[.ca] Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions ... (ISBN 006113791X)

Using Clues from the Distant Past to Predict the Earth's Future:
This book could be divided into two parts. The first part is a scientific analysis of the possible causes for the great mass extinctions that have occurred over the past hundreds of millions of years. The second part makes use of the findings of the first part to speculate on what might happen to the earth (and to us) over the next few years, decades and centuries. Contrary to the common belief of a few years ago that mass extinctions were all caused by impacts with bolides from outer space, it now appears that most of the great mass extinctions (other than the K-T extinction) are likely to have been due to the accumulation of greenhouses gases in the earth's atmosphere. After explaining how this was discovered, the author explains the mechanics of how atmospheric greenhouse gases increased in the distant past, along with the disastrous effects on life that existed on earth and in the oceans at the time. He compares the carbon dioxide concentrations of the distant past with those of today with projections of what they might become in the future. The author's writing style is quite clear, friendly, authoritative (he is a paleontologist) and very gripping. I found this book very hard to put down. Although there is much speculation in the second part of the book, one can only wonder. This book should be of interest to general readers, but science buffs may get the most out if it due to the many fascinating scientific discussions.