FEELING THE HEAT: DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONTLINES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
CONTENTS PART ONE: HUMAN IMPACTS 1 CHINA: THE COST OF COAL 2 EUROPE: PLANNING AHEAD 3 GREATER NEW YORK: URBAN ANXIETY 4 ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA: ISLANDS UNDER SIEGE 5 ASIA: CLOUDS GOT IN THE WAY PART TWO: ECOSYTEMS IN TROUBLE 6 ALASKA AND THE WESTERN ARCTIC: THE ICE RETREATS 7 THE CALIFORNIA COAST: MARINE MIGRATIONS AND THE COLLAPSING FOOD CHAIN 8 AUSTRALIA, FLORIDA, AND FIJI: REEFS AT RISK 9 PACIFIC NORTHWEST: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING GLACIERS 10 ANTARCTICA: THE ICE IS MOVING DAVID HELVARG ENDNOTES PART ONE HUMAN IMPACTS THE SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS ABOUT HUMAN-INDUCED CLIMATE CHANGE SHOULD SOUND ALARM BELLS IN EVERY NATIONAL CAPITAL AND IN EVERY LOCAL COMMUNITY MY FIRST MORNING IN CHINA, I WAS UNEXPECTEDLY STRICKEN WITH A FEAR KNOWN TO ALL WORKING JOURNALISTS: DID I COME ALL THIS WAY IN SEARCH OF A NONEXIST- ENT STORY? BACK IN THE UNITED STATES, I HAD HEARD OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT CHINA HAD THE WORST AIR POLLUTION IN THE WORLD, THANKS TO ITS OVERWHELM- ING RELIANCE ON COAL TO FUEL AN ECONOMY THAT, THROUGHOUT THE 1990S, WAS GROWING BY AN AVERAGE OF 8 PERCENT A YEAR ALL THIS COAL BURNING WAS NOT ONLY FOULING CHINA’S SKIES, I’D BEEN TOLD, IT HAD ALSO MADE CHINA THE SEC- C H A P T E R O N E CHINA: THE COST OF COAL FIG 1: AP PHOTO/GREG BAKER