By taking as his title a line ("the forgiving air") from Elizabeth Bishop's poem, "Song for the Rainy Season," Somerville conveys one of the most critical aspects of the spirit of this book -helping people see that much of what we have done to our atmospheric environment has been "forgiven" by the air through its remarkable capacity to absorb and disperse. Implicit in the title is also a question: "How long can such forgiveness continue?" Somerville points out quickly that it is unreasonable to expect this forgiveness to go on for eternity. It is time for us to realize that the forgiving nature of our planet's air may be reaching its limits. Unless we understand the consequences of our actions on the atmosphere and make appropriate changes, we face the danger of permanently damaging our environment to the extent that it will cease to support life as we know it. In other words, the forgiveness will stop and the judgment will come down with full force. With this book, Somerville hopes to foster, from a scientific perspective, an understanding of the consequences of our actions on our atmosphere.
The Forgiving Air is a unique contribution to the literature on environmental studies in at least two important ways. First, it is a practicing scientist's perspective on environmental problems. Somerville is actively involved in atmospheric research at the University of California, San Diego. His book provides authentic scientific information while also humanizing the science behind contemporary environmental issues. Second, it focuses exclusively on the scientific aspects of the problems. This is intended to help readers understand the science behind the problems presented, keeping them separate from the political, economic, and emotional aspects related to these problems. This second feature is extremely significant, given the way important policy decisions have been and continue to be made regarding contemporary environmental issues. Often such decisions are preceded by heated arguments within which important scientific information is either completely missing or is thoroughly clouded by emotional, economic, or political priorities. More often than not, the relevant scientific information is either not available or is presented in a form not readily comprehensible to those in decisionmaking positions. The Forgiving Air meets that need by providing scientific perspectives on selected environmental issues in an easily comprehensible form.
Besides focusing exclusively on scientific information, the author has also focused on making that information easily understandable to the lay person. Thus, the book provides clear, concise, and easy-to-understand scientific information regarding the chosen environmental problems. Strategies the author uses to make scientific information understandable to lay persons include detailed descriptions, in simple language, of scientists and their work that advanced our understanding, as well as a rich array of historical anecdotes. There is absolutely no use of mathematical wizardry and there is minimal use of technical