Fossil Fuels and Pollution

June 1, 2010
Gr 9 Up-In this valuable resource, detailed maps, charts, graphs, and sidebars offer useful data on subjects ranging from coal use and production to agriculture and from biofuels to green technology. The author includes an interesting history of technology and the concurrent rise of carbon-based fuels, documentation on current legislation, an outline of the future of emissions, and a discussion of recent public awareness of the effect of global dimming and its potential to mask the warming of the Earth. Ocean warming caused by fossil-fuel usage is not given much coverage, however. Although the information is often technical, it is comprehensive and accessible to those with some previous exposure to, and understanding of, the subject. Casper makes it abundantly clear that there is little time left before the effects of global climate change will become irreversible. The analysis and the climate models predicting the course of climate evolution project as far as the 22nd and 23rd centuries. There is no discussion of global warming deniers as the evidence, as presented, is irrefutable. The term "climate change" is not mentioned in the index, and the glossary covers only basic terms. Full-color photographs enhance the material presented."Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, formerly at Trinity-Pawling School, Pawling, NY"

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