Climate-Our Future?

Climate—our future?

Ulrich Schotterer
Peter Andermatt, artist
Translated and with a foreword by Kerry Kelts

OUT OF PRINT

Lavishly illustrated and packed with the latest findings in climatic research, this book was written for the Second World Climate Conference. Looking outward from the Alpine region of Switzerland, Climate—our future? highlights climate scenarios from around the world.

The book begins with a primer on the Earth and its atmosphere and the history of the Earth’s climatic changes. A discussion of how climate affects cultures and how people affect climate brings the reality of climate change to a personal level. The discoveries of climate research, including results as recent at 1991, are interwoven throughout the book. Finally, the reader is challenged to address the potential impact of climatic change on the future of the Earth.

"A landmark in documentation style of a scientific conference in that it tastefully appeals to both the environmentally aware and the uninformed reader. For emotional appeal and intellectual stimulation, the book may be a first of its kind and therefore incomparably excellent. For the scientist, the book is a refreshing look at the problem of climate change that is usually presented in detailed data lines of a single or possibly a few parameters. For the environmentally aware nonscientist, the book provides a balance to the ongoing media hype following anecdotal evidence of local weather extremes and provides background information to the more recent extensive media accounts of global change related to climate and humanity. What I find very refreshing is the book's production, which permit opening to any page and invites comprehension without referring to other pages or sections. Each page—or, at most, two facing pages—appears to stand alone, which makes for easy brief reading as well as convenient discussion. In this sense it is a perfect coffee table book to open and enjoy either alone or with others. Rather than focusing on convincing the reader through an avalanche of amassed facts, the writers have chosen tastefully from the available data and presented in an intellectually palatable manner what could have been a dreary series of data on climate change with corresponding impacts and causes." —Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

"This book on climate change, co-authored by a scientist and an artist and translated from the German, is a wonderful addition to the pool of resources available to the inquiring citizen who wants to understand the impact of modern civilization on the global climate system, as well as the converse. The first thing apparent to the reader on opening the volume will be the spectacular images, photographic as well as nonphotographic. Is this a picture book or a coffee table book? In fact, its is both and more. Although its primary intent is to stimulate thought among nonscientists about the Earth as a system, scientists, too, will find many aspects quite inspiring. It would be a splendid gift to give to anyone interested in the future of our planet." —R.K. Kotra, U. S. Geological Survey, Science Books and Films

"Climate—Our Future? is probably the best and certainly the most beautiful book the lay person can find on this most contentious and all-important topic." —D.G. Baker, The Minnesota Volunteer

"Useful for students and teachers alike. I recommend its use as a textbook in introductory classes on global change." —Vera Markgraf

Ulrich Schotterer, an Austrian, is information director at the Swiss Institute for Climate and Global Change, Swiss Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the climate research group of Hans Oeschger at the University of Berne, where he conducts research in isotope hydrology and glaciology.

Peter Andermatt, a Swiss, is a freelance artist and director of the Technical College of Communication Design in Constance, Germany. He studied commercial graphics in Zurich, was director of an industrial design team and taught design at the Graphic Arts School of Berne.

Kerry Kelts is professor of geology and director of the Limnological Research Center at the University of Minnesota. Former program director of the Swiss institute of Climate and Global Change, his research has included studies on past environmental changes recorded in sediments of lakes and oceans.

175 pages | 330 color illustrations | 1992



Climate—our future? Ulrich Schotterer Peter Andermatt, artist Translated and with a foreword by Kerry Kelts		OUT OF PRINT
Lavishly illustrated and packed with the latest findings in climatic research, this book was written for the Second World Climate Conference. Looking outward from the Alpine region of Switzerland, Climate—our future? highlights climate scenarios from around the world. The book begins with a primer on the Earth and its atmosphere and the history of the Earth’s climatic changes. A discussion of how climate affects cultures and how people affect climate brings the reality of climate change to a personal level. The discoveries of climate research, including results as recent at 1991, are interwoven throughout the book. Finally, the reader is challenged to address the potential impact of climatic change on the future of the Earth. "A landmark in documentation style of a scientific conference in that it tastefully appeals to both the environmentally aware and the uninformed reader. For emotional appeal and intellectual stimulation, the book may be a first of its kind and therefore incomparably excellent. For the scientist, the book is a refreshing look at the problem of climate change that is usually presented in detailed data lines of a single or possibly a few parameters. For the environmentally aware nonscientist, the book provides a balance to the ongoing media hype following anecdotal evidence of local weather extremes and provides background information to the more recent extensive media accounts of global change related to climate and humanity. What I find very refreshing is the book's production, which permit opening to any page and invites comprehension without referring to other pages or sections. Each page—or, at most, two facing pages—appears to stand alone, which makes for easy brief reading as well as convenient discussion. In this sense it is a perfect coffee table book to open and enjoy either alone or with others. Rather than focusing on convincing the reader through an avalanche of amassed facts, the writers have chosen tastefully from the available data and presented in an intellectually palatable manner what could have been a dreary series of data on climate change with corresponding impacts and causes." —Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society "This book on climate change, co-authored by a scientist and an artist and translated from the German, is a wonderful addition to the pool of resources available to the inquiring citizen who wants to understand the impact of modern civilization on the global climate system, as well as the converse. The first thing apparent to the reader on opening the volume will be the spectacular images, photographic as well as nonphotographic. Is this a picture book or a coffee table book? In fact, its is both and more. Although its primary intent is to stimulate thought among nonscientists about the Earth as a system, scientists, too, will find many aspects quite inspiring. It would be a splendid gift to give to anyone interested in the future of our planet." —R.K. Kotra, U. S. Geological Survey, Science Books and Films "Climate—Our Future? is probably the best and certainly the most beautiful book the lay person can find on this most contentious and all-important topic." —D.G. Baker, The Minnesota Volunteer "Useful for students and teachers alike. I recommend its use as a textbook in introductory classes on global change." —Vera Markgraf Ulrich Schotterer, an Austrian, is information director at the Swiss Institute for Climate and Global Change, Swiss Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the climate research group of Hans Oeschger at the University of Berne, where he conducts research in isotope hydrology and glaciology. Peter Andermatt, a Swiss, is a freelance artist and director of the Technical College of Communication Design in Constance, Germany. He studied commercial graphics in Zurich, was director of an industrial design team and taught design at the Graphic Arts School of Berne. Kerry Kelts is professor of geology and director of the Limnological Research Center at the University of Minnesota. Former program director of the Swiss institute of Climate and Global Change, his research has included studies on past environmental changes recorded in sediments of lakes and oceans. 175 pages \| 330 color illustrations \| 1992