Books to Get You Thinking
Today our planet faces an impending crisis - global warming causing extreme climate changes is a phenomenon that has grown in severity over the years. Widespread deforestation and large scale use of fossil fuels has occurred over the past few decades following the increase in world population, as well as a rapid growth in overall consumption levels. These have resulted in higher carbon emissions and steadily rising temperatures on Earth. The consequences of the gradually rising temperatures are evident today in melting ice caps and changing patterns of sea currents, which has lead to dramatic changes in climate that include more violent and frequent hurricanes, floods, droughts and famines.
Global warming has also become a major driver of wildlife decline, according to a New York Times summary of the recently released 1,500 page report by the United Nations1. The local climates that many mammals, birds, insects, fish and plants need for survival are shifting or shrinking. When combined with the other ways humans are damaging the environment, climate change is now pushing a growing number of species closer to extinction.
The impact of climate change is clearly evident and requires a concerted effort by all nations to move to clean energy sources and bring down carbon emission levels to net-zero levels by 2050 at the latest. Joseph Stiglitz, Professor at Columbia and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics, likens the need for countries to confront and battle the grave outcomes of global warming and climate change with the same urgency that nations displayed during during World War II when they collectively mobilized their industrial, scientific, engineering and natural resources2.
Given the gravity of the issue, there has been a surge in books published recently that illuminate many different aspects of global warming and the steps that can be taken to counter them. Readers can access these important titles at the Mercer County Library System!
The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming by David Wallace - Wells
By drawing the attention of readers to what the current trend of rising temperatures on earth would mean to the way we live, David Wallace-Wells, journalist and deputy editor of New York Magazine as well as the Guardian, makes an impassioned case for the need for action to counter global warming. Scientific evidence shows that even warming just 2 degrees Celsius would translate into melting ice sheets, floods, water scarcity, heat waves and fires - making many areas of the earth uninhabitable. Arctic permafrost, soil that has stayed permanently frozen thus far, would likely thaw and release enormous amounts of methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon. Also trapped in Arctic ice are disease causing bugs that have not circulated in the air for millions of years and for which humans have no immunity. To avert this looming ecological disaster, different tools must be mobilized and deployed, including a shift to green energy resources, imposing of carbon taxes, and discovery and use of carbon capture technology. Technology has reduced the price of wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars, making it economically viable to move away from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. How fast the world responds to the global warming crisis today will determine the fate of all humanity in the decades to follow.
Burning Up: A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption by Simon Pirani
In this deeply researched and insightful book, Simon Pirani, from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, focuses on the rising growth in the use of fossil fuels since the second half of the twentieth century that is responsible for global warming and associated climate changes. The author relates the soaring levels of fossil fuel consumption to evolving technological systems that are deeply embedded in in the social and economic infrastructures within which they operate. He identifies six social and economic processes that have played a major role in the current non-sustainable levels of fossil fuel use: industrialization and the expansion of energy intensive industries such as steel and cement; technological changes in the labor process; electrification; urbanization; motorization; and the growth of consumerism along with rising household consumption. The premise of the book is that it is only by understanding the reasons that have led up to this crisis can we hope to find solutions that can effectively counter these forces. While it is critical to take steps to deploy technology for reducing fossil fuel consumption, ultimately Pirani reflects that it is the entire society’s collective will, which when harnessed, can lead to a successful transition away from fossil fuels to renewable forms of energy.
Losing Earth: A Climate History by Nathanial Rich
Nathanial Rich provides a lucid picture not only of the grave threat humanity faces today from earth’s rising temperatures, but renders a revealing account of our failure to respond with neutralizing measures, despite being aware of the impending dangers of climate change for the past forty years. As early as 1979, scientists had sounded warnings of the powerful repercussions the rising use of fossil fuels would have on climate and life on our planet. In the decade that followed, the governments and policy makers widely accepted countering climate change as a necessary goal. Within the US and among all nations there was a general consensus for regulations to curb the use of fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions by two percent by 2005. However, since 1989 the petroleum and energy industries - in a concerted effort to protect their revenues and profits - began to systematically lobby Congress members against any regulations to curb fossil fuel use while at the same time discrediting and denying the substance of scientific studies that focused on global warming. As a result, not only was there an absence of any measures to curb carbon emissions, but emissions rose at a much higher rate than ever before, bringing us to the crisis that we face today.
