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Climate change—possibly the most pressing and difficult problem facing life on earth today—raises a series of questions that are fundamentally philosophical in nature. Some are:
--Is skeptcism about climate change warranted?
--Why does scientific consensus about global warming matter?
--Who should pay—those who are causing the most damage or those who will bear the greatest burden—to mitigate the effects of climate change?
Scientists and policy makers who grapple with these questions need the insights and contexts a philosophical analysis offers. And students and researchers in philosophy need to better know the scientific literature and political issues before offering ethical and philosophical commentary. With formal graduate training in the study of atmospheric science, a Ph.D. in philosophy, and a publication and teaching record that bridges the two areas, Wendy Parker adroitly addresses these and similar questions in, Understanding Climate Change: Science, Philosophy, and Policy. The book brings together a body of scattered research on these issues, but also breaks new ground, providing for a wide range of students and researchers a firmer footing on which to understand fully the scientific and policy issues related to climate change. The book is the first of its kind: a synoptic and coherent account—written for students and scholars in the humanities and the sciences--of the most salient philosophical issues related to our changing global climate.