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A review by bookherd
Reason in a Dark Time: Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed -- And What It Means for Our Future by Dale Jamieson
3.0
This book gives a history of the climate change movement and an analysis of why global attempts to act together to stop or slow climate change have fallen short of their objectives. Jamieson shows why standard economic and ethical arguments aren't suited to showing us why it's important to do what needs to be done to address climate change, and thus aren't motivators for us. He also accounts for political interests undercutting attempts to make changes in the United States. Jamieson has some suggestions for proceeding, but he acknowledges that at this point climate change is not going to be stopped.
In spite of the technical language in the sections on economics and ethics, I thought this was a pretty readable book. The history of climate science and investigation into climate change was especially interesting for me, since I didn't know how long ago people began to think that climate change was coming. I found the analysis depressing, but not surprising, and Jamieson's suggestions for how to proceed modest, but probably realistic. Obviously this isn't a cheery beach read, but it's a worthwhile one.
In spite of the technical language in the sections on economics and ethics, I thought this was a pretty readable book. The history of climate science and investigation into climate change was especially interesting for me, since I didn't know how long ago people began to think that climate change was coming. I found the analysis depressing, but not surprising, and Jamieson's suggestions for how to proceed modest, but probably realistic. Obviously this isn't a cheery beach read, but it's a worthwhile one.