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Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions
Joseph J. Romm
In 2009, Rolling Stone named Joe Romm to its list of "100 People Who Are Changing America." Romm is a climate expert, physicist, energy consultant, and former official in the Department of Energy. But it's his influential blog, one of the "Top Fifteen Green Websites" according to Time magazine, that's caught national attention. Climate change is far more urgent than people understand, Romm says, and traditional media, scientists, and politicians are missing the story. Straight Up draws...
Amazon Rating:  | |
| US$19.75 |  |
(As of Sep 05 17:16 , info) | |
27 reviews from Green blogs:
- Climate Progress 29 Aug 10
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- Worldchanging 28 Jul 10
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- Climate Progress 12 Jul 10
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- Climate Progress 27 Jun 10
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- Grist - Climate & Energy 17 May 10
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- Climate Progress 04 May 10
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- Climate Progress 29 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 24 Apr 10
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- treehugger 22 Apr 10
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- Grist - Climate & Energy 22 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 21 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 21 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 20 Apr 10
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- Grist - Climate & Energy 20 Apr 10
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- Green on HuffingtonPost.com 19 Apr 10
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- Grist - Climate & Energy 19 Apr 10
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- Grist - Climate & Energy 19 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 19 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 17 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 16 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 15 Apr 10
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- Grist - Climate & Energy 12 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 11 Apr 10
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- Climate Progress 31 Mar 10
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- Grist - Climate & Energy 31 Mar 10
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- Climate Progress 30 Mar 10
blogs
27
posts
Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions
Joseph J. Romm
In 2009, Rolling Stone named Joe Romm to its list of "100 People Who Are Changing America." Romm is a climate expert, physicist, energy consultant, and former official in the Department of Energy. But it's his influential blog, one of the "Top Fifteen Green Websites" according to Time magazine, that's caught national attention. Climate change is far more urgent than people understand, Romm says, and traditional media, scientists, and politicians are missing the story. Straight Up draws on Romm's most important posts to explain the dangers of and solutions to climate change that you won't find in newspapers, in journals, or on T.V. Compared to coverage of Jay-Z or the latest philandering politician, climate change makes up a pathetically small share of news reports. And when journalists do try to tackle this complex issue, they often lack the background to tell the full story. Despite the dearth of reporting, polls show that two in five Americans think the press is actually exaggerating the threat of climate change. That gives Big Oil, and others with a vested interest in the status quo, a huge opportunity to mislead the public. Romm cuts through the misinformation and presents the truth about humanity's most dire threat. His analysis is based on sophisticated knowledge of renewable technologies, climate impacts, and government policy, written in a style everyone can understand. Romm shows how a 20 percent reduction in global emissions over the next quarter century could improve the economy; how we can replace most coal and with what technologies; why Sarah Palin wears a polar bear pin; and why controversial, emerging technologies like biochar have to be part of the solution. The ultimate solution, Romm argues, is bigger than any individual technology: it's citizen action. Without public pressure, Washington and industry don't budge. With it, our grandkids might just have a habitable place to live.
| Amazon Rating: | |
| US$19.75 | |
(As of Sep 05 17:16 , info) | |
27 reviews from Green blogs:
- Climate Progress 29 Aug 10:
... As I wrote above, if I have learned anything from the blog, it is that there is in fact a great hunger out there to face unpleasant facts head on. And that is possibly the most reassuring thing I have learned in the past four years. Thank you all for that! This post was revised for my book, Straight Up, with the help of two of the best editors I know: Todd Baldwin, of Island Press, and Ethel Grodzins Romm. Related Post: How the status quo media failed on climate change ... - Worldchanging 28 Jul 10:
... Bill McKibben — some-time guest blogger and the author most recently of the must-read book Eaarth — has a challenging review of my book Straight Up in the Washington Monthly. He literally challenges me to talk more about political movements on my blog, Climate Progress, such as the one he cofounded, 350. org. I accept. Indeed, I issue a challenge of my own to 350. org to change its focus and get more political! I’d love to hear your thoughts — and I’m quite sure that McKibben would, too. So I’ll mostly dispense with the parts in which he explains why you should buy the book if you’re interested in climate or the Web — “this book—a collection of some of his thousands of blog posts—is a good way to think not only about climate but about the uses of the Web” — and cut to his challenge: In fact, my main dispute with Romm’s work is his relentless focus on Washington…. ... - Climate Progress 12 Jul 10:
... Bill McKibben — some-time guest blogger and the author most recently of the must-read book Eaarth — has a challenging review of my book Straight Up in the Washington Monthly. He literally challenges me to talk more about political movements on this blog, such has the one he cofounded, 350. org. I accept. Indeed, I issue a challenge of my own to 350. org to change its focus and get more political! I’d love to hear your thoughts — and I’m quite sure that McKibben would, too. So I’ll mostly dispense with the parts in which he explains why you should buy the book if you’re interested in climate or the Web — “this book—a collection of some of his thousands of blog posts—is a good way to think not only about climate but about the uses of the Web” — and cut to his challenge: In fact, my main dispute with Romm’s work is his relentless focus on Washington…. ... - Climate Progress 27 Jun 10:
... At least that’s what Wikipedia says. But my daughter keeps me young at heart. And the blog keeps my neurons firing. Thanks for that. For my b’day, consider either buying my book or posting a globally heart-warming story — think “Chicken Soup for the Climate Science Realist’s Soul, ” since I don’t expect to see that book anytime soon…. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 17 May 10:
... ” Thus it is almost certainly the case that the planet has warmed up more this decade than NASA says, and especially more than the UK’s Hadley Center says (see Why are Hadley and CRU withholding vital climate data from the public? and Finally, the truth about the Hadley/CRU data: “The global temperature rise calculated by the Met Office’s HadCRUT record is at the lower end of likely warming”). After the endless disinformation-based global cooling stories of the past few years, it’s time for the media to start do some serious fact-based global warming stories (unlike this piece of he-said, she-said journalistic crap from the Boston Globe I’ll blog on Monday). Related Post: Arctic poised to see record low sea ice volume this year If you liked this post and want to get daily email updates of the latest news and analysis on climate science, solution, and politics, click here. ... - Climate Progress 04 May 10:
