Professor Trevor Letcher is an Emeritus Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and living in the United Kingdom. He was previously Professor of Chemistry, and Head of Department, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Rhodes University, and Natal, in South Africa (1969-2004). He has published over 300 papers on areas such as chemical thermodynamic and waste from landfill in peer reviewed journals, and 100 papers in popular science and education journals. Prof. Letcher has edited and/or written 32 major books, of which 22 were published by Elsevier, on topics ranging from future energy, climate change, storing energy, waste, tyre waste and recycling, wind energy, solar energy, managing global warming, plastic waste, renewable energy, and environmental disasters. He has been awarded gold medals by the South African Institute of Chemistry and the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics honoured him with a Festschrift in 2018. He is a life member of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) and the South African Institute of Chemistry. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, and is a Director of the Board of the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics since 2002.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Preface, List of Contributors


PART I. POSSIBLE CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

1. The Role of Atmospheric Gases in Global Warming
2. The Role of Widespread Surface Solar Radiation Trends in Climate Change: Dimming and Brightening
3. The Role of Space Weather and Cosmic Ray Effects in Climate Change
4. The Role of Volcanic Activity in Climate and Global Change
5. The Role of Variations of the Earth’s Orbital Characteristics in Climate Change

PART II. A GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE

6. A Geological History of Climate Change

PART III. INDICATORS OF CLIMATE AND GLOBAL CHANGE

7. Changes in the Circulation of the Atmosphere as Indicators of Climate Change
8. Weather Pattern Changes in the Tropics and Mid-Latitudes as an Indicator of Global Change
9. Bird Ecology as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change
10. Mammal Ecology as an Indicator of Climate Change
11. Climate Change and Temporal and Spatial Mismatches in Insect Communities
12. Sea Life (Pelagic and Planktonic Ecosystems) as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change
13. Changes in Coral Reef Ecosystems as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change
14. Changes in Marine Biodiversity as an Indicator of Climate Change
15. Inter-tidal Indicators of Climate and Global Change
16. Plant Ecology as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change
17. The Impact of Climate and Global Change on Crop Production
18. Rising Sea Level as an Indicator of Global Change
19. Sea Temperature Change as an Indicator of Global Change
20. Ocean Current Changes as an Indicator of Global Change
21. Ocean Acidification as an Indicator of Global Change
22. Ice Sheets: Instruments and Indicators of Global Change
23. Lichens as an Indicator of Climate and Global Change
24. Coastline Degradation as an Indicator of Global Change
25. Plant Pathogens as Indicators of Climate Change