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Unsettled

What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters

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Unsettled

By: Steven E. Koonin
Narrated by: Jay Aaseng
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Summary

"Surging sea levels are inundating the coasts."

"Hurricanes and tornadoes are becoming fiercer and more frequent."

"Climate change will be an economic disaster."

You've heard all this presented as fact. But according to science, all of these statements are profoundly misleading.

When it comes to climate change, the media, politicians, and other prominent voices have declared that "the science is settled." In reality, the long game of telephone from research to reports to the popular media is corrupted by misunderstanding and misinformation. Core questions - about the way the climate is responding to our influence, and what the impacts will be - remain largely unanswered. The climate is changing, but the why and how aren't as clear as you've probably been led to believe.

Now, one of America's most distinguished scientists is clearing away the fog to explain what science really says (and doesn't say) about our changing climate. In Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters, Steven Koonin draws upon his decades of experience - including as a top science advisor to the Obama administration - to provide up-to-date insights and expert perspective free from political agendas.

Fascinating, clear-headed, and full of surprises, this book gives listeners the tools to both understand the climate issue and be savvier consumers of science media in general. Koonin takes listeners behind the headlines to the more nuanced science itself, showing us where it comes from and guiding us through the implications of the evidence. He dispels popular myths and unveils little-known truths: despite a dramatic rise in greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures actually decreased from 1940 to 1970. What's more, the models we use to predict the future aren't able to accurately describe the climate of the past, suggesting they are deeply flawed.

Koonin also tackles society's response to a changing climate, using data-driven analysis to explain why many proposed "solutions" would be ineffective, and discussing how alternatives like adaptation and, if necessary, geoengineering will ensure humanity continues to prosper. Unsettled is a reality check buoyed by hope, offering the truth about climate science that you aren't getting elsewhere - what we know, what we don't, and what it all means for our future.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Steven E. Koonin (P)2021 BenBella Books
Atmospheric Science Earth Sciences Environment Politics & Government Science Natural Disaster Game Climate Science
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Steven Koonin lays out soberly how certain we are about climate change and it's consequences. Some will disagree but they will mostly be activists not scientists

Real science rather than "the science"

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You need to read this book. Science is being corrupted in the service of dodgy politics and public need for millenarianism being catered to by a morally bankrupt press.

The process needs to be rapidly unwound before it ends our civilization. That's the existential threat, not the climates eternal stately and ultimately uncontrollable changes.

should be a game changer

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if you want a real unbiased understanding of the subject, this is it. This book gives the background and shows the difference between the hipe and the reality.

Science not "The science"

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Not ready yet to write a full review. Still reading, thinking etcetera. But what I can tell now it is an amazing, honest and very informative book. Exactly what I needed.

more to come...

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Lots of excellent information & well presented data here. And the book is both readable & well read. But you do wonder why he regards CO2 emission reductions as being such a hopeless undertaking. A call to action on this front is certainly not supported by Koonin. As he basically says, if everything goes wrong climate wise we can try a bit of geo-engineering & If necessay just adapt! Whats missing to my mind is a proper discussion of runaway climate change, tipping points, the effect of ice loss in the Arctic, methane clathrates, etc. And the whole notion that the Earth has stable states. And that we may be taking the Earth from an Icehouse state to a Greenhouse state. No discussion of that possibility at all!

Hope for the best & we will see!

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