Chronology of climate change -- The cast -- Preface : The chimney -- pt. 1. Welcome to the anthropocene -- The pioneers : the men who measured the planet's breath -- Turning up the heat : a skeptic's guide to climate change -- The year : how the wild weather of 1998 broke all records -- The anthropocene : a new name for a new geological era -- The watchtower : keeping climate vigil on an Arctic island -- pt. 2. Fault lines in the ice -- Ninety degrees north : why melting knows no bounds in the far north -- On the slippery slope : Greenland is slumping into the ocean -- The shelf : down south, shattering ice uncorks the Antarctic -- The Mercer legacy : an Achilles heel at the bottom of the world -- Rising tides : saying "toodle-oo" to Tuvalu -- pt. 3. Riding the carbon cycle -- In the jungle : would we notice if the Amazon went up in smoke? -- Wildfires of Borneo : climate in the mire from burning swamp -- Sink to source : why the carbon cycle is set for a U-turn -- The doomsday device : a lethal secret stirs in the permafrost -- The acid bath : what carbon dioxide does to the oceans -- The winds of change : tsunamis, megafarts, and mountains of the deep.
pt. 4. Reflecting on warming -- What's Watts? : Planet Earth's energy imbalance -- Clouds from both sides : uncovering flaws in the climate models -- A billion fires : how brown haze could turn off the monsoon -- Hydroxyl holiday : the day the planet's cleaner didn't show up for work -- pt. 5. Ice ages and solar pulses -- Goldilocks and the three planets : why Earth is "just right" for life -- The big freeze : how a wobble in our orbit triggered the ice ages -- The ocean conveyor : the real day after tomorrow -- An Arctic flower : clues to a climate switchback -- The pulse : how the sun makes climate change -- pt. 6. Tropical heat -- The fall : the end of Africa's golden age -- Seesaw across the ocean : how the Sahara Desert greens the Amazon -- Tropical high : why an ice man is rewriting climate history -- The curse of Akkad : the strange revival of environmental determinism -- A chunk of coral : probing the hidden life of El Niño -- Feeding Asia : what happens if the monsoon falters? -- pt. 7. At the Millennium -- The heat wave : the year Europe felt the heat of global warming -- The hockey stick : why now really is different -- Hurricane season : raising the storm cones after Katrina -- Ozone holes in the greenhouse : why millions face radiation threat -- pt. 8. Inevitable surprises -- The dance : the poles or the tropics? Who leads in the climatic dance? -- New horizons : feedbacks from the stratosphere -- Conclusion : another planet -- Appendix : The trillion-ton challenge.
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