Now or never

Tim Flannery
"Now or never is an essential book about the most urgent issue of our time: climate change. In it, Tim Flannery begins by discussing the idea of sustainability and asks whether humanity can rise to the challenge. He brings to life the latest climate science and its implications. He discusses three potential climate-change solutions with particular reference to Australia."
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Blueprint for a safer planet

Nicholas Stern
"Focusing on the economic management of investment and growth from the perspective of both adaptation and mitigation, Stern confronts the most urgent questions facing us now: What is the problem? What are the dangers? What can be done to reduce emissions, at what cost? How can the world adapt?, and what does all this mean for corporations, governments and individuals."
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Island in a storm

Abby Sallenger

"Ultimately, Island in a storm is a cautionary environmental tale. Global warming is spreading the unique hazards of river deltas to coasts around the world, and the signs of what happened to Isle Derniere may soon be appearing on other islands. The account of this 19th century disaster and its aftermath offers a vital historical lesson as we continue to develop precarious coastal locations whose vulnerability will only grow as sea levels rise across the globe."

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Climate change : the science, impacts and solutions

by A. Barrie Pittock

Presenting all sides of the arguments about the science and possible remedies [of climate change],Pittock examines the latest analyses of climate change, such as new and alarming observations regarding Arctic sea ice, the recently published IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, and the policies of the new Australian government and how they affect the implementation of climate change initiatives.
New material focuses on massive investments in large-scale renewables, such as the kind being taken up in California, as well as many smaller-scale activities in individual homes and businesses which are being driven by both regulatory and market mechanisms. The book includes extensive endnotes with links to ongoing and updated information,as well as some new illustrations. - book jacket.
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State of the World 2009 : Into a Warming World

Worldwatch Institute

[This publication] is intended to inject new inspiration and energy into national and international climate negotiations by conveying the profound long-term consequences of the experiment we are now conducting with Earth’s atmosphere, with an emphasis on the human and ecological effects of that transformation. Includes six policy chapters and 22 Climate Connections on the many important issues affected by climate change plus a Climate Change Reference Guide and Glossary. – book cover
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Carbon pollution reduction scheme

Department of Climate Change

This White paper, with the subtitle Australia's Low Pollution Future, outlines the government proposals for action since climate change poses a substantial threat to Australia’s economy and our way of life.

Australia faces a choice. We can either wait and leave our children and grandchildren to face the full impacts of climate change, or we can take responsible action now by investing I the industries and jobs of the future. – foreword


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Changing sea levels

David Pugh

"Changing Sea Levels is a basic sea level text for all related interdisciplinary studies. It presents an introduction to measurement techniques including satellite altimetry, tidal analysis and prediction, storm surges and flooding risks, and discusses how they are estimated. The author explains the concepts involved in understanding and forecasting future sea level changes and impacts. Examples and illustrations are drawn from all around the world as befits the global nature of the topic."
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The state of food and agriculture

Issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

This 2008 edition "explores the implications of the rapid recent growth in production of biofuels based on agricultural commodities. The boom in liquid biofuels has been largely induced by policies in developed countries, based on their expected positive contributions to climate-change mitigation, energy security and agricultural development. The growing demand for agricultural commodities for the production of biofuels is having significant repercussions on agricultural markets, and concerns are mounting over their negative impact on the food security of millions of people across the world..." - back cover

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The Garnaut climate change review

by Ross Garnaut

The Garnaut Climate Change Review examines the impacts of climate change on the Australian economy and the costs of adaptation and mitigation. It analyses the elements of an appropriate international policy response, and the challenges that face Australia in playing it proportionate part in that response.

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Economic aspects of adaptation to climate change

edited by Shardul Agrawala and Samuel Fankhauser.

This report provides a critical assessment of adaptation costs and benefits in key climate sensitive sectors, as well as at national and global levels. It also moves the discussion beyond cost estimation to the potential and limits of economic and policy instruments - including insurance and risk sharing, environmental markets and pricing, and public private partnerships - that can be used to motivate adaptation actions.

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Kyoto2 : how to manage the global greenhouse

by Oliver Tickell.
"In Kyoto2, Oliver Tickell presents us with a strikingly original solution. The funds generated from a system of finite production rights for greenhouse gases, which would be traded on a global auction, could be poured back into healing the wounds inflicted by climate change. In his combination of idealism wit realistic proposals based on sound economics. Tickell exposes the flaws in current approaches and envisions a fairer and more effective system." - book cover.


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Climate Change: what you can do about it

by Paul n. Holper

"Climate change, brought on by global warming, is the most vital issue on the planet. It will profoundly affect our lives, the lives of our children and our children’s children. This book tells you everything you need to know about the causes and mechanisms of climate change and global warming and, vitally, what YOU can do about it as an individual."--Publisher


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Garnaut Climate Change Review :Draft report

The Draft Report describes the methodology that the Review is applying to evaluation of the costs and benefits of climate change mitigation; to the application of the science of climate change to Australia; to the international context of Australian mitigation, and to Australian mitigation policy.


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A Reef in Time

by V.E.N. Veron

"[This] is...a solid contribution to reef science, accessible by a broad audience, and important in its focus. Veron has combined his extensive personal experience with the refereed literature to make a number of compelling arguments on the future of the Great Barrier Reef, and reefs worldwide, in the face of global climate change. Veron expertly places the data, observations, and predictions in perspective and his synthesis goes beyond any previous work." - book jacket


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Cities on the Edge

Editor, Julianne Schultz

"For the first time in history most people in the world now live in cities. This is an enormous change of profound importance. The sheer pressure of numbers will test the old adage, that cities are the heart of civilization. Many already teeter on the brink of chaos.
Climate change is the great new challenge confronting cities and the billions of people who live in them. ... Making cities more liveable, more sustainable ond more fun is one of the great new global tasks."

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Fixing climate

by Wallace A. Broecker and Robert Kunzig

"Despite efforts at producing clean energy, mankind is going to continue burning coal and oil, say environmental sciences professor Broecker and science writer Kunzig. The pair offers a history of the scientific enquiry that solidified global warming theory, tracing the story from the 19th century through the 1957 dawn of the modern era of greenhouse studies when Americans Roger Revelle and Hans Seuss determined that the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide was increasing and predicted the world's climate would be affected. Reducing emissions that cause global warming is commendable, the authors contend, but is too little too late."

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Plan B 3.0: mobilizing to save civilization

By Lester R. Brown

"The world has set in motion environmental trends that are threatening civilization itself...With business as usual no longer an option, it is time for Plan 3.0. Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute, investigates the most salient issues from global warming to the impact of unstable governments on our world society...Brown, who has been analyzing the interaction between global environmental and economic trends for over forty years, provides a map for saving civilization now."

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The Great Warming

By Brian Fagan

This book, subtitled Climate change and the rise and fall of civilisations, examines climate changes and their impact throughout human history. The author shows, in part, how subtle changes in the environment between the tenth to the fifteenth century had far-reaching effects on human life.

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Our iceberg is melting

By John Kotter

'Our iceberg is melting: changing and succeeding under any conditions' is a "simple fable about doing well in an ever-changing world". Based on the Eight Steps work of John Kotter, the fable is about a penguin colony in Antarctica who are facing very real change in their circmstances and the resistance they face to change.

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Climate Change: Getting it right

Committee for Economic Development of Australia

Drawing upon the expertise of climate change scientists from around the world, this report examines what we know about climate change and discusses risk management strategies.

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