Americans have been warned since the late 1970s that the buildup 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 path, the world has reached a critical threshold. By the end of the century, it will likely be hotter than at any point 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.

Taking listeners from the melting Alaskan permafrost to storm-torn New Orleans, acclaimed journalist Elizabeth Kolbert approaches this monumental problem from every angle. She interviews researchers and environmentalists, explains the science, draws frightening parallels to lost civilizations and presents the moving tales of people who are watching their worlds disappear. Growing out of an award-winning three-part series for the New Yorker , Field Notes from a Catastrophe brings the environment into the consciousness of the American people and asks what, if anything, can be done to save our planet.

" Kolbert's calmly persuasive reporting stands out for its sobering clarity
... This unbiased overview is a model for writing about an urgent environmental crisis. " — Publishers Weekly (starred reveiw)

Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1999, Prior to that she was a reporter for the New York Times . She received the American Association for the Advancement of Science's magazine writing award for the New Yorker series on which this book is based. She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts with her husband and three sons.
 
Hope Davis ' filmography includes The Matador, The Weather Man, Proof, Dumas, American Splendor (Golden Globe Nomination), The Secret Lives of Dentists, About Schmidt, Hearts of Atlantis, Mumford, The Imposters, Arlington Road, Next Stop Wonderland, The Myth of Fingerprints and Daytrippers . Stage credits includes Midsummer Night's Dream, Spinning Into Butter, Ivanov and Two Shakespearean Actors . Off-Broadway in The Food Chain, The Iceman Cometh and Speed the Plow . Voted Best Actress in 2003 by the New York Film Critics .