... … buy my book, Straight Up: America’s Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. Traffic is up 50% as Climate Progress has been providing readers the most comprehensive coverage on the BP oil disaster — from the causes to the human impacts to the policy implications — for free! So I thought I’d take the opportunity to plug my book, which devotes an entire chapter to peak oil and what to do about it, and another to the “clean energy solution. ” In other chapters, the book explains how the media and the anti-science disinformers have undercut efforts to mobilize the kind of political effort the country needs to dramatically reduce fossil fuel use once and for all. ... - Climate Progress 29 Apr 10:
... If a climate bill doesn’t become law this year, the inclination among many progressives will be to blame President Obama for his lack of leadership. And frankly progressives should be critical of Obama: In a bunch of pretty speeches he has repeatedly said the climate and clean energy jobs bill was a signature issue that would determine whether America achieves “lasting prosperity” or “decline” (see “Success or failure for Obama Presidency hangs in the balance” with climate bill). But two recent stories remind us of who really is to blame for two decades of inaction. ... - Climate Progress 24 Apr 10:
... Tom Friedman has a new column, “Tea Party With a Difference. ” He refers to my “insightful new book” Straight Up. If you want to buy that book, which has been called the “premiere book on climate change, ” click here. If you want to know more about me or this website, start with “An Introduction to Climate Progress. ” You can get daily email updates on climate science, solutions, and politics by clicking here. The Climate Progress post he quotes from is “Straight Up: What to look for in the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill. ” Friedman proposes a Green Tea Party of the “radical center” to supersede the current fringe Tea Party that is lurching to the “hard libertarian right”: Indeed, the Green Tea Party could say, “We’ve got our own health care plan — a plan to make America healthy by simultaneously promoting energy security, deficit security and environmental security. ... - treehugger 22 Apr 10:
... Most serious climate watchers already know the name Joe Romm pretty well. A physicist, author, and a top Dept. of Energy official during the Clinton Administration, Romm now runs Climate Progress, a must-read for followers of green politics and climate science. His latest book is ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 22 Apr 10:
... We simply aren’t sufficiently desperate to do what is needed, which is nonstop deployment of a staggering amount of low-carbon energy, including efficiency, for the rest of the century. And so my criteria for judging the bill focuses on whether it will create the conditions that will allow more desperate policy makers in the not-too-distant future to have a realistic chance of getting on the necessary path. My new book Straight Up includes one essay on the House’s astonishing yet dissatisfying achievement in passing the Waxman-Markey bill. It explains that when we are that desperate, probably in the 2020s, we’ll want to already have: substantially dropped below the business-as-usual emissions pathstarted every major business planning for much deeper reductionsgoosed the cleantech venture and financing communityput in place the entire framework for U. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 22 Apr 10:
... org says Straight Up is the “most scientifically well-informed book on the scope of and solutions to the problem of climate change there is. ”Christopher Mims writes the “two books that you must read” to be “culturally literate about climate change” are Mark Lynas’s Six Degrees and Straight Up. I could use your help getting out the word on the book. Here’s some material for an email:“The Web’s most influential climate-change blogger” and “Hero of the Environment 2009” —Time Magazine“I trust Joe Romm on climate. ” — Paul Krugman, New York Times“America’s fiercest climate-change activist-blogger, ” and one of “The 100 People Who Are Changing America” — Rolling Stone“One of the most influential energy and environmental policy makers in the Obama era” — U. ... - Climate Progress 21 Apr 10:
... We simply aren’t sufficiently desperate to do what is needed, which is nonstop deployment of a staggering amount of low-carbon energy, including efficiency, for the rest of the century. And so my criteria for judging the bill focuses on whether it will create the conditions that will allow more desperate policy makers in the not-too-distant future to have a realistic chance of getting on the necessary path. My new book Straight Up includes one essay on the House’s astonishing yet dissatisfying achievement in passing the Waxman-Markey bill. It explains that when we are that desperate, probably in the 2020s, we’ll want to already have: substantially dropped below the business-as-usual emissions path started every major business planning for much deeper reductions goosed the cleantech venture and financing community put in place the entire framework for U. ... - Climate Progress 21 Apr 10:
... org says Straight Up is the “most scientifically well-informed book on the scope of and solutions to the problem of climate change there is. ” Christopher Mims writes the “two books that you must read” to be “culturally literate about climate change” are Mark Lynas’s Six Degrees and Straight Up. I could use your help getting out the word on the book. Here’s some material for an email: “The Web’s most influential climate-change blogger” and “Hero of the Environment 2009” —Time Magazine “I trust Joe Romm on climate. ” — Paul Krugman, New York Times “America’s fiercest climate-change activist-blogger, ” and one of “The 100 People Who Are Changing America” — Rolling Stone “One of the most influential energy and environmental policy makers in the Obama era” — U. ... - Climate Progress 20 Apr 10:
... Here is something you twitterers out there can retweet, from twitter. com/algore: The Nobel prize-winner has posted a longer recommendation on his website: An Important New Book Joe Romm is one of the most important and influential voices fighting for an end to the climate crisis. His blog, Climate Progress, is a must read. Romm just published an important new book, titled Straight Up: America’s Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. In the book, Romm “cuts through the misinformation and presents the truth about humanity’s most dire threat. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 20 Apr 10:
... by Joseph Romm Here is something you twitterers out there can retweet, from twitter. com/algore:The Nobel prize-winner has posted a longer recommendation on his website: An Important New BookJoe Romm is one of the most important and influential voices fighting for an end to the climate crisis. His blog, Climate Progress, is a must read. Romm just published an important new book, titled Straight Up: America’s Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. In the book, Romm “cuts through the misinformation and presents the truth about humanity’s most dire threat. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 19 Apr 10:
... Joe Romm is one of the most important and influential voices fighting for an end to the climate crisis. His blog, Climate Progress, is a must read. Romm just published an important new book, titled Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. In the book, Romm 'cuts through the misinformation and presents the truth about humanity's most dire threat. His analysis is based on sophisticated knowledge of renewable technologies, climate impacts, and government policy, written in a style everyone can understand. ' If you are interested in the fight to solve the climate crisis, I recommend you read this book. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 19 Apr 10:
... by Joseph Romm My new book is now In Stock at Amazon. com, so you can buy it today (click here). You know you want to after getting all these Climate Progress posts for free for so long. And if you have already bought a copy (thank you very much), buy one for a friend. Or a frenemy!The journal Nature editorialized in March: “Scientists must now emphasize the science, while acknowledging that they are in a street fight. ” Say what you will about Climate Progress, I figured that out a few years before Nature. The timing couldn’t be better for Straight Up: America’s Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 19 Apr 10:
