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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
It's absolutely horrendous to see all the facts laid bare. Not only are we reminded, from the first sentence, that no matter what we do next we're going to continue to see dire effects because we're already much worse off than we may think, but even if we do get back on course to diminish our carbon emissions, there's simply no going back.
Though a very scary and depressing book (and he actually says in the audiobook toward the middle, something like "if you've made it this far, you're a brave soul") I'd say it's worth reading for almost anyone just for a proper wakeup call. While day to day we may all be doing something, like carpooling or bringing reusable cups to coffee shops or holding on to recyclable packaging until we get access to the proper receptacle, it won't be enough to impact global change. On the scale of nations is where the most, the only, impact can be made. Companies need to step up or fall in line behind governmental regulation (hopeful thinking) and it needs to happen right now.
Though a very scary and depressing book (and he actually says in the audiobook toward the middle, something like "if you've made it this far, you're a brave soul") I'd say it's worth reading for almost anyone just for a proper wakeup call. While day to day we may all be doing something, like carpooling or bringing reusable cups to coffee shops or holding on to recyclable packaging until we get access to the proper receptacle, it won't be enough to impact global change. On the scale of nations is where the most, the only, impact can be made. Companies need to step up or fall in line behind governmental regulation (hopeful thinking) and it needs to happen right now.
Wallace-Wells digs a bit too deep into the weeds for my taste, but one nevertheless can’t deny how essential this book is.
"Best case outcome we will see death and suffering at the scale of 25 holocausts. Worst case puts us on the brink of extinction."
If you enjoy living on planet earth and would like to stay here a little longer, then you most definitely must read this book. From the deputy editor of New York Magazine (and previously The Paris Review) David Wallace-Wells unsurprisingly writes a profound, thought-provoking, terrifying, brutal yet honest portrait of climate change and our pretty certain future.
The opener just gives you an insight into our reality "It is worse, much worse, than you think.." based on the decades of climate science that is right in front of us all, Wallace-Wells tells it straight, with the aim of pulling the reader out of complacency. We now know, without reading this book, that we can't reverse or stop climate change but hopefully with the science that The Uninhabitable Earth presents it'll jerk us into trying to avert us from mass extinction and to managing the warming and understanding that we will all have to come to terms with living in a very different world in merely the next three decades.
This book will stay with me for a very long time!
If you enjoy living on planet earth and would like to stay here a little longer, then you most definitely must read this book. From the deputy editor of New York Magazine (and previously The Paris Review) David Wallace-Wells unsurprisingly writes a profound, thought-provoking, terrifying, brutal yet honest portrait of climate change and our pretty certain future.
The opener just gives you an insight into our reality "It is worse, much worse, than you think.." based on the decades of climate science that is right in front of us all, Wallace-Wells tells it straight, with the aim of pulling the reader out of complacency. We now know, without reading this book, that we can't reverse or stop climate change but hopefully with the science that The Uninhabitable Earth presents it'll jerk us into trying to avert us from mass extinction and to managing the warming and understanding that we will all have to come to terms with living in a very different world in merely the next three decades.
This book will stay with me for a very long time!
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
The most important book anyone could be reading right now.
The emergent portrait of suffering is, I hope, horrifying. It is also, entirely, elective. If we allow global warming to proceed, and to punish us with all the ferocity we have fed it, it will be because we have chosen that punishment—collectively walking down a path of suicide. If we avert it, it will be because we have chosen to walk a different path, and endure. The climate system that gave rise to the human species, and to everything we know of as civilization, is so fragile that it has been brought to the brink of total instability by just one generation of human activity. But that instability is also a measure of the human power that engineered it, almost by accident, and which now must stop the damage, in only as much time. If humans are responsible for the problem, they must be capable of undoing it. We have an idiomatic name for those who hold the fate of the world in their hands, as we do: gods.
The emergent portrait of suffering is, I hope, horrifying. It is also, entirely, elective. If we allow global warming to proceed, and to punish us with all the ferocity we have fed it, it will be because we have chosen that punishment—collectively walking down a path of suicide. If we avert it, it will be because we have chosen to walk a different path, and endure. The climate system that gave rise to the human species, and to everything we know of as civilization, is so fragile that it has been brought to the brink of total instability by just one generation of human activity. But that instability is also a measure of the human power that engineered it, almost by accident, and which now must stop the damage, in only as much time. If humans are responsible for the problem, they must be capable of undoing it. We have an idiomatic name for those who hold the fate of the world in their hands, as we do: gods.
Well written and covers a lot of different topics, but not exactly what I needed. As someone who already believes in the urgency to address climate change (and knows roughly enough about all the terrible things that have happened/could happen in the next decade because of it), there was very little actionable advice this book provided me, other than having me reaching for my anxiety pills lol
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
Interesting and frightening. I struggled with the overall structure of the text, and noticed several redundancies. I felt that the text could have been more reader-friendly in that regard, but appreciate the time and research the author took to present the information, even if I wished it had been easier to digest! I’ve never highlighted a text more than I have this one and definitely see myself referring back to my highlights during conversation regarding the climate and global warming.