Preface

2019 was the second warmest year on record. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported in 2019 that, based on mean annual global temperatures, the most recent five years (2014–2018) had been the warmest on record since 1880. Each of those years was approximately 0.75–0.80°C above the baseline mean over that stretch of time. Including 2019, 18 of the last 19 years (i.e., since 2000) have been the hottest on record as well. Despite the commitments made by the 195 states that signed the Paris Agreement in 2016, the concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere has continued to rise. As of March 2020, atmospheric CO2 has reached a concentration of 414 ppm. The people of Earth are heading at an increasing rate toward a crisis as 1.5°C warming by 2030 is looking very certain. The Kyoto Treaty was based on hopes of preventing 2.0°C by the end of the century, but at the rate of current progress, that will likely happen by 2050. With the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement in November 2019, and the weak action to meet the commitments of many of the remaining signatories (with a few exceptions), the future, at present, looks bleak.

Global warming is gaining attention in the countries of the world that had previously viewed the issue as someone else's problem. Americans used to consider themselves immune to the matter, seeing it as a "Third World" problem. That attitude is shifting dramatically as the public has come to see the threats that global warming poses. While still maintaining a poor understanding of the connections between global atmospheric warming and the natural systems (hydrological, ecological, atmospheric, etc.) they interact with, there is an understanding that the future will be filled with a growing number of challenges to meet their basic needs, to stay healthy, and to remain comfortable.

Two European countries (the United Kingdom and Germany) have made great progress toward mitigating their national carbon footprints, however. In 2019, the United Kingdom announced that they had reduced their greenhouse gas output by 38% below their 1990 emission levels (44% in 2018, however). They were approaching the halfway point to reach their 2050 goal to reduce emissions by 100% of their 1990 production. Germany is also aiming for carbon neutrality. In 2018, they had reached a reduction of about 30% from their 1990 level and they are striving to reach 40% by the end of this year.

The United States, on the other hand, were approximately equivalent to the greenhouse gas output of 1990 in 2016 but since the beginning of the Donald J. Trump administration, the level has risen by 4–5% to about 5.5 GtCO2eq. Currently, the trajectory is roughly flat, which in no way helps the people of the United States or the rest of the world. China's emissions are up about 350% from 1990 at about 14 GtCO2eq and the trajectory is rising. Of course, the footprint of China is greater than the United States, but per capita, they are roughly equivalent. Together, these two states contribute more than 40% of the global greenhouse gas load. Lack of improvement from these two powers will keep the rest of the world in "hot water."

In this context, this book seeks to highlight aspects of the problems associated with global warming and the spin-off consequences that it generates, principally matters associated with changing climates. It seeks to explore topics related to consequences, responses, and efforts at changing the trajectories of the challenges. Indeed, there are six chapters that discuss various aspects of global warming and climate change. They are organized into two sets. The first set of three chapters pertain to thinking about these problems. The second set of chapters regards actions taken to improve processes that mitigate the impacts of technologies and community activities.