... Our plan, he says, must be “Deployment, deployment, deployment, R&D, deployment, deployment, deployment. ”That’s a powerful message for wind, solar and geothermal businesses to run with. Seth Masia, Deputy Editor of Solar Today, has a review of my new book Straight Up (click here to buy). There’ll be a lot of reviews in the next couple of weeks, and I won’t print them all. But since the book cuts through the crap on a broad set of subjects, I’m most interested in the different takeaways people have. Here’s more from Masia:Straight Up is a collection of short articles from Romm’s blog ClimateProgress. ... - Climate Progress 19 Apr 10:
... My new book is now In Stock at Amazon. com, so you can buy it today (click here). You know you want to after getting all these Climate Progress posts for free for so long. And if you have already bought a copy (thank you very much), buy one for a friend. Or a frenemy! The journal Nature editorialized in March: “Scientists must now emphasize the science, while acknowledging that they are in a street fight. ” Say what you will about Climate Progress, I figured that out a few years before Nature. The timing couldn’t be better for Straight Up: America’s Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. ... - Climate Progress 17 Apr 10:
... That strategy focuses on rapid commercialization of existing renewable energy technologies. Our plan, he says, must be “Deployment, deployment, deployment, R&D, deployment, deployment, deployment. ” That’s a powerful message for wind, solar and geothermal businesses to run with. Seth Masia, Deputy Editor of Solar Today, has a review of my new book Straight Up (click here to buy). There’ll be a lot of reviews in the next couple of weeks, and I won’t print them all. But since the book cuts through the crap on a broad set of subjects, I’m most interested in the different takeaways people have. Here’s more from Masia: Straight Up is a collection of short articles from Romm’s blog ClimateProgress. ... - Climate Progress 16 Apr 10:
... On Monday, April 19, from 12:00pm – 1:00pm, the Center for American Progress Action Fund will host the launch of my new book, Straight Up: America’s Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. Everyone can watch the webcast here. Details below: As we approach the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the scientific realities about the warming of our world are becoming increasingly dire, an epic legislative battle looms in the Senate over whether the United States will be part of the solution or perpetuate the problem, and the mainstream media—hemorrhaging qualified science and environmental reporters—is paralyzed and unable to effectively inform a public that increasing seeks out information from online sources and the ever-expanding blogosphere. ... - Climate Progress 15 Apr 10:
... In January 2009, I blogged on a remarkable study by a leading journalist documenting the media’s mistakes and biases during the 2008 Senate debate of the Lieberman-Warner climate bill. I posted it again last May since the media repeated the exact same mistakes in the debate over the House bill. I included it in my new book “Straight Up” — and am reposting it here — to set the table for the roll out in the next several days of the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill by Senators Graham (R-SC), Kerry (D-MA), and Lieberman (I-CT). One of the country’s leading journalists has written a searing critique of the media’s coverage of global warming, especially climate economics. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 12 Apr 10:
... by Joseph Romm I will be testifying in front of Congress this week. And my book, Straight Up, is coming out the following week (click here to buy it). That means I’ll be doing a lot of media and trying to hone a simple, effective message for a far broader audience than Climate Progress readers. I have my own favorite phrases but I’d like to hear from you what you think works both in terms of sound-bites and overall framing. Note: I’m not trying to persuade the unpersuadable. And the energy message is, I think pretty well understood (see “Messaging 101: ‘Green’ jobs are out, ‘clean energy’ jobs are in“). ... - Climate Progress 11 Apr 10:
... I will be testifying in front of Congress this week. And my book, Straight Up, is coming out the following week (click here to buy it). That means I’ll be doing a lot of media and trying to hone a simple, effective message for a far broader audience than Climate Progress readers. I have my own favorite phrases but I’d like to hear from you what you think works both in terms of sound-bites and overall framing. Note: I’m not trying to persuade the unpersuadable. And the energy message is, I think pretty well understood (see “Messaging 101: ‘Green’ jobs are out, ‘clean energy’ jobs are in“). ... - Climate Progress 31 Mar 10:
... Senate Trio Targets Week of Earth Day for emissions bill The three senators at the center of climate and energy negotiations are aiming to unveil their bill during the week celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22. And that just happens to coincide with the launch of my new book Straight Up, which puts the bill and forthcoming debate into context. Here’s more background on the bill. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass. ), Lindsey Graham (R-S. C. ) and Lieberman will finish writing their draft proposal that sets a first-ever price for the industrial releases of greenhouse gas emissions and expands domestic production of oil, gas and nuclear power. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 31 Mar 10:
... by Joseph Romm Anyone who has specific ideas for marketing the book or knows someone who might need review copy should email me at the address here. My new book doesn’t come out until the week of April 19th. But you can pre-order it on Amazon. com (click here). You know you want to after getting all these Climate Progress posts for free for so long…. Seriously, though, the timing couldn’t be better forStraight Up: America’s Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. We were always planning for it to come out the week of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and roughly the same time as when the Senate would start taking up the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill. ... - Climate Progress 30 Mar 10:
... Anyone who has specific ideas for marketing the book or knows someone who might need review copy should email me at the address here. My new book doesn’t come out until the week of April 19th. But you can pre-order it on Amazon. com (click here). You know you want to after getting all these Climate Progress posts for free for so long…. Seriously, though, the timing couldn’t be better for Straight Up: America’s Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. We were always planning for it to come out the week of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and roughly the same time as when the Senate would start taking up the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill. ...
blogs
6
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Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming
James Hoggan
Talk of global warming is nearly inescapable these days — but there are some who believe the concept of climate change is an elaborate hoax. Despite the input of the world’s leading climate scientists, the urgings of politicians, and the outcry of many grassroots activists, many Americans continue to ignore the warning signs of severe climate shifts. How did this happen? Climate Cover-up seeks to answer this question, describing the pollsters and public faces who have crafted care...
| Amazon Rating: | |
| US$10.20 | |
(As of Sep 05 18:01 , info) | |
blogs
6
posts
Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming
James Hoggan
Talk of global warming is nearly inescapable these days — but there are some who believe the concept of climate change is an elaborate hoax. Despite the input of the world’s leading climate scientists, the urgings of politicians, and the outcry of many grassroots activists, many Americans continue to ignore the warning signs of severe climate shifts. How did this happen? Climate Cover-up seeks to answer this question, describing the pollsters and public faces who have crafted careful language to refute the findings of environmental scientists. Exploring the PR techniques, phony "think tanks," and funding used to pervert scientific fact, this book serves as a wake-up call to those who still wish to deny the inconvenient truth.
