Dry winds blow across drought-ridden, rain-parched farms in Australia, followed by record flooding. Heavy rains inundate low-lying deltas in Asia and on the Pacific northwest coast of North America, flooding homes and making water unfit to drink. Death comes to pastoralists and farmers on the shrinking acreage of arable land in Africa as too little rain feeds too few crops. Intense hurricanes batter southern Atlantic coastal regions. The world looks on as Africa suffers escalating destruction; rising prices and shortages of food and basic goods, along with joblessness and stagnant wages, trigger protests and the destabilization of political regimes in Africa and the Middle East. Riots bring London to its knees. A global recession cripples the world as government debt soars in Europe and America. People die. At global summits on climate change, politicians refuse to sign agreements that would have them reduce their countries’ emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for causing global warming, or they renege on their previous emission-reduction commitments. Media reports swing between predictions of climate catastrophe and such derisive statements as “If we can’t predict the weather next week, how can we predict climate next year?” A perplexed public is left not knowing whom to believe.

Most of us have unanswered questions about the real state of Earth’s climate and its impact on local and global economies. This lack of understanding makes us feel helpless and uncertain about what we need to do and where we fit in this changing world. Assembling answers to some of those questions will help us look at the issue more clearly, without feelings of panic or hopelessness.