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Elizabeth Kolbert’s widely acclaimed work won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction and was also featured as a 2014 Best Book in the January 2015 edition of Books to Get You Thinking. The author, a prolific science writer for the New Yorker, delves back 3.8 billion years in the Earth’s history and examines the specific phenomenon that resulted in the “Big Five” extinctions. In the second part of the book, the author turns her attention to the role mankind is currently playing in changing climate and disrupting the eco-system which makes a sixth extinction very probable in the future. The process is examined through tracing the effects of large scale dumping of gaseous waste into the earth’s atmosphere. The resultant rapidly rising temperatures of both atmosphere and the ocean waters are jeopardizing many life forms and species – examples abound in the Amazon Rainforest, the slopes of the Andes and the outer banks of the Great Barrier Reef. Kolbert calls out for the urgent need to shift away from the short term view we have while making industrial and agricultural policy decisions, and return to sustainable living to prevent mass extinction and the end of civilization as we know it.
Sustainability Made Simple: Small Changes for Big Impact by Rosaly Byrd and Lauren DeMates
The authors highlight the science and facts related to sustainability while discussing specific measures to promote a sustainable way of life that can be taken by government, policy makers, utility companies and industry, as well as individuals. The past fifty years have seen enormous economic growth and technology advancements accompanied by leaps in electric power generation as well as a surge in transportation through land, air and sea. The result has been the emission of vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. With higher consumption demands, large areas of forests are being cleared for farming and other activities. We now stand at a pivotal point in the long history of our planet where the steps we take today will determine what kind of a world we will face in the next fifty years. It is critically important that both industry and government integrate social and environmental considerations into project planning with an active use of regulations and economic incentives to control future greenhouse gas emissions and protect our ecosystems. Engaged consumers and nonprofits can influence industry to adopt sustainable supply chains to avoid negative environmental effects. The authors also include a comprehensive list of actions that individuals can implement in everyday life that would prove effective in our fight to promote sustainability.
1https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/climate/biodiversity-extinction-united-nations.html
2https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/04/climate-change-world-war-iii-green-new-deal
Global warming has also become a major driver of wildlife decline, according to a New York Times summary of the recently released 1,500 page report by the United Nations1. The local climates that many mammals, birds, insects, fish and plants need for survival are shifting or shrinking. When combined with the other ways humans are damaging the environment, climate change is now pushing a growing number of species closer to extinction.
The impact of climate change is clearly evident and requires a concerted effort by all nations to move to clean energy sources and bring down carbon emission levels to net-zero levels by 2050 at the latest. Joseph Stiglitz, Professor at Columbia and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics, likens the need for countries to confront and battle the grave outcomes of global warming and climate change with the same urgency that nations displayed during during World War II when they collectively mobilized their industrial, scientific, engineering and natural resources2.
Given the gravity of the issue, there has been a surge in books published recently that illuminate many different aspects of global warming and the steps that can be taken to counter them. Readers can access these important titles at the Mercer County Library System!
By drawing the attention of readers to what the current trend of rising temperatures on earth would mean to the way we live, David Wallace-Wells, journalist and deputy editor of New York Magazine as well as the Guardian, makes an impassioned case for the need for action to counter global warming. Scientific evidence shows that even warming just 2 degrees Celsius would translate into melting ice sheets, floods, water scarcity, heat waves and fires - making many areas of the earth uninhabitable. Arctic permafrost, soil that has stayed permanently frozen thus far, would likely thaw and release enormous amounts of methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon. Also trapped in Arctic ice are disease causing bugs that have not circulated in the air for millions of years and for which humans have no immunity. To avert this looming ecological disaster, different tools must be mobilized and deployed, including a shift to green energy resources, imposing of carbon taxes, and discovery and use of carbon capture technology. Technology has reduced the price of wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars, making it economically viable to move away from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. How fast the world responds to the global warming crisis today will determine the fate of all humanity in the decades to follow.
