• The first text to provide a truly balanced account of this important, interdisciplinary field.
• Written by two authors with complementary expertise, and a wealth of valuable experience, to yield an authoritative, well-rounded text.
• Activities, boxes and questions throughout encourage the reader to actively engage with the subject matter, helping them to develop the skills needed to be a part of our response to this global challenge.
• The Online Resource Centre features additional materials for both lecturers and students, enhancing the value of the text as a teaching and learning tool.

New to this edition

• Updates the relevant science to take into account new information from the IPCC's recently published Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), Climate Change 2007.
• Discusses latest policy decisions and their implications.
• Provides more grounding in the basic scientific concepts on which an understanding of climate change, as a process, is built.

Readership: Undergraduate students on a range of science, technology, and social science programmes with a climate change component. Also of interest to practitioners and policy makers as a digestible review of the field.

Stephen Peake, The Open University, and Joe Smith, The Open University

"If climate change is the biggest problem facing us in the 21st century then we need a reliable guide as we grope towards a solution. You are holding that guide in your hands: a lively introduction to the full range of climate issues, ranging from science to ethics to policy. Everyone should have one." - Andrew Dobson, Keele University, UK

"Takes the reader on an exciting and stimulating journey from understanding the science of climate change to discovering how it fits into the complex sustainability debate." - Chris Hope, University of Cambridge, UK

"Rather than just focussing on one aspect or the 'science part', the book argues that students need to be aware of the science, politics and governance of climate change... The book challenges students to 'weave together' these strands in their minds, which makes it quite a unique volume." - Dr Sarah Coulthard, Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies.

1: The climate strikes back
2: A citizen's guide to climate science
3: Planetary engineering
4: Tuning in: integrated assessments of climate futures
5: Listening out: climate, politics, philosophy
6: Climate change and sustainability - inseparable
7: Changing the world