In writing that is both clear and unbiased, Kolbert - an acclaimed New Yorker journalist - approaches global warming from every angle. She travels to the Arctic, the North of England, Holland and Puerto Rico, interviews researchers and environmentalists, explains the science and the studies, draws frightening parallels to lost ancient civilizations, unpacks the politics, and presents the personal tales of those who are being affected most - the people who make their homes near the poles and, in an eerie foreshadowing, are watching their worlds disappear. Scientists have been warning the world since the late 1970s that the build-up of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere threatens to melt the polar ice sheets and irreversibly change our climate. With little done since then to alter this dangerous course, now is the moment for all the countries in the world, but perhaps especially the USA, to face up to the realities of global warming and to secure our future. By the end of the century, the world will probably be hotter than it's been in the last two million years, and the sweeping consequences of this change will determine the future of life on earth for generations to come. Field Notes from a Catastrophe brings the environment into the consciousness of the reader and asks what, if anything, can be done, and how we can save our planet.