Illustrated handbook of climate change

Includes index.

This text is a comprehensive introduction to climate change that outlines key scientific, economic, and political issues, reviews how the global community has addressed the issue to date, and discusses the options available. Usually, climate includes patterns of temperature, precipitation (rain or snow), humidity, wind and seasons. Climate patterns play a fundamental role in shaping natural ecosystems, and the human economies and cultures that depend on them. But the climate we?ve come to expect is not what it used to be, because the past is no longer a reliable predictor of the future. Our climate is rapidly changing with disruptive impacts, and that change is progressing faster than any seen in the last 2,000 years. Because so many systems are tied to climate, a change in climate can affect many related aspects of where and how people, plants and animals live, such as food production, availability and use of water, and health risks. This text will be valuable to the growing number of both undergraduate and graduate courses on impacts of climate change, as well as providing a concise overview to the field.