★Dr. Steven Earle has been researching and teaching Earth sciences (including climate change) for 40 years!
★Dr. Steven Earle is also the author of the authoritative textbook Physical Geology, which is widely used by universities in North America!
★This book explores the causes of rapid climate warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a major warming event that occurred 56 million years ago, and its dramatic impact on life on Earth.
★Using history as a mirror, this book aims to help people better examine the current climate crisis through the history of the Paleocene-Eocene extreme Heat period, and to explore some implications for the future climate.
★Scientifically rigorous, accessible, and thought-provoking, this book is a must-read for anyone committed to understanding the state of climate change and eager to take action.

With tipping points and extreme global warming looming, the key to understanding our climate future lies in our distant past
With rising emissions, we are on track to cause rapid global warming with devastating con- sequences. But how bad could climate change get and what might it do to planet Earth and humanity?
Runaway Climate explores the causes of the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) rapid climate-heating episode, its dramatic impact on life on Earth, and lessons for our climate future.
Fifty-six million years ago our planet experienced a period of intense warming known as the PETM, resulting in a rapid global temperature increase of about 7°C. Triggered by natural geological processes over millennia and magnified by strong climate feedback loops, the PETM lasted for about 180,000 years and drastically altered life on Earth. Yet in only a few short decades we've pumped similar amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, making the PETM an unsettlingly apt analogy for our current predicament. This deeply cautionary tale explores:
The runaway feedbacks that pushed the PETM's climate past the tipping point
Subsequent cascades of environmental devastation―from plant and animal migrations to ocean acidification, extreme weather, and mass extinctions
A sobering vision of life on hothouse Earth―a hostile world of desertification, sea-level rise, climate refugees, and agricultural collapse
The urgent need for decisive individual and collective actions to slash carbon emissions, stabilize the climate, and undertake a rapid transition to a cleaner and healthier future.
Scientifically rigorous, yet accessible to a wide audience, Runaway Climate is essential reading for every- one committed to understanding and taking action on the climate emergency.

Steve Earle, PhD, has worked in the Earth Sciences, has developed and taught university Earth Science courses for almost four decades and is author of the widely used university textbook, Physical Geology, now in its second edition, and another text Environmental Geology. He participates in climate change research and community engagement with climate change solutions including low-carbon transport initiatives, energy systems, heating systems, and land stewardship. He lives with his family on a sustainable farm on Gabriola Island, Canada.