Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Overview
- 2 Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Global Warming, and Water Resources
- 3 Population, Environmental Impacts, and Climate Change
- 4 Carbon Cycle and the Human Impact
- 5 Peak Oil, Energy, Water, and Climate
- 6 Oil Consumption and CO2 Emissions from Transportation
- 7 Oil, Economy, Power, and Conflicts
- 8 Energy Alternatives and Their Connection to Water and Climate
- 9 The Water Cycle and Global Warming
- 10 Fresh Water Availability, Sanitation Deficit, and Water Usage: Connection to Energy and Global Warming
- 11 Rivers, Lakes, Aquifers, and Dams: Relation to Energy and Climate
- 12 Water Contamination, Energy, and Climate
- 13 Geopolitics of Water and the International Situation
- 14 Water Alternatives
- 15 Global Climate Change: Observations, Modeling, and Predictions
- 16 Energy and Water Challenges and Solutions in a Changing Climate Framework: Commonality, Differences, and Connections
- References
- Index
Foreword
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Overview
- 2 Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Global Warming, and Water Resources
- 3 Population, Environmental Impacts, and Climate Change
- 4 Carbon Cycle and the Human Impact
- 5 Peak Oil, Energy, Water, and Climate
- 6 Oil Consumption and CO2 Emissions from Transportation
- 7 Oil, Economy, Power, and Conflicts
- 8 Energy Alternatives and Their Connection to Water and Climate
- 9 The Water Cycle and Global Warming
- 10 Fresh Water Availability, Sanitation Deficit, and Water Usage: Connection to Energy and Global Warming
- 11 Rivers, Lakes, Aquifers, and Dams: Relation to Energy and Climate
- 12 Water Contamination, Energy, and Climate
- 13 Geopolitics of Water and the International Situation
- 14 Water Alternatives
- 15 Global Climate Change: Observations, Modeling, and Predictions
- 16 Energy and Water Challenges and Solutions in a Changing Climate Framework: Commonality, Differences, and Connections
- References
- Index
Summary
This is a remarkable and timely book by a scientist who is well known internationally both for her research on climate and for her innovations in education. In straightforward and accessible language, Catherine Gautier introduces the reader to a complex variety of interlinked issues. The theme that unifies this book is that the seemingly disparate topics of oil, water, climate, and population are in fact inexorably bound together by powerful interconnections. As a result, at the dawn of the 21st century, humanity is confronted with a set of urgent challenges. It is no exaggeration to say that these challenges put the very future of civilization at risk.
It is paradoxical that these challenges should arrive at a time when the human race has made remarkable strides in overcoming long-standing obstacles. For millennia, humanity struggled to maintain population growth in the face of the ancient threats of starvation, disease, and war. Recent decades, however, have seen an explosion in human numbers and, in some countries, extraordinary increases in prosperity.
Two thousand years ago, the entire earth supported a population of only about 300 million people. It took until about 1800 for global population to pass 1 billion, and the doubling of that figure to reach 2 billion was not achieved until around 1930. In retrospect, we can now see that, at about that time, a dramatic population surge began to occur, and the global population rose to about 6.5 billion people by 2006.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Oil, Water, and ClimateAn Introduction, pp. xvii - xxiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008