Spectacular state-of-the-art imagery and the latest scientific knowledge highlight a breathtaking guide to nature's most cataclysmic forces.

Encyclopedic in scope and visually stunning, this is the most comprehensive work ever published on the earth's climate--an awesome force that, at different points in time, has wiped out 95 percent of all living creatures, plunged the world into ice ages, and played a leading role in every stage of human evolution. Climate
- explains extreme weather-related events, from the destruction of coral reefs in Belize to eroding coastlines in the South Pacific
- presents expert predictions about what is in store for the world's climate in the short- and long-term future
- demonstrates climate's devastating force through 630 full-color illustrations, including digitally generated imagery, graphs, diagrams, geographical maps, and satellite photos

Explaining how our modern lifestyles shift the earth's climate, the authors sound a warning bell: We may be witnessing the beginnings of a mass extinction, caused not by an ice age, asteroids, or volcanoes, but by what might be an even more destructive force--ourselves. And they offer steps we can take before it's too late to avoid a global disaster.