Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
Author Mark Lynas
Country Great Britain
Language English
Genre Science, Non-fiction
Publisher Fourth Estate
Publication date
 2007, 2008 in USA
Media type Print (Paperback)
Pages 358p.
ISBN 978-0-00-720905-7
OCLC 76359874
Followed by The God Species

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet (358 pages), ISBN 978-0-00-720905-7 is a 2007 (2008 in USA) non-fiction book by author Mark Lynas about global warming. The book looks and attempts to summarize results from scientific papers on climate change.

Contents

The tropical and subtropical zones are likely to become uninhabitable at 5 or 6 degrees of warming, according to Lynas' exhaustive review of the broad spectrum of climate research. The tropical zone is here highlighted in red. The subtropical zone is highlighted in yellow below.

The first chapter describes the expected effects of climate change with one degree (°C) increase in average global temperature since pre-industrial times.

The second chapter describes the effects of two degrees average temperature and so forth until Chapter 6 which shows the expected effects of six degrees(°) average global temperature. The effects are also compare to paleoclimatic studies, with six degrees of warming compared back to the Cretaceous.

Special coverage is given to the positive feedback mechanisms that could dramatically accelerate climate change. The book explains how the release of methane hydrate and the release of methane from melting permafrost could unleash a major extinction event. Carbon cycle feedbacks, the demise of coral, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and extreme desertification are also described, with five or six degrees of warming potentially leading to the complete uninhabitability of the tropics and subtropics, as well as extreme water and food shortages, possibly leading to mass migration of billions of people.

Subtropical zone in the 20th century

TV show

A National Geographic Channel TV programme,"Six Degrees Could Change The World" was produced after the book won the Royal Society Prize in 2008.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Shortlisted entries". royalsociety.org. The Royal Society. Retrieved 2014-04-11.

External links


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