| Amazon Rating: | |
| US$10.20 | |
(As of Sep 05 18:01 , info) | |
6 reviews from Green blogs:
- Climate Progress 16 Mar 10:
... Climate Cover-up The science continues to point to the cold, hard fact that global warming is happening and will get worse, but the number of people who believe this scientific certainty has declined over the past year, leaving environmentalists and climate scientists scratching their heads in disbelief. The reason for all of this uncertainty, argues James Hoggan, author of Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming (Greystone Books, $15), is a concerted effort by public relations professionals to undermine climate change science and create uncertainty among the public — all to please clients who would be negatively affected by meaningful carbon legislation to curb emissions. ... - Worldchanging 08 Dec 09:
... controversy over hacked e-mails in the climate science community has emboldened global warming skeptics who dismiss the notion that humanity is dangerously heating up the planet. But James Hoggan, founder of the Desmogblog, is taking on the deniers, accusing them of cynically obfuscating an issue long ago settled by mainstream science. Four years ago, public relations executive James Hoggan began looking more deeply into the issue of ... - Climate Progress 07 Dec 09:
... the e-mail controversy, the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, was recently revealed to have links to the energy company Exxon-Mobil, which has long funded climate-change deniers. “This is being used to confuse the public, ” says blogger James Hoggan, whose new book Climate Cover-Up details Exxon-Mobil’s campaign. “This is not a legitimate scientific issue. ” Yes, the big carbon polluters, who fund most of the anti-scientific disinformation campaign, have known for a long time that the anti-science case is a false one (see Scientists advising ... - Deltoid 06 Dec 09:
... My review of Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming is up at the Firedoglake book salon. It begins: Question: What's the difference between a computer salesman and a used car salesman? You'll have to click through to find out the answer. Read the rest of this post. . . | Read the comments on this post. . . ... - GOOD Blog 03 Dec 09:
... But these emails reared their ugly heads the same week that I happened to be reading a new book on the long-running 'crusade to deny global warming, ' an exposé of the intricate and highly orchestrated efforts of fossil fuel companies to discredit real climate science and manufacture confusion. Climate Cover-Up grew out of the good, old-fashioned muckracking that James Hoggan has been publishing since 2005 on the invaluable website DeSmogBlog. The book, through meticulously documented analysis, lays out the deliberate, nefarious, and immoral campaign to manipulate the public discourse on ... - RealClimate 20 Oct 09:
... out of date. Just over the past few years, there have been many significant events in the ‘climate wars’ as we have reported on this site. Fortunately, there is a book out now by our friends at DeSmogBlog (co-founder James Hoggan, and regular contributor Richard Littlemore) entitled Climate Cover Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming that discusses the details of the contrarian attacks on climate science up through the present, and in painstaking detail. They have done their research, and have fully documented their findings, summarized by the publisher thusly: Talk of ...
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5
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Eating Animals
Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood-facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child's behalf-his casual questioning took on an urgency His quest for answers ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong. Brillian...
| Amazon Rating: | |
| US$17.15 | |
(As of Sep 05 18:00 , info) | |
blogs
5
posts
Eating Animals
Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood-facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child's behalf-his casual questioning took on an urgency His quest for answers ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong. Brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, memoir and his own detective work, Eating Animals explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits-from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth-and how such tales can lull us into a brutal forgetting. Marked by Foer's profound moral ferocity and unvarying generosity, as well as the vibrant style and creativity that made his previous books, Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, widely loved, Eating Animals is a celebration and a reckoning, a story about the stories we've told-and the stories we now need to tell.
| Amazon Rating: | |
| US$17.15 | |
(As of Sep 05 18:00 , info) | |
5 reviews from Green blogs:
- Green on HuffingtonPost.com 23 Jun 10:
... Full disclosure: I run a popular website about barbecue, AmazingRibs. com, with both meat and meatless recipes. I eat meat about five nights a week, rarely at lunch, and never for breakfast. I have read extensively on the subject of meat pro and con. I was blown away by the powerful arguments against meat in Jonathan Safran Foer's landmark book 'Eating Animals'. Then I read Lierre Kieth's compelling 'The Vegetarian Myth'. The middle ground is staked out profoundly by Michael Pollan in 'The Omnivore's Dilemma', probably the most important book about food since Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle' drew back the curtain on the Chicago stockyards in 1906. ... - Fake Plastic Fish 05 May 10:
... While I won’t make it a recurring theme on Fake Plastic Fish, I have started a new blog, Plastic-Free Vegetarian, to record my personal thoughts. It’s brand new. It’s not even formatted yet, and it only contains one post so far. A version of this one. So what happened? Two months ago, I read the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, whose novel Everything is Illuminated is one of my all-time favorites. I didn’t choose to read Eating Animals because of the topic but because I loved its author and because it was a BlogHer book club selection; I honestly didn’t expect to learn anything more about the meat industry I hadn’t already read about in The Omnivore’s Dilemma or Fast Food Nation or seen in the film Food Inc. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 31 Mar 10:
... I have experienced this as well, but if Pollan had been a vegetarian because of a genuine, moral impulse--which he admittedly was not--then he would have felt comfortable in the decision. Instead, Pollan advocates for eating meat born, raised and killed in a humane environment. Safran Foer certainly doesn't feel like he's putting anybody out through his vegetarianism. Instead, he introduces a brilliant counterpoint to Mr. Pollan's argument in his book Eating Animals: essentially, he asks what someone with Mr. Pollan's view would do if served a roast in someone's home. Would you ask where it came from, or just dig in? Arguably, putting the host on the spot would make matters much more uncomfortable than simply making it known that you were a vegetarian in advance of supper. ... - Green Daily 10 Feb 10:
... dogs un-American? Is there anything green about preserving the Hollywood sign? Still haven't bought a eco-gift for you Valentine? Today's Eco-Beat has the scoop on all the latest green news and tips. Johnathan Safran Foer on Colbert The author of the anti-factory farming lexicon 'Eating Animals' dropped by the Colbert Report last night to discuss his beef with America's meat industry while the always-classy Colbert sat gleefully eating bacon, saying: 'You can taste the suffering. ' Check out the video. Stars Fight to Preserve the Hollywood Sign Yeah, it ... - treehugger 13 Nov 09:
... Eating Animals, the new book by Jonathan Safran Foer (of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close fame) takes a look at what it actually means to give up meat, take it out of our vocab and eliminate it from our most gluttonous popular, holiday traditions. If you've read The Jungle or Fast Food Nation, or an. . . Read the full story on TreeHugger ...
blogs
6
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SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
Steven D. Levitt
Gift quality. Unable to ship to APO and FPO at this time.
| Amazon Rating: | |
| US$19.79 | |
(As of Sep 05 13:49 , info) | |
blogs
6
posts
SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
Steven D. Levitt
Gift quality. Unable to ship to APO and FPO at this time.
