Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change.

FIELD NOTES FROM A CATASTROPHE: Man, Nature, and Climate Change ELIZABETH KOLBERT

In the Arctic, land that was once permanently frozen is collapsing into giant sinkholes. Huge glaciers are melting and accelerating downstream toward the Atlantic Ocean. Each year is warmer than the year before: These are just a few of the signs that the Earth is undergoing a rapid and perhaps unstoppable climate change precipitated by human activities, writes Kolbert. She originally wrote a three-part series in the New Yorker on this topic after traveling to the northern areas most affected by the increasing temperatures. This book presents interviews with scientists at the forefront of climate research who say that human activity has become the dominant factor influencing the world's climate. Their prediction: Unless measures are taken to stem the increase in industrial, agricultural, and automotive carbon emissions, modern civilization could go the way of the Akkadian and Mayan civilizations, which collapsed during periods of dramatic climate change. Bloomsbury, 2006, 192 p., hardcover, $22.95.