Climate Change in America: Ecosystems and Policy delivers a masterful analysis of the most defining challenge of our time. Oliver Brooks presents a comprehensive examination that bridges cutting-edge climate science with the realities of policy implementation, offering readers both the knowledge to understand the crisis and the insights to navigate toward solutions.
The book begins with essential climate science foundations, elucidating the greenhouse effect, natural versus anthropogenic factors, and the complex feedback loops driving planetary warming.
Brooks then reveals how America's imperilled biodiversity faces mounting pressures from habitat destruction, pollution, and invasive species, creating cascading impacts across ecosystems.
Particularly compelling is the book's examination of climate justice, demonstrating how vulnerable populations—from Indigenous nations to urban communities—confront disproportionate risks whilst often leading innovative adaptation strategies.
Through detailed regional case studies, readers discover how different areas face distinct challenges: rising seas threatening the Northeast, agricultural pressures in the Midwest, intensifying heat in the South, and devastating wildfires across the West.
The book's greatest strength lies in documenting the emergence of state and local climate leadership, showing how subnational governments are pioneering solutions from cap-and-trade systems to renewable energy standards.
Brooks concludes with frameworks for balancing mitigation and adaptation strategies, emphasising that effective climate governance requires integrating emission reductions with resilience building.
Both a wake-up call and a roadmap, this volume is essential reading for policymakers, students, and citizens committed to understanding and addressing America's climate challenge.