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naddie_reads 's review for:
The Uninhabitable Earth: A Story of the Future
by David Wallace-Wells
After picking this up once sometime in September before abandoning it for over a month, I've finally finished this book. The reason for that is simple: this was a depressing read. It highlights so many things that could go wrong with our planet if there's little to no action taken to mitigate climate change, and more often than not we find that most of the countries which are committed to minimizing their carbon footprint did not manage to achieve their target most of the time.
Furthermore, as the author emphasizes countless times throughout the book, the fight for climate change is a collective one and one that is more easily handled on a collective level, globally -- which means that for the solutions being undertaken to become effective, changes are required on the policy level. Given how hapless most of our governments are in the face of influence from wealthy corporations to hold off on these energy-saving policies, you can imagine why one would be depressed at the realization that humanity might be fighting a losing battle.
Personally, this is why I didn't find the book all that helpful by the end: After all the nightmare scenarios the author has put us through, there was really nothing in the book that offers some hint of optimism at how we all might contribute to fighting off the effects of global warming. Not only is the author an alarmist, he almost comes across as fatalistic, considering there are little to no insights as to what we can do to combat our current lethargy.
Anyway, if you're looking to read this, fair warning: while it's very effective in outlining the cause and effect and probable impact of global warming and climate change, it's not particularly useful in terms of providing guidelines on how to mitigate said changes. That would require further reading into the subject.
Rating: 3.75 (Informational, but too fatalistic for my taste)
Furthermore, as the author emphasizes countless times throughout the book, the fight for climate change is a collective one and one that is more easily handled on a collective level, globally -- which means that for the solutions being undertaken to become effective, changes are required on the policy level. Given how hapless most of our governments are in the face of influence from wealthy corporations to hold off on these energy-saving policies, you can imagine why one would be depressed at the realization that humanity might be fighting a losing battle.
Personally, this is why I didn't find the book all that helpful by the end: After all the nightmare scenarios the author has put us through, there was really nothing in the book that offers some hint of optimism at how we all might contribute to fighting off the effects of global warming. Not only is the author an alarmist, he almost comes across as fatalistic, considering there are little to no insights as to what we can do to combat our current lethargy.
Anyway, if you're looking to read this, fair warning: while it's very effective in outlining the cause and effect and probable impact of global warming and climate change, it's not particularly useful in terms of providing guidelines on how to mitigate said changes. That would require further reading into the subject.
Rating: 3.75 (Informational, but too fatalistic for my taste)