The City and the Coming Climate: Climate Change in the Places We Live

206 Pages·2012·4.08 MB·English

by  Dr Brian Stone Jr Jr

The City and the Coming Climate
Climate Change in the Places We Live
In the first decade of this century, for the first time in history, the majority of the
planet’s population resided in cities. We are an urban planet. If ongoing changes
in climate are to have an impact on the human species, most of these impacts
will play out in cities. This fact was brought into full relief in the summer of
2003, when more than 70,000 residents of Europe perished in one of the most
prolonged and intense heat waves in human history. The final death toll would
exceed that associated with any Western European or American conflict since
World War II or any other natural disaster to have ever struck a region of the
developed world, and the vast majority of these deaths occurred in cities. Studies
in the aftermath of the heat wave would show that not only had climate change
increased the likelihood of such an extreme event but also that the intensity of
the heat had been greatly enhanced by the physical design of the cities
themselves, exposing residents of cities to a much greater risk of illness or death
than others.
This book is the first to explore the dramatic amplification of global
warming under way in cities and the range of actions that can be taken to slow
the pace of warming. A core thesis of the book is that the principal strategy
adopted to mitigate climate change – the reduction of greenhouse gases – will
not prove sufficient to measurably slow the rapid pace of warming in cities. The
reason for this is that the primary driver of warming in cities is not the global
greenhouse effect but rather the loss of trees and other vegetative cover to
development and the emission of waste heat from industries, vehicles, and
buildings. Rising levels of heat constitute the single greatest climate-related
threat to human health, now accounting for more deaths per year than all other
forms of extreme weather combined, and are contributing to the loss of life and
unprecedented infrastructure disruptions in the present time period – not
decades in the future.
Brian Stone explains the science of climate change in terms accessible to
the nonscientist and with compelling anecdotes drawn from history and current
events. The book is an ideal introduction to climate change at the urban scale for
students, policy makers, and anyone who wishes to gain insight into an issue
critical to the future of our cities and the people who live in them.
BRIAN STONE, JR ., is an Associate Professor in the School of City and Regional
Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he teaches in the area of
urban environmental planning and design. His program of research is focused
on climate change at the urban scale and is supported by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and
the U.S. Forest Service. Stone’s work on urbanization and climate change has
been featured on CNN and National Public Radio and in print media outlets such
as Forbes and USA Today. Stone holds degrees in environmental management and
planning from Duke University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The City and the
Coming Climate
Climate Change in the
Places We Live
BRIAN STONE, JR.
Georgia Institute of Technology
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,
Singapore, Sa˜o Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107602588
⃝C Brian Stone, Jr., 2012
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2012
Printed in the United States of America
A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data
Stone, Brian, Jr.
The city and the coming climate : climate change in the places we live /
Brian Stone, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-107-01671-2 – ISBN 978-1-107-60258-8 (pbk.)
1. Climatic changes – Economic aspects. 2. Climate change mitigation.
3. Urbanization. 4. Cities and towns. I. Title.
QC903.S86 2012
′
363.738 74–dc23 2011044842
ISBN 978-1-107-01671-2 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-107-60258-8 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication and
does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or
appropriate.
To my father, Brian Stone, Sr. – Defender of the
undefended, Mayor of Peachtree Street, and
still-shining light to his family.
Contents
Acknowledgments page ix
Prologue: La Canicule 1
1 Keeling’s Curve 16
2 The Climate Barrier 46
3 Islands of Heat 68
4 The Green Factor 97
5 Leveraging Canopy for Carbon 127
Postscript 171
References 175
Index 183
The color plate section follows page 86.
vii