CLIMATE STORIES
From Mesopotamia to Exoplanets
Genre:
Current Issues
Author:
Gianluca Lentini
Publisher:
Hoepli
Language:
Italian
AUTHOR BIO:
Gianluca Lentini is a geophysicist specializing in climatology and a researcher for the Poliedra-Politecnico di Milano Consortium, where he works on sustainable development projects. He is the author of several publications and a member of the Scientific Committee of the dissemination site Climalteranti.it. For younger readers he has written “Gaia. Il pianeta Terra e il clima che cambia (Feltrinelli)”.
Pages:
144
Publication:
2021
Rights available:
French, German
DESCRIPTION:
In a world where climate emergency is considered to be the greatest threat to national security even more than pandemics - without major differences depending on the age group or political orientation- knowing about climatology and its history is one of the keys to understanding how to protect the climate and the future of the human species on Earth.
It is difficult for everybody to understand these phenomena that affect the whole planet, at the same time. In the history of our species, no one has ever had to perceive and understand events that occur on such a large scale.
This is an excellent reason to go to the discovery of climatology, the science of climate, without stopping at the strict topicality but retracing its origins, evolution and principles.
In fact, man has always tried to decipher nature’s dynamics. Peoples of Mesopotamia observed the weather to predict battles’ outcome, Aristotle described the water cycle and the winds dynamics in a very precise way, Hippocrates spoke of the relationship between climate and human health.
In short, climatology – just like meteorology - has a thousand-year history, but for a long time it has been a "weak" science, which very rarely intersects with mathematics, physics and other much more institutionalized disciplines.
Only in the twentieth century climatology achieved its definitive consecration, along with the widespread understanding that a global climate does exist, and that it is changing mainly because of man, as more than 99% of the scientific community now affirm.
Thus, climatology acquires a new responsibility: on top of studying climate, to do all possible to defend it.
CONTENTS
Introduction: one climate, many climates
The signs in the sky and the signs of the sky: climatology in Mesopotamia, in the Near East and in Anatolia
The climate takes shape and determines humanity: Greece
From pneuma to qi: climatological discourses in China
Climatology and meteorology as "weak" discourses in the Islamic world, in Jewish literature and in the West
Climatology becomes a science and climate begins to change: atmosphere dynamics
The climate is getting hot: thermodynamics, greenhouse effect and global warming
Climate change in the 20th and 21st centuries
Conclusions: Climatology as a science of climate protection
Bibliographic references and insights
Reference sites on climate change and global warming.
REVIEWS:
“A much needed book, telling the history of climatology in a masterly way and from a unique perspective. _ Luciano Canova for Changes, 27.12.2021; _ Radio Popolare, Podcast 01-12-2021
MEDIA: