Reviews:
-It is broad in scope and original in terms of its content and does not go over the ground that is covered in many recent books on global warming.
—Environmental Conservatism
-Offering a broad examination of the meaning of climate change and global warming while maintaining a strategic perspective on the implications of environmental effects on all forms of security--national, international, and human.
—Natural Resources Journal
-In Greek mythology, Gaia was the goddess of Earth. Her revenge for human accumulation of greenhouse gasses, write the authors, is global warming. How to manage the problem? Liotta and Shearer propose viewing it as a matter of security with climate change perceived as the threat. Environmental degradation, they write, can be a direct threat to health and a contributing factor to conflict; limited natural resources may trigger clashes between of within states The book outlines various scenarios--both grim and hopeful.
—Colloquy Alumni Quarterly
-Making the short conceptual leap from a vengeful god to a vengeful planet, Liotta and Shearer look at climate change and human impact, and the continuing failure of decision makers engaged in security to deal with global warming effectively. Their topics include an abrupt climate change scenario and its meaning for security, the fear factor, and the end of the anthropocene.
—SciTech Book News
-Liotta and Shearer make compelling cases that offer a broad examination of the meaning of climate change and global warming; within that framework, they maintain a strategic perspective on the implications of environmental effects on security in its broadest sense. Several scenarios are created from the premise above in seven chapters that include rapid climate change; careful examination of security with a focus on the relationship between threats and vulnerabilities; principles behind creating and using scenarios; overview of several methods drawn from the larger literatures of futures and security studies that offer more focused images of the future relative to the context of climate change and societal needs; and finally, a summation that draws all this material together and provides some directions for further thought. This reviewer considers this a factual and unbiased work that reminds us how much remains to be done. Two appendixes explain the abrupt climate change scenario and implications for the US, and a joint science academies statement highlights a global response to climate change. Select bibliography; four-page index. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
—Choice