In this deeply researched and insightful book, Simon Pirani, from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, focuses on the rising growth in the use of fossil fuels since the second half of the twentieth century that is responsible for global warming and associated climate changes. The author relates the soaring levels of fossil fuel consumption to evolving technological systems that are deeply embedded in in the social and economic infrastructures within which they operate. He identifies six social and economic processes that have played a major role in the current non-sustainable levels of fossil fuel use: industrialization and the expansion of energy intensive industries such as steel and cement; technological changes in the labor process; electrification; urbanization; motorization; and the growth of consumerism along with rising household consumption. The premise of the book is that it is only by understanding the reasons that have led up to this crisis can we hope to find solutions that can effectively counter these forces. While it is critical to take steps to deploy technology for reducing fossil fuel consumption, ultimately Pirani reflects that it is the entire society’s collective will, which when harnessed, can lead to a successful transition away from fossil fuels to renewable forms of energy.
Nathanial Rich provides a lucid picture not only of the grave threat humanity faces today from earth’s rising temperatures, but renders a revealing account of our failure to respond with neutralizing measures, despite being aware of the impending dangers of climate change for the past forty years. As early as 1979, scientists had sounded warnings of the powerful repercussions the rising use of fossil fuels would have on climate and life on our planet. In the decade that followed, the governments and policy makers widely accepted countering climate change as a necessary goal. Within the US and among all nations there was a general consensus for regulations to curb the use of fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions by two percent by 2005. However, since 1989 the petroleum and energy industries - in a concerted effort to protect their revenues and profits - began to systematically lobby Congress members against any regulations to curb fossil fuel use while at the same time discrediting and denying the substance of scientific studies that focused on global warming. As a result, not only was there an absence of any measures to curb carbon emissions, but emissions rose at a much higher rate than ever before, bringing us to the crisis that we face today.
Elizabeth Kolbert’s widely acclaimed work won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction and was also featured as a 2014 Best Book in the January 2015 edition of Books to Get You Thinking. The author, a prolific science writer for the New Yorker, delves back 3.8 billion years in the Earth’s history and examines the specific phenomenon that resulted in the “Big Five” extinctions. In the second part of the book, the author turns her attention to the role mankind is currently playing in changing climate and disrupting the eco-system which makes a sixth extinction very probable in the future. The process is examined through tracing the effects of large scale dumping of gaseous waste into the earth’s atmosphere. The resultant rapidly rising temperatures of both atmosphere and the ocean waters are jeopardizing many life forms and species – examples abound in the Amazon Rainforest, the slopes of the Andes and the outer banks of the Great Barrier Reef. Kolbert calls out for the urgent need to shift away from the short term view we have while making industrial and agricultural policy decisions, and return to sustainable living to prevent mass extinction and the end of civilization as we know it.
The authors highlight the science and facts related to sustainability while discussing specific measures to promote a sustainable way of life that can be taken by government, policy makers, utility companies and industry, as well as individuals. The past fifty years have seen enormous economic growth and technology advancements accompanied by leaps in electric power generation as well as a surge in transportation through land, air and sea. The result has been the emission of vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. With higher consumption demands, large areas of forests are being cleared for farming and other activities. We now stand at a pivotal point in the long history of our planet where the steps we take today will determine what kind of a world we will face in the next fifty years. It is critically important that both industry and government integrate social and environmental considerations into project planning with an active use of regulations and economic incentives to control future greenhouse gas emissions and protect our ecosystems. Engaged consumers and nonprofits can influence industry to adopt sustainable supply chains to avoid negative environmental effects. The authors also include a comprehensive list of actions that individuals can implement in everyday life that would prove effective in our fight to promote sustainability.
1https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/climate/biodiversity-extinction-united-nations.html
2https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/04/climate-change-world-war-iii-green-new-deal
- Nita Mathur, West Windsor Branch
Comments
Post a Comment