| Amazon Rating: | |
| US$19.79 | |
(As of Sep 05 13:49 , info) | |
6 reviews from Green blogs:
- Climate Progress 18 Nov 09:
... screen yet to obscure their book’s countless mistakes, as Brad Johnson reports in this Wonk Room repost.  Note also how Dubner, in playing the victim card, trivializes the very serious issue of religious persecution. In the latest of many fawning interviews promoting SuperFreakonomics, author Stephen J. Dubner claimed the critics of his “global cooling” chapter have issued a “fatwa for entertaining alternate theories. ” On Public Radio International’s morning program, “The Takeaway, ” Dubner told hosts John Hockenberry and Celeste Headlee that he was right to call ... - Climate Progress 16 Nov 09:
... guys are to blame for the crisis is provocative and clever and sounds vaguely plausible. It may even contain a kernel of truth. But it fundamentally defies any clear-headed look at reality. In other words, it’s just like many of the anecdotes that fill “Superfreakonomics, ” the sequel to the original bestseller. This is the Washington Post book review by Neil Irwin. Â I think this review just edges out Elizabeth Kolbert’s, but it’s close. Â In particular, Irwin covers the U. S. economy and the Federal Reserve for the paper, not climate, so he hits some ... - Climate Progress 11 Nov 09:
... to explore some solutions that DO cool the earth in the short-run. That doesn’t mean you don’t work on long run solutions as well. I’m not sure why that is blasphemy. Steve Levitt As anyone can see, it is not an “intentional misreading. ” Quite the reverse.  Just go to the now-searchable Superfreakonomics on Amazon and put “reradiated” into the search engine.  Pierrehumbert replied directly: Steve, glad to see you’re reading this. Something I have found rather bizarre about your responses to the criticisms of your climate chapter is the way you ... - Deltoid 29 Oct 09:
... Steve Levitt has followed in Dubner's footsteps with a response to his critics that fails to respond to their arguments. Levitt first restates his argument and then asserts that their conclusions are different because: We are answering a different question than our critics. Our question, at noted above, is what is the cheapest, fastest way to quickly cool the Earth. Like every question we tackle in Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics, we approach the question like economists, using data and logic to conclude that the answer to that question is geo-engineering. . . . But that is not ... - Deltoid 23 Oct 09:
... Change Skeptics Embrace 'Freakonomics' Sequel, but that's not the answer I'm thinking of. Weigel writes: The final chapter deals with global warming, characterizing the beliefs of pessimistic environmentalists as 'religious fervor, ' and arguing that the climate change solutions proposed by Al Gore and many Democrats are ineffective and unworkable. It repeats claims that environmental journalists have debated or debunked for years. As a result, the authors are getting some early support from climate change skeptics who feel that attitudes toward their stances are getting brighter. ... - RealClimate 18 Oct 09:
... Many commentators have already pointed out dozens of misquotes, misrepresentations and mistakes in the ‘Global Cooling’ chapter of the new book SuperFreakonomics by Ste[ph|v]ens Levitt and Dubner (see Joe Romm (parts I, II, III, IV, Stoat, Deltoid, UCS and Paul Krugman for details. Michael Tobis has a good piece on the difference between adaptation and geo-engineering). Unfortunately, Amazon has now turned off the ’search inside’ function for this book, but you can read the relevant chapter for yourself here (via Brad DeLong). However, instead of simply listing errors ...
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Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
Erik Conway
The U.S. scientific community has long led the world in research on such areas as public health, environmental science, and issues affecting quality of life. Our scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. But at the same time, a small yet potent subset of this community leads the world in vehement denial of these dangers.Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientifi...
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Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
Erik Conway
The U.S. scientific community has long led the world in research on such areas as public health, environmental science, and issues affecting quality of life. Our scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. But at the same time, a small yet potent subset of this community leads the world in vehement denial of these dangers.Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. Remarkably, the same individuals surface repeatedly—some of the same figures who have claimed that the science of global warming is "not settled" denied the truth of studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole. "Doubt is our product," wrote one tobacco executive. These "experts" supplied it. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, historians of science, roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how ideology and corporate interests, aided by a too-compliant media, have skewed public understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era. Naomi Oreskes is Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Her essay "Beyond the Ivory Tower" was a milestone in the fight against global warming denial.
Erik Conway is the resident historian at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The U.S. scientific community has long led the world in research on such areas as public health, environmental science, and issues affecting quality of life. Our scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. But at the same time, a small yet potent subset of this community leads the world in vehement denial of these dangers.
Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. Remarkably, the same individuals surface repeatedly—some of the same figures who have claimed that the science of global warming is "not settled" denied the truth of studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole. "Doubt is our product," wrote one tobacco executive. These "experts" supplied it. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, historians of science, shed light on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how ideology and corporate interests, aided by a too-compliant media, have skewed public understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era.
“Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway have demonstrated what many of us have long suspected: that the `debate’ over the climate crisis--and many other environmental issues--was manufactured by the same people who brought you `safe’ cigarettes. Anyone concerned about the state of democracy in America should read this book.”—Former Vice President Al Gore, author of An Inconvenient Truth
“As the science of global warming has grown more certain over the last two decades, the attack on that science has grown more shrill; this volume helps explain that paradox, and not only for climate change. A fascinating account of a very thorny problem.”—Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
“Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway have written an important and timely book. Merchants of Doubt should finally put to rest the question of whether the science of climate change is settled. It is, and we ignore this message at our peril.”—Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change
“There can be no science without doubt: brute dogma leaves no room for inquiry. But over the last half century, a tiny minority of scientists have wielded doubt as a political weapon to halt what they did not want said: that tobacco kills or that the climate is warming because of what we humans are doing. `Doubt is our product’ read a tobacco memo--and indeed, millions of dollars have gone into creating the impression of scientific controversy where there has not been one. This book about the politics of doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway explores the long, connected, and intentional obfuscation of science by manufactured controversy. It is clear, scientifically responsible, and historically compelling—it is an essential and passionate book about our times.”—Peter Galison, Joseph Pellegrino University Professor, Harvard University, author of Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps
“With the carefulness of historians and the skills of master storytellers, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway lay out the sordid history of tobacco industry protectionists, who framed the debate as scientifically `unproven,’ gaining decades of market share for those merchants of death—who knew all along the risks of their products. Merchants of Doubt shows that some of the very same individuals were part of the plans to frame the climate change debate as unproven, using the same tried and true tactics of misrepresentation of facts, non-representative scientists, and industry-friendly legislators. Again, tried and true public re-framing of reality worked. But now all this chicanery is exposed for the deception it has been in Oreskes and Conway’s powerful and timely work.”—Stephen H Schneider, Professor, Stanford University, author of Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate
“A well-documented, pulls-no-punches account of how science works and how political motives can hijack the process by which scientific information is disseminated to the public.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Sweeping and comprehensive… Oreskes and Conway do an excellent job of bringing to life a complex and important environmental battle… [a] darkly fascinating history… Merchants of Doubt is an important book. How important? If you read just one book on climate change this year, read Merchants of Doubt. And if you have time to read two, reread Merchants of Doubt.” —Grist.org
“Oreskes and Conway tell an important story…This book deserves serious attention for the lessons it provides about the misuse of science for political and commercial ends.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway smoke out the Merchants of Doubt.”—Vanity Fair
“In their impeccably researched genealogy of denialism Merchants of Doubt, Conway and Oreskes show that a key group of figures in global warming denial earned their spurs in tobacco-industry-funded attempts to discredit the links between smoking and cancer. "—New Humanist
“Brilliantly reported and written with brutal clarity… The real shocker of this book is that it takes us, in just 274 brisk pages, through seven scientific issues that called for decisive government regulation and didn't get it, sometimes for decades, because a few scientists sprinkled doubt-dust in the offices of regulators, politicians and journalists…Oreskes and Conway do a great public service.”—Huffington Post
“In their fascinating and important study, Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway offer convincing evidence for a surprising and disturbing thesis. Opposition to scientifically well-supported claims about the dangers of cigarette smoking, the difficulties of the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars"), the effects of acid rain, the existence of the ozone hole, the problems caused by secondhand smoke, and—ultimately—the existence of anthropogenic climate change was used in "the service of political goals and commercial interests" to obstruct the transmission to the American public of important information…Because it is so thorough in disclosing how major policy decisions have been delayed or distorted, Merchants of Doubt deserves a wide readership. It is tempting to require that all those engaged in the business of conveying scientific information to the general public should read it.”—Science
“Merchants of Doubt, by the science historian Naomi Oreskes and the writer Erik Conway, investigates a sort of reverse conspiracy theory: ecoterrorists and socialists are not the ones foisting dubious science upon us; rather it is deniers who are running their own well-funded and organized long-term hoax. Several previous works have ably illuminated similar themes, but this one hits bone…[Merchants of Doubt] provide[s] both the historical perspective and the current political insights needed to get a grip on what is happening now.”—OnEarth
“All in all, Oreskes and Conway paint an unflattering picture of why some scientists continue to stand against the overwhelming scientific consensus on issues at the center of public discussion.”—USA Today
“Ever wonder how the terms liberty and freedom got all tangled up in fake science, how industry friendly think-tanks got their start, or what motivates scientists to sell out beyond the obvious? Merchants of Doubt expertly follows the historica...
