With this book, the author, former Vice President Al Gore brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world; photographs, charts, and other illustrations; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming. He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness - and with humor, too - that the fact of global warming is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be disastrous if left unchecked.

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Effects and consequences of global warming: climate crisis - The atmosphere and greenhouse gases - Temperatures and ocean warming - Shrinking of glaciers - Floods and precipitation changes - Increased storms, hurricanes, droughts - Effects on the Poles: Antarctica and the Arctic regions - Effects on the oceans - Effects on forests and deforestation - Rivers and the consequences of irrigation - Vectors for emerging infectious diseases - Effects of energy and the new technologies - The Politicization of global warming - Global stewardship.