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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
This talks about the horrifying possible scenarios that climate change gives us, tries to find responsibilities and stresses the urgency of the matter. Although it can open the eyes of many people, it is not a hopeful book, but an alarmist one. Interesting and necessary, but also hard to read at times.
informative
slow-paced
A story of the future where oceans are dying, the air is unbreathable and disasters are no longer natural. This is a book describing our future if we sit by and do nothing. If we don't take action, don't stop burning fossil fuels and if we carry on with this 'business as usual' attitude, then this is the future we can look forward to. A future with so many more dying, droughts, floods, wildfires that burn for longer and hotter, pandemics and damage costs in the trillions.
It's a harrowing read, difficult to get through but absolutely necessary. We all need to take responsibility for our actions, think about our impact on the environment and work together for change. Our planet is dying and we are moving towards a mass extinction - this book shows us this and I hope this review encourages you to read this book. I hope you are as scared as I am about our future and want to do all you can to prevent the planet warming further.
It's a harrowing read, difficult to get through but absolutely necessary. We all need to take responsibility for our actions, think about our impact on the environment and work together for change. Our planet is dying and we are moving towards a mass extinction - this book shows us this and I hope this review encourages you to read this book. I hope you are as scared as I am about our future and want to do all you can to prevent the planet warming further.
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
While listening to this, I happened to have a conference call with a client of mine who works in the climate change space and she immediately shushed me when I brought up this book, saying "I simply can't handle it and I know too many people who have struggled to come back from reading it."
Yeah, it's that kind of book.
Wallace-Wells is a great journalistic writer. He makes the subject clear and relevant to the reader, and I know he added a lot to my understanding to the issues surrounding climate change. Unfortunately there's not a lot of point in knowing more detail about the train barreling down to run you over, but I'm the kind of curious person who likes to know all the same.
Here are some bits that have stuck with me:
- Of all the greenhouse gases (GHGs) we've emitted since the invention of the steam engine, HALF of them have been in the last 25 years. That's when scientists and governments started to "fight" global warming through the creation of the IPCC and other efforts. Yes, we humans did half the damage we are currently grappling with fully aware of the damage we were doing. This is not a case of history coming back to bite us. This is willful and greedy negligence on the part of a single generation. I get mad even writing this paragraph.
- We are actively _increasing our fossil fuel capacity_ all over the world, even now. Despite ever mounting evidence, not a single government is making much progress to curb emissions and world emissions are still *increasing* every year. That's despite most experts agreeing we have ~10 years to halve worldwide emissions. WTF!! For more outrageous detail on this, please read Naomi Klein's [b:This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate|21913812|This Changes Everything Capitalism vs. The Climate|Naomi Klein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1418103804l/21913812._SY75_.jpg|41247321].
- The Paris Agreement laid out that we ought to target 1.5 degrees of warming and an absolute worst case outcome would be to allow 2 degrees. Current emissions levels would land us at nearly 4 degrees, and if the trend of ever-increasing emissions would continue, we're looking at 7 degrees. The hottest the planet has ever been is 5 degrees warmer and during that era there were tropical forests at the poles and North America had a giant ocean in the middle of it. Seas were 250 feet higher than they are now. Seriously, this could happen in 150-200 years.
- Sea level rise isn't even the worst part! With such a rapid change to global temperatures, basically every living thing (plants, animals, insects, bacteria, etc.) will suffer and maybe die. Most of the mid-latitudes will become uninhabitable by humans, and while some of us will certainly survive, along with whatever else we can quickly engineer to survive, but the world will look very different from today, especially if warming is at the higher end of the possible range.
- Social upheaval and war are going to be the norm for a long time. With less arable land, drought, increased disasters, and a generally warmer environment, people are going to come to violence and refugees (as many as a billion) will add further strain to an already brittle political environment.
- Lastly, and perhaps I should have put this first, this is all SUPER PREVENTABLE. We have the technologies we need to decarbonize almost all of our activities. With a World War 2-like mobilization of just the top 5 industrial economies, we really could do it. And just like World War 2, it would probably make us rich again. But instead of doing that, we are f*cking around with impeachment, deregulating/gutting our economies, and nattering on about Brexit.
Yeah, it's that kind of book.
Wallace-Wells is a great journalistic writer. He makes the subject clear and relevant to the reader, and I know he added a lot to my understanding to the issues surrounding climate change. Unfortunately there's not a lot of point in knowing more detail about the train barreling down to run you over, but I'm the kind of curious person who likes to know all the same.
Here are some bits that have stuck with me:
- Of all the greenhouse gases (GHGs) we've emitted since the invention of the steam engine, HALF of them have been in the last 25 years. That's when scientists and governments started to "fight" global warming through the creation of the IPCC and other efforts. Yes, we humans did half the damage we are currently grappling with fully aware of the damage we were doing. This is not a case of history coming back to bite us. This is willful and greedy negligence on the part of a single generation. I get mad even writing this paragraph.
- We are actively _increasing our fossil fuel capacity_ all over the world, even now. Despite ever mounting evidence, not a single government is making much progress to curb emissions and world emissions are still *increasing* every year. That's despite most experts agreeing we have ~10 years to halve worldwide emissions. WTF!! For more outrageous detail on this, please read Naomi Klein's [b:This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate|21913812|This Changes Everything Capitalism vs. The Climate|Naomi Klein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1418103804l/21913812._SY75_.jpg|41247321].
- The Paris Agreement laid out that we ought to target 1.5 degrees of warming and an absolute worst case outcome would be to allow 2 degrees. Current emissions levels would land us at nearly 4 degrees, and if the trend of ever-increasing emissions would continue, we're looking at 7 degrees. The hottest the planet has ever been is 5 degrees warmer and during that era there were tropical forests at the poles and North America had a giant ocean in the middle of it. Seas were 250 feet higher than they are now. Seriously, this could happen in 150-200 years.
- Sea level rise isn't even the worst part! With such a rapid change to global temperatures, basically every living thing (plants, animals, insects, bacteria, etc.) will suffer and maybe die. Most of the mid-latitudes will become uninhabitable by humans, and while some of us will certainly survive, along with whatever else we can quickly engineer to survive, but the world will look very different from today, especially if warming is at the higher end of the possible range.
- Social upheaval and war are going to be the norm for a long time. With less arable land, drought, increased disasters, and a generally warmer environment, people are going to come to violence and refugees (as many as a billion) will add further strain to an already brittle political environment.
- Lastly, and perhaps I should have put this first, this is all SUPER PREVENTABLE. We have the technologies we need to decarbonize almost all of our activities. With a World War 2-like mobilization of just the top 5 industrial economies, we really could do it. And just like World War 2, it would probably make us rich again. But instead of doing that, we are f*cking around with impeachment, deregulating/gutting our economies, and nattering on about Brexit.
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
Well, I can’t say that I enjoyed it. But do I think everyone should read it? Yes, yes I do.