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4 reviews from Green blogs:
- Climate Progress 14 Jul 10:
... ” But before I could write my review, guest blogger John Atcheson wrote his. John has more than 30 years in energy and the environment with government, private industry, and the nation’s leading think tanks (see “Utility decoupling on steroids. ”) He is working on his own novel about climate change. In Merchants of Doubt Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway take us on a fascinating trip down what they call Tobacco Road. Take the journey with them, and you’ll see renowned scientists abandon science, you’ll see environmentalism equated with communism, and you’ll discover the connection between the Cold War and climate denial. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 17 Jun 10:
... These players (I call those at the pinnacle 'flexians') glide across roles of influence in government, business, media, and think tanks, use overlapping affiliations and information gleaned in one venue in other venues,  and exploit a stranglehold on (should-be) public information to advance their own interests, not the public interest. Case in point is a group I call 'the Neocon core, ' longtime ideological allies who sold America on the need to wage war on Iraq, by subverting the standard government bodies and processes and branding their own version of the truth as the most authoritative. In their new book Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming,  Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway track another group of influencers, exerting power across a wide range of life-and-death debates over science and public health policy, everything from global warming to the dangers of cigarettes to acid rain. ... - DeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science 10 Jun 10:
... Merchants of Doubt. jpg Naomi Oreskes, professor of history and science studies at the University of California, San Diego, and Erik Conway, an historian at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab are stumping about these days in support of their excellent new book, Merchants of Doubt. As you might expect from someone with Oreskes' exemplary background, Merchants is a painstakingly careful review of the climate change denial campaign. She and Conway have traced the whole, odious action back to the late 1980s and the early work of the George C. Marshall Institute, which they aregue convincingly was ground zero for the denial industry. ... - Climate Progress 07 Mar 10:
... Naomi Oreskes’ upcoming book, Merchants of Doubt, explains “the troubling story of how a cadre of influential scientists have clouded public understanding of scientific facts to advance a political and economic agenda. ” The prolific UC San Diego professor discusses the history of both our understanding of human-caused global warming and the anti-science disinformation campaign in this terrific talk from last week: The book catalog explains: The U. S. scientific community has long led the world in research on such areas as public health, environmental science, and issues ...
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The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth
Eric Pooley
In The Climate War, Eric Pooley--deputy editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek--does for global warming what Bob Woodward did for presidents and Lawrence Wright did for terrorists. In this epic tale of an American civil war, Pooley takes us behind the scenes and into the hearts and minds of the most important players in the struggle to cap global warming pollution--a fight in which trillions of dollars and the fate of the planet are at stake.
Why has it been so hard for America to...
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The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth
Eric Pooley
In The Climate War, Eric Pooley--deputy editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek--does for global warming what Bob Woodward did for presidents and Lawrence Wright did for terrorists. In this epic tale of an American civil war, Pooley takes us behind the scenes and into the hearts and minds of the most important players in the struggle to cap global warming pollution--a fight in which trillions of dollars and the fate of the planet are at stake.
Why has it been so hard for America to come to grips with climate change? Why do so many people believe it isn't really happening? As President Obama's science advisor John Holdren has said, "We're driving in a car with bad brakes in a fog and heading for a cliff. We know for sure that cliff is out there. We just don't know exactly where it is. Prudence would suggest that we should start putting on the brakes." But powerful interests are threatened by the carbon cap that would speed the transition to a clean energy economy, and their agents have worked successfully to deny the problem and delay the solutions.
To write this book, Pooley, the former managing editor of Fortune and chief political correspondent for Time, spent three years embedded with an extraordinary cast of characters: from the flamboyant head of one of the nation's largest coal-burning energy companies to the driven environmental leader who made common cause with him, from leading scientists warning of impending catastrophe to professional skeptics disputing almost every aspect of climate science, from radical activists chaining themselves to bulldozers to powerful lobbyists, media gurus, and advisors in Obama's West Wing--and, to top it off, unprecedented access to former Vice President Al Gore and his team of climate activists.
Pooley captures the quiet determination and even heroism of climate campaigners who have dedicated their lives to an uphill battle that's still raging today. He asks whether we have what it takes to preserve our planet's habitability, and shows how America's climate war sends shock waves from Bali to Copenhagen. No other reporter enjoys such access to this cast of characters. No other book covers this terrain. From the trenches of a North Carolina power plant to the battlefields of Capitol Hill, Madison Avenue, and Wall Street, The Climate War is the essential read for anyone who wants to understand the players and politics behind the most important issue we face today.
PRAISE FOR THE CLIMATE WAR
"Eric Pooley has written a riveting tale, the very first account of the epic American campaign to get serious about global warming. This story has heroes, like my friend Al Gore, and it has some villains. What it doesn't have is an ending; that part is still up to us. Which is why anyone who worries about the future of our nation--or wonders why it has been so hard for us to deal with climate change--should read this book."
--President Bill Clinton
"The Climate War offers a behind-the-scenes look at the most consequential political battle of our time. It's a compelling--and often disturbing--read."
