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mgoorchenko's review
4.0
The content was extremely interesting and very important. I learned loads—about aspects of our planet and politics I did not know and which seem very urgent.
However, if I had to play a drinking game and take a shot every time the author use the word “harbinger,” I would be dead by now.
However, if I had to play a drinking game and take a shot every time the author use the word “harbinger,” I would be dead by now.
bibliotequeish's review
4.0
Some books are scary.
As a child The Hobbit scared me. As an adult I could understand that the likelihood of running into Sméagol was slim and the story turned from scary to fantastical.
While the powers that be may want you to believe that climate change is a modern day fantastical Sméagol, this book will open your eyes ... and terrify you in a way Tolkien never could.
I was shocked by this book. How did I not know that 200,000 people die annually in Bangladesh due to river erosion. That seems like the kind of thing people would be talking about, everywhere, all the time.
This book touches on many points, all of them important.
From bumblebees to the fresh water crisis.
It is important that we all know and understand the state our planet is in.
We use to wonder "What kind of world are we leaving for our grandkids".
We are ruining our planet at such an expediential rate that we don't have to wonder, we know that in 7 years the fresh water crisis will be at our doorstep. We know that the animals we use to draw and read about in Elementary school will be gone... extinct. How did we get to a point where killing off an entire species is something that is happening over and over again.
As a kid I learned about the dodo bird, and how we killed all of them, and we all wished we could have seen a real live dodo bird... now replace dodo bird with Elephant.
That's Earth now.
What happens on the other side of the planet will ripple over to us, it's not a debate.
It is fact and it's happening right now.
As a child The Hobbit scared me. As an adult I could understand that the likelihood of running into Sméagol was slim and the story turned from scary to fantastical.
While the powers that be may want you to believe that climate change is a modern day fantastical Sméagol, this book will open your eyes ... and terrify you in a way Tolkien never could.
I was shocked by this book. How did I not know that 200,000 people die annually in Bangladesh due to river erosion. That seems like the kind of thing people would be talking about, everywhere, all the time.
This book touches on many points, all of them important.
From bumblebees to the fresh water crisis.
It is important that we all know and understand the state our planet is in.
We use to wonder "What kind of world are we leaving for our grandkids".
We are ruining our planet at such an expediential rate that we don't have to wonder, we know that in 7 years the fresh water crisis will be at our doorstep. We know that the animals we use to draw and read about in Elementary school will be gone... extinct. How did we get to a point where killing off an entire species is something that is happening over and over again.
As a kid I learned about the dodo bird, and how we killed all of them, and we all wished we could have seen a real live dodo bird... now replace dodo bird with Elephant.
That's Earth now.
What happens on the other side of the planet will ripple over to us, it's not a debate.
It is fact and it's happening right now.
nataliejwong's review
2.0
I'm glad I read this, because I learned a lot and it was well written... but boy was it dense! Get ready to hunker down. Not sure I'd recommend, but if you are looking to learn more about climate change and the worlds efforts / lack there of, by all means this is the book to read.
lagos_tout's review against another edition
4.0
Good book. But focuses on meeting natural resource needs for current consumption rates and anticipated future increases. It doesn't address reducing such needs by altering consumption patterns or reducing consumption in terms of total quantity or growth rate.
ashedryden's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of repetition. Arguments aimed at folks who aren’t sold on climate change, so there’s a lot of inch deep and mile wide going on here with all the problems that go along with it. Seems more motivated by individual action vs top-down coordinated action, largely to appeal to the folks who’ve been hesitant to take these issues seriously.
There are better written books with better background + politics out there, I wouldn’t recommend this one.
There are better written books with better background + politics out there, I wouldn’t recommend this one.
mattycakesbooks's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting for the look into the geopolitics of climate, but when it comes to solutions, he says shit like, "climate shouldn't be a political issue," and then talks about how Republicans and Democrats can meld science and the free market to solve this. Which, no. To not understand capitalism's role in creating climate change is to misunderstand climate change, period.
Most frustratingly, he actually touches on the real solutions, which are small scale and pull on indigenous knowledge, but he fails to recognize that these solutions are usually undermined by the more powerful players that will supposedly save us with science and the free market.
There are better books on climate. Skip this one.
Most frustratingly, he actually touches on the real solutions, which are small scale and pull on indigenous knowledge, but he fails to recognize that these solutions are usually undermined by the more powerful players that will supposedly save us with science and the free market.
There are better books on climate. Skip this one.