Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-202) and index.

Preface: Foundations of climate change -- Scientific Debate On Climate Change: -- Scientists at odds -- Former global warming supporter now shows data that refutes it / Bob Adelmann -- 2009: second warmest year on record, end of the warmest decade / Adam Voiland -- Global warming: faster than expected? / John Carey -- Last great global warming / Lee R Kump -- Climate Change Around The World: -- Global warming and instability -- Light in the forest / Jeff Tollefson -- Global warning / Michael Le Page -- Commodifying water in times of global warming / Astrid Bredholt Stensrud -- China confronts global warming dilemma / Christina Larson -- Shrinking glaciers of Kilimanjaro: can global warming be blamed? / Phillip W Mote and Georg Kaser -- Politics Of Global Warming: -- Climate change policy and economics -- Joint US -China statement on climate change / US Department of State -- Hearing of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming US House of Representatives / Mario Molina -- UN climate change conference extends Kyoto treaty / Karl Ritter and Michael Casey -- Scientists, policymakers, and a climate of uncertainty / Fred Powledge -- Life measured in heartbeats / Brian Cox and Robin Ince -- Global warming conference: Bill McKibben's remarks / Bill McKibben -- Wildlife And A Changing Climate: -- Plants and animals in the balance -- Can evolution beat climate change? / David Biello -- Elephant seals help find missing piece in global climate puzzle / Richard A Lovett -- Why a hotter world will mean more extinctions / Bryan Walsh -- Global warming's evil twin threatens West coast fishing grounds / Pete Spotts -- Common plants, animals threatened by climate change, study says / Neela Banerjee -- Climate change conundrum: what the future is beginning to look like / Jordan Carlton Schaul and Michael Hutchins -- Dynamics of coral reef recovery / Beth Polidoro and Kent Carpenter -- Running hot and cold: are rainforests sinks or tabs for carbon? / Sharon Levy -- Oceans And Weather: -- In hot water: weather and global warming -- After Sandy: why we can't keep rebuilding on the water's edge / Bryan Walsh -- How climate change threatens the seas / Dan Vergano -- Amount of coldest Antarctic water near ocean floor decreasing for decades / NOAA -- Blue crabs in Maine? Something fishy about global warming / Pete Spotts -- Oceans under surveillance / Quirin Schiermeier -- Encroaching sea already a threat in Caribbean / David McFadden -- Coming Arctic boom / Scott Borgerson -- Health And Human Factors: -- What happens to us? -- Climate change and health / World Health Organization -- How we know global warming is real and human caused / Tapio Schneider -- Soot is no-2 global-warming culprit, study finds / Pete Spotts -- Smoke jumpers / Elizabeth Grossman -- Monitoring EU emerging infectious disease risk due to climate change / Elisabet Lindgren, Yvonne Andersson, Jonathan E Suk, Bertrand Sudre, and Jan C Semenza -- Bibliography -- Websites -- Index. This volume updates readers on major studies on global warming; the effects of changing climate for the most sensitive areas of the planet; and debates on how to respond today and in the future to these effects. A central story remains the divisive politics surrounding perspectives on global warming, which often falls along ideological lines. Also covered is the relationship between science and politics within the scientific field. This volume offers readers a timely update on the major developments in a subject that continues to change each year.