BOOK REVIEW
March 17, 2011
The Weather of the Future
Heidi Cullen
HarperCollins Publishers (New York, 2010)
Jamie Caldwell, University at Buffalo Law School
September 29, 2010
Brief Summary
Assuming the people of the world do nothing about climate change, what
will the world be like? The author, Heidi Cullen, is a climatologist who
presents this question by analyzing the effects of global warming and
climate change in seven different areas of the world.
Cullen begins her book with a brief discussion on what climatology is
compared to meteorology. She then delves into the history of climatology
and observations of climate change from the past and goes into detail
about the science behind predicting climate change. She talks about how
models are used to predict future climate and what their accuracy is.
Part II of the book discusses seven different parts of the world and what
the weather is projected to be if nothing is done about global warming.
She also gives suggestions for what each of the areas could do to slow the
process. The seven areas are the Sahel in Africa, the Great Barrier Reef in
Australia, the Central Valley in California, the Inuit Nunaat in Canada,
Greenland, Dhanka in Bangladesh and New York, New York. By
analyzing these areas, Cullen gives a climatologist’s opinion on what the
world will be like forty years from now.
Facts and Findings
Cullen stresses that “the Earth is going to be fine” (p. 12). There will be
no end of the world, but climates have the ability to change dramatically if
nothing is done about emissions into the air. Each of the seven areas
receives a unique analysis. Cullen discusses the current states of the areas
as well as predictions of what the climate will be like in the future.
The Sahel in Africa is the area which divides the Sahara desert and central
Africa’s tropical rainforest. (p. 63). The Sahel is incredibly dry and is
known for harsh droughts. Cullen forecasts that the climate will get hotter
and dryer with global warming. Droughts and food shortages will increase
unless something is done. (p. 81- 85).
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The Great Barrier Reef is already in danger of becoming extinct. Cullen
discusses how sensitive the reef is the temperature changes and pH
changes. When temperatures reach 2oF above the average maximum, the
coral starts bleaching, which means it is starving, and once coral dies it
cannot be revived. (p. 96).
In the Central Valley California the main issue with climate change is
what happens to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which supplies clean,
fresh water to cities and farms. (p. 117). Cullen predicts that the salinity of
the water will rise, causing higher treatment costs. (p. 130). Without
proper steps taken when the sea levels rise, the salt water from the San
Francisco Bay may rise enough to flow into the Delta and ruin the fresh
water. (p. 147).
Cullen describes two areas in the Arctic. In Inuit Nunaat, Canada the
temperature will increase, the ice will thin, and snow will melt. The people
of the Inuit live on the land, and they have preserved their way of life for
hundreds of years. Hunting will become more dangerous, however, due to
harsher weather conditions and locations of hazards. (p. 170). The animals
in the region which they depend on for food may become more scarce. (p
165-166). In Greenland, like the Inuit, the air temperatures and sea level
will rise. The ocean temperature will also rise, and the ice will disappear
in the summer. This will increase shipping and pollution of the northern
waters in the Northwest and Northeast passages. (p.192).
In Dhaka, Bangladesh flooding is already a huge problem. In a worst case
scenario, when the sea levels rise the flooding will also increase. (p.213).
The Himalayan glaciers will also begin to melt, adding to this flooding. (p.
221). The population of Dhaka, Bangladesh will increase due to flooding
in the outskirts. Refugees will pour into Dhaka –not for prosperity, but to
survive. (p.223).
Lastly, Cullen discusses New York City. While NYC is in many ways the
greenest city in the United States, due to its density and public transit, its
biggest problem will be the rising sea level. New York will be in danger of
having a severe hurricane descending upon it, causing flooding and larger
storm surges. Even just heavy rain storms will bring more water into the
city. Subways and sewers will flood. (p. 255).
Recommendations and Implications
Along with the current situations in the seven geographic regions, Cullen
also tells each geographic region’s forecast like a story. She gives
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predictions at three times in the region’s future: a few years in the future,
twenty years, and then forty years. Finally, Cullen gives suggestions for
what may bring relief to people in the future.
In the Sahel, Cullen suggests using the desert to create energy for other
countries and get water in return. She also suggests the planting of trees to
try and keep the area cooler. (p. 86).
In the Great Barrier Reef her prediction is bleak. With a heavy heart, she
thinks there is little people can do about the rising temperature of the
ocean. However, Cullen believes they may be able to slow the process
enough to set up some kind of vault with samples for all known coral —in
the event that the oceans ever cool enough for coral again. (p. 114).
For the Central Valley in California, Cullen suggests the building of a
peripheral canal which would bring in fresh water from the Sacramento
River and bring water south, avoiding the Delta altogether in case it is
taken over with salt water. (p.132). This would allow clean water to
continue into San Francisco and the land surrounding the Delta.
In the Arctic, she has a sad prediction of the future. She predicts that
governments will use the land as CO2 storage sites, but this will backfire.
The temperature will continue to rise and methane will be released from
the ice crystals, which will draw investors from around the world. This
will bring a lot of wealth to the Arctic, but will continually increase the
temperature as well by leaking more greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere. (p. 194-195).
For Bangladesh, Cullen predicts mass flooding and an exodus of migration
of the population into Dhaka. In Bangladesh, the government will have to
spend money on developing new crops and changing the crop season for
the people since the flooding seasons will increase. (p. 224)
Finally for New York City, Cullen suggests doing a lot of prevention
aimed at effects of higher sea levels. She suggests adding surge barriers
around the city in order to protect New York from increasingly high storm
surges during storms and hurricanes. She also suggests raising the
runways at the airports in preparation for higher flood levels. (p. 258)
Analysis/Critique
Heidi Cullen does a fantastic job describing the effects of climate change
in a way the reader can understand. Many people only see climate change
as changes in the weather. While Cullen discusses weather at length she
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also discusses economical and other environmental impacts of climate
change on people. By describing the predicted change for different
geographical regions of the world, she effectively projects the severity of
climate change if the world’s population does nothing about it. Many of
her predictions show the world eventually wising up and making
significant alterations to their areas. Yet in a few of her situations the
impact of climate change may have already caused too much damage.
(i.e., the Great Barrier Reef). Cullen stresses that these are worst-case
scenario predictions and that climatology models can be off. She is not
saying this is 100% going to happen, but effectively persuades the reader
that the future looks grim unless something is done.
Many of Cullen’s suggestions are projects governments can undertake to
slow climate change. She does not discuss steps an individual can make to
help in this cause, which is one weakness of the book. While a reader may
be outraged about the possible future predicted, this book does not give a
solid explanation of what an individual can do. Most of her suggestions
are large scale projects that an individual would have to persuade the
governments of the world to undertake.
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