managed to produce a text which is very easy to read andwhich contains very little by way of political rhetoric or greenbanner waving. This is a well-argued and well-balanced hand-holding guide through the climatic social and economic dimen-sions of climatic change. If they don’t like this style readersmay find the book irritatingly didactic in places, but I person-ally enjoyed reading Jonathan Cowie’s ‘show’.

The book is divided into three parts defining the problem,explaining the scientific issues and exploring future options.Chapters 1 and 2 take the reader through a broad-brushhistory of the planet and the development of human societyand trace the more recent increased visibility of environmentalissues on the international political stage (Brandt Reportthrough to UNCED 1992). This part concludes with a consid-eration of the economics of pollution which doesn’t sit wellwhere it has been placed and is perhaps more of a distractionthan a constructive contribution to the developing theme ofthe book.

Part 2 occupies nearlv two-thirds of the book. Within it, thefirst two chapters deal competently with the mechanisms ofclimatic change and the various risks which this poses to bothhuman society and habitats. Although these are, to someextent, set into a global context, the principal focus is on theUK. Chapter 4 leaves the reader with the all too familiar viewthat if IPCC is convinced of the reality of ongoing climaticchange, then there are reasonable grounds for concern andthere are financial risks to human society. Cowie then dealswith the physical and socio-economic basis of forward projec-tion, exploring the greenhouse process and the evaluation ofglobal warming potential alongside the growth of populationand its increasing demands on the global environment. Thisprovides a springboard for relatively lengthy discussions ofenergy alternatives, energy efficiency and reforestation as pos-sible solutions to the problems posed by climatic change.These gospels are all too familiar and have been expoundedelsewhere many times.

The final part introduces the universal panacea (or is itplacebo?) of sustainability and examines the various ways inwhich human society perceives its relationship with its envi-ronment. The reader is left with the question ‘to act or not toact?’.

There are 400 references listed but it must be stressed thatthe author uses a numbered system of referencing. The text ison the whole well written but there are painfully few illustra-tions which makes the later chapters rather heavy going. Theclimatologist will find nothing new here in terms of insightsinto climatic process and little of the material on the presentand future impacts of climatic change is new but I sense thatthe author has achieved his objective which was to write thebook ‘as an exercise in the public understanding of science’.

S.J. HARRISON

Uni6ersity of Stirling

Copyright © 2000 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 20: 229–230 (2000)