Hell and High Water: Global Warming – the Solution and the Politics – and What We Should Do is a book by author, scientist, and former U.S. Department of Energy official Joseph J. Romm, published December 26, 2006. The author is "one of the world's leading experts on clean energy, advanced vehicles, energy security, and greenhouse gas mitigation." The book warned of dire consequences to the U.S. and the world if wide-scale environmental changes are not enacted by the U.S. government. It reviewed the evidence that the initial global warming changes would lead to feedbacks and accelerated warming. According to Romm, the oceans, soils, Arctic permafrost, and rainforests could become sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The book claimed that, without serious government action, sea levels would rise high enough to submerge numerous coastal communities and inland areas on both U.S. coasts and around the world by the year 2100. In 2008, Time magazine wrote that "On [Romm's] blog and in his most recent book, Hell and High Water, you can find some of the most cogent, memorable, and deployable arguments for immediate and overwhelming action to confront global warming." Romm was interviewed on Fox News on January 31, 2007, about the book and the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report climate report.
Summary of the book Part I, comprising the first four chapters of the book, reviews the science of climate change, setting forth the evidence that humans are causing an unprecedented increase in carbon emissions that is, in turn causing global warming. The book describes the consequences of unchecked climate change, such as destruction of coastal cities due to rising sea levels and mega-hurricanes; increasing droughts and deadly water shortages; infestation of insects into new ranges; and increased famines, heat waves, forest fires and desertification. The book sets forth the research on "feedback loops" that would contribute to accelerating climate change, including:
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