Fred Pearce has been writing about climate change for eighteen years, and the more he learns, the worse things
look. Where once scientists were concerned about gradual climate change, now more and more of them fear we will
soon be dealing with abrupt change resulting from triggering hidden tipping points. Even President Bush's top climate
modeler, Jim Hansen, warned in 2005 that "we are on the precipice of climate system tipping points beyond
which there is no redemption."
As Pearce began working on this book, normally cautious scientists beat a path to his door to tell him about their
fears and their latest findings. With Speed and Violence tells the stories of these scientists and their work-from
the implications of melting permafrost in Siberia and the huge river systems of meltwater beneath the icecaps of
Greenland and Antarctica to the effects of the "ocean conveyor" and a rare molecule that runs virtually
the entire cleanup system for the planet.
Above all, the scientists told him what they"re now learning about the speed and violence of past natural
climate change-and what it portends for our future. With Speed and Violence is the most up-to-date and readable
book yet about the growing evidence for global warming and the large climatic effects it may unleash.