--Elizabeth Kolbert, Author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe
"In the ever-expanding literature on climate change, this is the first book to put a human face on the problem by getting into the heads of the people who are trying to solve it, deftly revealing the messy entanglement of idealism and realism that ultimately results in progress."
--Michael Oppenheimer, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs, Princeton University
"If the science is so clear and compelling--the way we use energy is dangerously overheating the planet--the how come it's so agonizingly difficult for America to face facts and lead the way toward a global solution? Finally, I have a good idea why, thanks to Eric Pooley's lucid chronicle of the long-running struggles--political, personal and above all, economic--to define the world that our children and grandchildren will inhabit."
--Kurt Andersen, Author of Heyday and Reset and Host of public radio's "Studio 360"
"The first great campaign book about the political battle over climate change. Eric Pooley brings us inside this epic struggle in which science, business, and politics all come together. The characters are fascinating and the stakes are enormous."
--Walter Isaacson, President and CEO, The Aspen Institute and Author of Einstein: His Life and Universe
"The legislative process revealed: Eric Pooley paints the personalities, the strategies, and the intrigue of climate politics in vivid detail. A page turner and a must-read for anyone who cares about the climate, and about America's continued ability to tackle problems and lead."
--Katie McGinty, Former Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality
"Eric Pooley's The Climate War is a painstakingly researched account of how climate change grew to become one of the defining political issues of a generation. As progressives in America and around the world fight to head off climate disaster, Pooley's book presents a much-needed history of the campaign for climate protection, and reminds us, once again, why urgent action is so necessary."
--John Podesta, President and CEO Center for American Progress
"The Climate War is a great book not just because it chronicles the bloody political fight to save the planet, but because it's the best argument I've ever read for how a single policy idea--cap and trade--can change the world."
--Jeff Goodell, Author of How to Cool the Planet
"Journalism with principles: epic in scale, masterful in narrative and detail, with well-paced winks at the tragic absurdity of it all."
--Eric Roston, Author of The Carbon Age
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3 reviews from Green blogs:
- DeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science 14 Jun 10:
... the climate war eric pooley. jpg The first question I had for author Eric Pooley after I finished reading his new book, The Climate War, was whether he had set up hidden cameras all over Washington, DC. He didn't of course, but the insider information he weaves into his story about the ongoing battle for effective climate policy both in the United States and internationally will make even the insiders feel inadequate. The Climate War puts you at the power-broker's table, with much of the book following two main characters who have been at the center of the debate and the controversy around climate policy for more than a decade - Fred Krupp, Executive Director of Environmental Defense Fund and Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 14 Jun 10:
... The first question I had for author Eric Pooley after I finished reading his new book, The Climate War, was whether he had set up hidden cameras all over Washington, DC. He didn't of course, but the insider information he weaves into his story about the ongoing battle for effective climate policy both in the United States and internationally will make even the insiders feel inadequate. The Climate War puts you at the power-broker's table, with much of the book following two main characters who have been at the center of the debate and the controversy around climate policy for more than a decade - Fred Krupp, Executive Director of Environmental Defense Fund and Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy. ... - Climate Progress 13 Jun 10:
... Now the oil spill has forced Obama to ramp up his rhetoric. Does he mean it this time? Either he starts fighting or he doesn’t. The “stealth strategy” is inoperative. The White House can’t fake it any more. That’s Eric Pooley, former managing editor of Fortune, in an email to me about his new book, The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth. Anyone interested in climate politics should read it, and I’ll review it later. Rahm Emanuael and David Axelrod are certainly two of the main reasons that Obama has been far too tame on climate. Obama will apparently be giving his long-awaited prime time BP disaster and energy policy speech on Tuesday — and it could well be make or break for both his presidency and the efforts to address global warming this decade. ...
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The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change
Annie Leonard
We have a problem with Stuff. With just 5 percent of the world’s population, we’re consuming 30 percent of the world’s resources and creating 30 percent of the world’s waste. If everyone consumed at U.S. rates, we would need three to five planets!
This alarming fact drove Annie Leonard to create the Internet film sensation The Story of Stuff, which has been viewed over 10 million times by people around the world. In her sweeping, groundbreaking book of the same name, Leonard tra...
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The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change
Annie Leonard
We have a problem with Stuff. With just 5 percent of the world’s population, we’re consuming 30 percent of the world’s resources and creating 30 percent of the world’s waste. If everyone consumed at U.S. rates, we would need three to five planets!
This alarming fact drove Annie Leonard to create the Internet film sensation The Story of Stuff, which has been viewed over 10 million times by people around the world. In her sweeping, groundbreaking book of the same name, Leonard tracks the life of the Stuff we use every day—where our cotton T-shirts, laptop computers, and aluminum cans come from, how they are produced, distributed, and consumed, and where they go when we throw them out. Like Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, The Story of Stuff is a landmark book that will change the way people think—and the way they live.
Leonard’s message is startlingly clear: we have too much Stuff, and too much of it is toxic. Outlining the five stages of our consumption-driven economy—from extraction through production, distribution, consumption, and disposal—she vividly illuminates its frightening repercussions. Visiting garbage dumps and factories around the world, Leonard reveals the true story behind our possessions—why it’s cheaper to replace a broken TV than to fix it; how the promotion of "perceived obsolescence" encourages us to toss out everything from shoes to cell phones while they’re still in perfect shape; and how factory workers in Haiti, mine workers in Congo, and everyone who lives and works within this system pay for our cheap goods with their health, safety, and quality of life. Meanwhile we, as consumers, are compromising our health and well-being, whether it’s through neurotoxins in our pillows or lead leaching into our kids’ food from their lunchboxes—and all this Stuff isn’t even making us happier! We work hard so we can buy Stuff that we quickly throw out, and then
we want new Stuff so we work harder and have no time to enjoy all our Stuff. . . . With staggering revelations about the economy, the environment, and cultures around the world, alongside stories from her own life and work, Leonard demonstrates that the drive for a "growth at all costs" economy fuels a cycle of production, consumption, and disposal that is killing us.
It is a system in crisis, but Annie Leonard shows us that this is not the way things have to be. It’s within our power to stop the environmental damage, social injustice, and health hazards caused by polluting production and excessive consumption, and Leonard shows us how. Expansive, galvanizing, and sobering yet optimistic, The Story of Stuff transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet.
