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Book Summary of Climatic Change and World Affairs by Crispin Tickell
Citation:
Climatic Change and World Affairs, Crispin Tickell, (Maryland: University Press of America Inc., 1986), 76 pp.
This Book Summary written by: T.A. O'Lonergan, Conflict Research Consortium
Climatic Change and World Affairs is an examination of human
response to climate change with a call for action by the author.
Climatic Change and World Affairs will be of interest to those who
seek an understanding of the causes of and human responses to climate change.
The notably useful introduction is followed by a first chapter which addresses
the causes of climate change. Tickell asserts, rightly so, that the ultimate
cause of global climate change is variation in the solar radiation
budget and balance. He focuses upon two types of variation:
those form extraterrestrial sources, and those from internal sources. Included
in the former category are: impacts of extraterrestrial bodies, sun
spots, differential rotation of the planets, and variations in the pull on
the earth of the sun and moon. Internal variation include: tectonic plate
shifts, the cyclic nature of ice ages, volcanic eruptions,
El Nino and anthropocentric effects. This latter category includes:
human water storage and anthropomorphic changes to the chemical
composition of the atmosphere.
The second chapter focuses upon human responses to climate change. The
author draws two conclusions from his examination of the causes of climate
change: the state of human knowledge about climate change is fragmentary, making
it difficult to determine causal relationships, and, not withstanding
this limitation, the attempt to construct causal relationships
must be made. This section is less about human response in any intentional
sense, but rather response in the sense of how climate change has affected
humans.
The third chapter is a call for action. Sir Tickell proposes that action is
necessary in three areas: international agreement on "... how to
cope with future climatic crises ..., agreement to prevent modification of the
climate for purposes of war, and finally, the establishment of means to make
effective the agreements and rules which have been reached". The author
defines and offers examples for each of the three categories. He also discusses
in some depth the 1983 World Climate Impact Program.
Climatic Change and World Affairs is a careful examination of the
causes, effects on humans and suggestions for mitigation of climate change.
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