Sudden and Disruptive Climate Change

Foreword by Ambassador John Ashton * Introduction * Part I: The Potential for Rapid Changes to the Weather and Climate * Introduction to Part I * Ten Reasons Why Climate Change May be More Severe than Projected * Potential Increased Hurricane Activity in a Greenhouse Warmed World * Potential Effects of Weather Extremes and Climate Change on Human Health * Part II: The Potential for Rapid Melting of Ice and Amplification of Sea Level Rise * Introduction to Part II * Changes in Polar Sea Ice Coverage * Changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet and Implications for Global Sea Level Rise * Why Predicting West Antarctic Ice Sheet Behavior is So Hard: What We Know, What We Don t Know and How We Will Find Out * Part III: The Potential for Dramatic Changes in Coastal Regions * Introduction to Part III * The Potential for Significant Impacts on Chesapeake Bay from Global Warming * The Northern Gulf of Mexico Coast: Human Development Patterns, Declining Ecosystems and Escalating Vulnerability to Storms and Sea Level Rise * Threats and Responses Associated with Rapid Climate Change in Metropolitan New York * Increasing the Resilience of Our Coasts: Coastal Collision Course of Rising Sea Level, Storms, Coastal Erosion and Development * Preparing and Protecting American Families from the Onslaught of Catastrophe * Part IV: The End of Evolution? The Potential for Rapid Changes in Ecosystems * Introduction to Part IV * Where Will Ecosystems Go? * Increasing Vulnerability of Alaska's Boreal Forest as a Result of Climate Warming and the Changing Fire Regime * Polar Bears in a Warming Arctic * Part V: The Potential for Accelerating Action to Limit Climate Change * Introduction to Part V * International Action to Buffer Against the Rapid Onset of Climate Change * A Moral and Profitable Path to Climate Stabilization * Moving Toward Climate Stabilization: Icelands Example * Climate Impacts in the Developing World: A Case Study of the Small Island States * Stimulating a Clean Energy Revolution