Climate Change

Professor Trevor Letcher is an Emeritus Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and living in the United Kingdom. He was previously Professor of Chemistry, and Head of Department, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Rhodes University, and Natal, in South Africa (1969-2004). He has published over 300 papers on areas such as chemical thermodynamic and waste from landfill in peer reviewed journals, and 100 papers in popular science and education journals. Prof. Letcher has edited and/or written 32 major books, of which 22 were published by Elsevier, on topics ranging from future energy, climate change, storing energy, waste, tyre waste and recycling, wind energy, solar energy, managing global warming, plastic waste, renewable energy, and environmental disasters. He has been awarded gold medals by the South African Institute of Chemistry and the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics honoured him with a Festschrift in 2018. He is a life member of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) and the South African Institute of Chemistry. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, and is a Director of the Board of the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics since 2002.

• Table of ContentsForeword, Preface, List of ContributorsPART I. POSSIBLE CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE1. The Role of Atmospheric Gases in Global Warming 2. The Role of Widespread Surface Solar Radiation Trends in Climate Change: Dimming and Brightening 3. The Role of Space Weather and Cosmic Ray Effects in Climate Change 4. The Role of Volcanic Activity in Climate and Global Change 5. The Role of Variations of the Earth’s Orbital Characteristics in Climate Change PART II. A GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE6. A Geological History of Climate ChangePART III. INDICATORS OF CLIMATE AND GLOBAL CHANGE7. Changes in the Circulation of the Atmosphere as Indicators of Climate Change8. Weather Pattern Changes in the Tropics and Mid-Latitudes as an Indicator of Global Change9. Bird Ecology as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change 10. Mammal Ecology as an Indicator of Climate Change 11. Climate Change and Temporal and Spatial Mismatches in Insect Communities12. Sea Life (Pelagic and Planktonic Ecosystems) as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change 13. Changes in Coral Reef Ecosystems as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change 14. Changes in Marine Biodiversity as an Indicator of Climate Change15. Inter-tidal Indicators of Climate and Global Change 16. Plant Ecology as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change 17. The Impact of Climate and Global Change on Crop Production 18. Rising Sea Level as an Indicator of Global Change 19. Sea Temperature Change as an Indicator of Global Change 20. Ocean Current Changes as an Indicator of Global Change 21. Ocean Acidification as an Indicator of Global Change 22. Ice Sheets: Instruments and Indicators of Global Change 23. Lichens as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change 24. Coastline Degradation as an Indicator of Global Change25. Plant Pathogens as Indicators of Climate Change

CHOICE, December 2009: "This book encompasses 25 chapters written by 30 international experts on climate change . . . The chapter treatments are concise and authoritative . . . The book is well constructed and includes 30 high-quality color plates illustrating striking climate phenomena; references are provided at the end of each chapter. This work is complemented by Letcher's Future Energy (2008). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections." --F. T. Manheim, George Mason University