Storm warning : water and climate security in a changing world / Robert William Sandford.

Includes bibliographical references.

Foreword: the critical role of science in assuring water and climate security in Canada -- Come hell and high water: scientific truth and consequences in Hollywood disaster movies -- A storm is coming: emerging perspectives on the state and fate of Canada's water supply -- Arctic trade-offs: the implications of a rapidly warming north -- Climate and the cryosphere: the snows of yesteryear and the future of the mountain west -- The genie is out of the bottle: hydrological stability has been lost and there are consequences -- Considering the storm: lessons learned from the western Canadian floods of 2013 and other disasters -- For whom the bell tolls: Lake Winnipeg and the prairies in the anthropocene -- Visualizing a different tomorrow: the Columbia River reconsidered -- Fire and water: establishing a roadmap for adapting to climate change effects on water -- Knowledge is power: building a better bridge between science and public policy -- Acknowledgements -- A climate change bookshelf.

"United Nations water expert Robert William Sandford takes the reader on a thought-provoking tour of a world where water, weather, cities, landscapes, economies, even entire cultures, are dramatically impacted by a changing climate. Human beings and industrial-based society are changing the composition of our planet's atmosphere and causing it to warm at an unnatural and oftentimes astonishingly rapid rate. Much of that warmth is being absorbed by water, which as a result is moving through the global hydrological cycle faster and in unprecedented ways. A warmer atmosphere carries more water vapour, which means that as temperatures continue to rise, storms will become more intense, last longer and cause more damage to our towns, cities and vital infrastructure. On the other side of the hydro-climate coin, we can also expect deeper and more persistent droughts throughout the world, resulting in dramatic crop losses, difficult economic outcomes and fundamental alterations to landscape. This highly considered, accessible and readable book explains how changes in the water cycle have already begun to affect how we think about and value water security and climate stability and what we can do to ensure a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren."-- Provided by publisher.

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