Scan barcode
ifoundtheme's review
4.0
This book basically sums up the climate-related opinions I hold, with references to back up the impressions. The author, like me, seems to hold the opinions in the form of "based on my best information, this seems like the current preferred course, but I would like to be convinced of other scenarios".
You could get most of the opinions by reading a synopsis (nuclear & GMOs: useful, unscientific fervor from any party: deleterious). But Brand's writing is concise and entertaining (especially the last chapter) so you may as well read the whole thing.
You could get most of the opinions by reading a synopsis (nuclear & GMOs: useful, unscientific fervor from any party: deleterious). But Brand's writing is concise and entertaining (especially the last chapter) so you may as well read the whole thing.
danarama's review
5.0
This is more or less the best book I've read in ages. Brand is an old-guard environmentalist and in Whole Earth Discipline, he is calling out the Green/environmental movement on topics they've been (in his opinion) very, very wrong about. The other theme is practical measures that we can take to stave of climate change.
What's great about the book is that it challenged my thinking on a bunch of different topics. Climate change is a danger of the utmost urgency to Brand (and it should be for all of us) but he seems quite optimistic through the book.
The three big Green myths discussed:
1) Cities are polluted and bad. In fact, cities are so densely packed with people that they are very energy efficient. Manhattan is one of the greenest habitations on the planet. People who live in the country and suburbs drive everywhere and use way more energy than their urban counterparts. When people move from the countryside, even into slums, they have fewer children. The mass exodus from rural to slums going on in the world has so effectively diffused the population bomb that some countries (like Mexico and China) face declining populations in the next few decades, which is going to cause serious economic problems. Cities are good and we should encourage people to live as densely as we can.
If I have a criticism of this section, it's that he seems to nearly glorify life in the slums.
2) Nuclear power. This book came out I think about a year or so before the Fukushima. I'm curious if that's changed his mind. But nuclear power is presented as the best, cheapest, cleanest, most environmentally friendly way for us to generate power. Especially given how horribly reliant so many places are on burning coal. He discusses the Chernobyl disaster and it turns out the effects were far, far less dire than everyone expected. Cancer rates in the vicinity are virtually indistinguishable from anywhere else. Somewhat perversely, because people are scared to live there, it's effectively become a massive nature preserve. The animals are thriving and showing little or no effects from higher background radiation.
3) GMO plants. This might be section that upsets people the most, but he makes the claim that genetic engineering is nothing more than a finer-tuned, more useful, more effective version of the cross-breeding we've been doing for centuries. After a couple of decades of intense scrutiny, there is no evidence that GE crops pose any health or environmental risks.
In fact, because we can so carefully modify genomes, GMO plants are better for the environment because strains can be produced that are much more resistant to floods, droughts and pests and thus be farmed with far less strain on the soil than organic crops.
Those are the main topics of the book. He goes on to discuss geoengineering -- very massive scale projects we can undertake to cool the atmosphere if/when things get desperate.
I think this is a book everyone should read, even if you're prepared to be really, really angry at it.
What's great about the book is that it challenged my thinking on a bunch of different topics. Climate change is a danger of the utmost urgency to Brand (and it should be for all of us) but he seems quite optimistic through the book.
The three big Green myths discussed:
1) Cities are polluted and bad. In fact, cities are so densely packed with people that they are very energy efficient. Manhattan is one of the greenest habitations on the planet. People who live in the country and suburbs drive everywhere and use way more energy than their urban counterparts. When people move from the countryside, even into slums, they have fewer children. The mass exodus from rural to slums going on in the world has so effectively diffused the population bomb that some countries (like Mexico and China) face declining populations in the next few decades, which is going to cause serious economic problems. Cities are good and we should encourage people to live as densely as we can.
If I have a criticism of this section, it's that he seems to nearly glorify life in the slums.
2) Nuclear power. This book came out I think about a year or so before the Fukushima. I'm curious if that's changed his mind. But nuclear power is presented as the best, cheapest, cleanest, most environmentally friendly way for us to generate power. Especially given how horribly reliant so many places are on burning coal. He discusses the Chernobyl disaster and it turns out the effects were far, far less dire than everyone expected. Cancer rates in the vicinity are virtually indistinguishable from anywhere else. Somewhat perversely, because people are scared to live there, it's effectively become a massive nature preserve. The animals are thriving and showing little or no effects from higher background radiation.
3) GMO plants. This might be section that upsets people the most, but he makes the claim that genetic engineering is nothing more than a finer-tuned, more useful, more effective version of the cross-breeding we've been doing for centuries. After a couple of decades of intense scrutiny, there is no evidence that GE crops pose any health or environmental risks.
In fact, because we can so carefully modify genomes, GMO plants are better for the environment because strains can be produced that are much more resistant to floods, droughts and pests and thus be farmed with far less strain on the soil than organic crops.
Those are the main topics of the book. He goes on to discuss geoengineering -- very massive scale projects we can undertake to cool the atmosphere if/when things get desperate.
I think this is a book everyone should read, even if you're prepared to be really, really angry at it.