You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4 reviews for:
An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity
Wes Jackson
4.0 AVERAGE
4 reviews for:
An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity
Wes Jackson
4.0 AVERAGE
This is a great little book, one that is told with a very deep sense of the precariousness of the position of the authors. That precariousness, as relates to questions of social justice, is a product of the fact that the authors are two old white lefties, both living comfortable lives in retirement, neither of whom are living radically minimalist or survivalist or negative-carbon-use lives (though both of them have written thoughtfully and with great praise of people they have known who do), and yet both of whom are utterly convinced--and have a lot of science to back them up--that in the coming decades, ecological crises (climate change, species extinction, water depletion, etc.) are going to force upon the whole human species massive changes at the cost of probably billions of lives, and that there is no way in which any part of our species, no matter how rich or how poor, no matter how oppressed or how tyrannical, is going to escape. So a good part of the book--maybe too much--is spent carefully and compassionately spelling out this very discomforting thought: that the problem of over-consumption and resource exploitation is truly general; it will affect every human being, because every human being--or at least every human being that has been part of the world agriculture built starting 10,000 years ago--is part of it, and so while thinking in terms of redistributing goods and making the rich Western nations (filled with rich old white guys like Jackson and Jensen) pay for developing carbon sinks or whatnot may make you feel properly righteous, it's all irrelevant in the end (which will probably be sooner than you might think).
The hard truths Jackson and Jensen want to communicate are very hard indeed: that we need to stop thinking in terms of solutions, because there won't be any, and rather start thinking in terms of how to save remnants of human civilization when the collapse comes. Do I agree with ever catastrophic prediction they make? No, not really. But was I moved and inspired by the good humor (as opposed to "hope") and the practicalness by which they made their case for the apocalypse. Mixing religious concepts (though both are very much secular materialists) and environmental science and sharp retorts to the techno-utopian promises out there, this is a bracing book, one worth reading and thinking about, if only get one's thoughts and priorities straight.
The hard truths Jackson and Jensen want to communicate are very hard indeed: that we need to stop thinking in terms of solutions, because there won't be any, and rather start thinking in terms of how to save remnants of human civilization when the collapse comes. Do I agree with ever catastrophic prediction they make? No, not really. But was I moved and inspired by the good humor (as opposed to "hope") and the practicalness by which they made their case for the apocalypse. Mixing religious concepts (though both are very much secular materialists) and environmental science and sharp retorts to the techno-utopian promises out there, this is a bracing book, one worth reading and thinking about, if only get one's thoughts and priorities straight.
Jackson and Jensen's book An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity was a relief to read. I have long suspected and believed the assertions made in this book but had not previously participated in conversations nor read books that presented the timeline of man's destructive impact on Earth. Climate change is usually presented in relatively immediate terms that require specific actions - actions that might, or might not, be successful in solving our environmental issues.
In contrast An Inconvenient Apocalypse presents our tenuous situation on earth from historical, sociological and scientific points of view. This clarifies the complexity of the issue and indicates how each of these aspects of our culture have created, and will continue to create significant repercussions for our future. Jackson and Jensen systematically put forth the evidence; the notes and references at the completion of the book are compelling and comprehensive. The conversational, non-dogmatic, unassuming style is very readable and requires the reader to do their own thinking and imagining as they put the facts together.
One might think this is a depressing topic, but it is not. This is a thought-provoking book that requests people acknowledge what has transpired over eons, since mankind became an agricultural society. Once humans fully recognize and accept our role in Earth's current questionable state, it becomes imperative - and much easier - to recognize the future cannot, and will not, be a continuation of the past.
In contrast An Inconvenient Apocalypse presents our tenuous situation on earth from historical, sociological and scientific points of view. This clarifies the complexity of the issue and indicates how each of these aspects of our culture have created, and will continue to create significant repercussions for our future. Jackson and Jensen systematically put forth the evidence; the notes and references at the completion of the book are compelling and comprehensive. The conversational, non-dogmatic, unassuming style is very readable and requires the reader to do their own thinking and imagining as they put the facts together.
One might think this is a depressing topic, but it is not. This is a thought-provoking book that requests people acknowledge what has transpired over eons, since mankind became an agricultural society. Once humans fully recognize and accept our role in Earth's current questionable state, it becomes imperative - and much easier - to recognize the future cannot, and will not, be a continuation of the past.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
informative
reflective
fast-paced