The Climate We've Made:  Making Sense of Humankind's Future on a Warming Planet

In press with Bloomsbury, anticipated release November 2026

Anthropogenic climate change poses a serious threat to humanity and Earth as we know it.  Scientists have known about the principles of climate change for more than 100 years and have been collecting direct evidence of climate change for more than 60 years. Despite the best efforts of climate scientists, activists, and policy makers to effect change, atmospheric CO2 concentrations and temperatures continue to climb. Why is there such a wide disconnect between the climate disaster predicted by scientists and societies’ limited and ineffectual action to mitigate climate change? How certain are we that anthropogenic climate change is happening and humans are the cause? Might it be that the scientists have it wrong, that climate change is not really so dire? If Earth’s climate really is changing in a way that is unfavorable for humans, is that necessarily bad? What ethical obligations do humans today have for maintaining a livable Earth for future generations? Why is it so hard for humans, individually and collectively, to take effectual action on climate change?

The Climate We've Made draws from multiple disciplines to make sense of climate change. In Part I, the scientific principles, empirical evidence, and mathematical models used by climate scientists are reviewed to show clearly how climate change is caused by humans and to explain what is expected to happen as Earth continues to warm. In Part II, the philosophical topics of environmentalism, environmental ethics, humanism, and climate ethics are used to evaluate how to weigh the impacts of climate change against human prosperity today and in the future. Part III examines how the innate psychology of humans and our social institutions make it difficult for humanity, collectively, to address anthropogenic climate change. The book concludes by proposing that the best way to avoid the worst impacts of climate change is to align solutions with our evolved psychologies, rather than continuing to promote measures that are ineffectual.