How we can beat the odds and avoid making Earth uninhabitable.
Climate Apocalypse is a sobering account of the increasingly catastrophic risk and urgent measures we can take to save ourselves. Cautioning against unworkable approaches, climate scientist and geophysicist Wolfgang Bauer unravels what we know (and don’t) about the odds of climate change making our planet uninhabitable and transforming it into another Venus. Examining the past, present, and future of carbon in our atmosphere, oceans, biosphere, and Earth’s crust, he explains why existing computer climate models might miss exponentially rising, and potentially annihilating, surface temperatures before it is too late.
The author dives into fossil fuel alternatives, including renewable power sources, and how they can be deployed safely, efficiently, and even profitably. By eliminating the combustion of fossil fuels and replacing them with renewables, the book provides estimates of how large an investment the necessary transition would take, and how fast it would pay for itself, asking the big question: Are we prepared to put a price on an inhabitable planet? The choice is still ours.