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3 reviews from Green blogs:
- Green Daily 15 Mar 10:
... 45M Does saving an iconic piece of advertising history count as conservation? A host of conservationists (preservationists?) like Tom Hanks, the Governator, and Steven Spielberg have donated to preserve the Hollywood sign from luxury housing developers. Are We Winning the Stuff Contest? Or is the quest for stuff destroying America's quality of life? That's the question I would be asking if I wasn't shopping for a new sleeping bag online in another tab. If you can stop accumulating long enough, watch as Colbert grills 'The Story of Stuff' author Annie Leonard. Ag Subsidies vs. the Food Pyramid Showcasing the absurdity of US food policy are these graphs representing federal food subsidies vs. the FDA's food pyramid. Notice anything odd, like how they're completely opposite? Maybe that's why kids don't know what a tomato looks like. ... - Fake Plastic Fish 10 Mar 10:
... watch spend treadmil. And we could just stop. It’s simple. We have too much stuff, it’s trashing the planet and making us unhappy. What if we just said no? Some viewers have criticized The Story of Stuff video for being too simplistic. So, to flesh out her ideas, Annie has written The Story of Stuff book, just released yesterday. Following the path our stuff travels: Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption, and Disposal, Annie explains that the one-way system in place now is not sustainable. The planet simply doesn’t have the resources to support the creation ... - treehugger 09 Mar 10:
... Image via Amazon The viral video phenomenon The Story of Stuff has made a big impact on audiences worldwide. Since its release in 2007, it's been viewed over 10 million times, showing we're as fascinated by learning about our Stuff as we are with the items themselves. The short movie with its fun and idea-clarifying animations lays out how stuff is made, distributed and discarded - the take-make-waste cycled as creator Annie Leonard calls it. It sums up our processes and problems in a smart, tidy package that has been a source of controver. . . Read the full story on TreeHugger ...
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Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto
Stewart Brand
An icon of the environmental movement outlines a provocative approach for reclaiming our planet
According to Stewart Brand, a lifelong environmentalist who sees everything in terms of solvable design problems, three profound transformations are under way on Earth right now. Climate change is real and is pushing us toward managing the planet as a whole. Urbanization-half the world's population now lives in cities, and eighty percent will by midcentury-is altering humanity's land...
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Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto
Stewart Brand
An icon of the environmental movement outlines a provocative approach for reclaiming our planet
According to Stewart Brand, a lifelong environmentalist who sees everything in terms of solvable design problems, three profound transformations are under way on Earth right now. Climate change is real and is pushing us toward managing the planet as a whole. Urbanization-half the world's population now lives in cities, and eighty percent will by midcentury-is altering humanity's land impact and wealth. And biotechnology is becoming the world's dominant engineering tool. In light of these changes, Brand suggests that environmentalists are going to have to reverse some longheld opinions and embrace tools that they have traditionally distrusted. Only a radical rethinking of traditional green pieties will allow us to forestall the cataclysmic deterioration of the earth's resources.
Whole Earth Discipline shatters a number of myths and presents counterintuitive observations on why cities are actually greener than countryside, how nuclear power is the future of energy, and why genetic engineering is the key to crop and land management. With a combination of scientific rigor and passionate advocacy, Brand shows us exactly where the sources of our dilemmas lie and offers a bold and inventive set of policies and solutions for creating a more sustainable society.
In the end, says Brand, the environmental movement must become newly responsive to fast-moving science and take up the tools and discipline of engineering. We have to learn how to manage the planet's global-scale natural infrastructure with as light a touch as possible and as much intervention as necessary.
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3 reviews from Green blogs:
- greenbiz.com 05 Jan 10:
... Praise for the book Whole Earth Discipline is remarkable since the book argues that we need nuclear power to combat global warming, we need biotechnology to feed the world and that we need to take geo-engineering seriously — ideas that are anathema to much of the environmental movement that the book's author, Stewart Brand, helped create about 40 years ago. ... - The Oil Drum 11 Nov 09:
... dinner table. How Green Are Your Nukes? The role that nuclear power might play in addressing the problem of man-made global warming is fiercely disputed among environmentalists. Two new books by big names in the movement stake out the boundaries of that debate. On the pro-nuclear side stands Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto, by Stewart Brand. And parked in the (more or less) anti-nuclear corner is Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, by Al Gore. Nuclear alone won’t keep the power flowing Britain faces two urgent energy problems. First, we have simply ... - Worldchanging 03 Nov 09:
... Network, where he works part-time. Brand is a playful, inquisitive gadfly who wears a heretic’s robes with relish, challenging readers to reexamine assumptions and to change their minds. Framed as a challenge to environmentalists, his new book Whole Earth Discipline presents four heresies: Cities are Green! Nukes are Green! Gene modification is Green! Geoengineering is Probably Necessary! At first glance, Brand would seem to personify Dumanoski’s nightmare. His motto, “We are as gods, and HAVE to get good at it!” positively drips with the hubris that Dumanoski detects at the ...
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The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint
Ph.D. Marc Bekoff
In this inspirational call to action, Marc Bekoff, the world’s leading expert on animal emotions, gently shows that improving our treatment of animals is a matter of rethinking our many daily decisions and “expanding our compassion footprint.” He demonstrates that animals experience a rich range of emotions, including empathy and compassion, and that they clearly know right from wrong. Driven by moral imperatives and pressing environmental realities, Bekoff offers six compelling reasons for c...
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The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint
Ph.D. Marc Bekoff
In this inspirational call to action, Marc Bekoff, the world’s leading expert on animal emotions, gently shows that improving our treatment of animals is a matter of rethinking our many daily decisions and “expanding our compassion footprint.” He demonstrates that animals experience a rich range of emotions, including empathy and compassion, and that they clearly know right from wrong. Driven by moral imperatives and pressing environmental realities, Bekoff offers six compelling reasons for changing the way we treat animals — whether they’re in factory farms, labs, circuses, or our vanishing wilderness. The result is a well-researched, informative guide that will change animal and human lives for the better.
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5 reviews from Green blogs:
- Green on HuffingtonPost.com 20 Aug 10:
... Conservation biologists like to talk about re-wilding nature and building corridors through which animals can move undisturbed. Compassionate conservation will help us re-wild our hearts and build corridors of compassion and coexistence where we can all travel together. We suffer the indignities we impose on other beings. The animal manifesto is simple and direct: Treat us better or leave us alone. The Oxford meeting will move us in this direction. Speakers include myself and other people who have worked around the world on various conservation issues: Kate Evans from Elephants for Africa in Botswana; David Fraser, animal welfare expert at the University of British Columbia; David Macdonald, world renowned conservationist at the University of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit; Georgia Mason, expert on stereotyped behavior in captive animals from the University of Guelph; Ron Swaisgood with the Giant Panda Conservation Unit at the San Diego Zoo; and Will Travers from the Born Free Foundation, UK. ... - sustainablog 03 Aug 10:
... Like most of their titles, the book was printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. There may be few clearer signs of a book’s impact on you than if you find your eyes frequently popping open wide with surprise, and if you experience a constant desire to get out of your chair and call your friends to tell them about what you just read. Marc Bekoff’s recent book The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint (affiliate link) was, for me, one of these types of books. The author of previous groundbreaking works on animals like The Emotional Lives of Animals and Wild Justice, who has also collaborated with the likes of Jane Goodall and others, Bekoff is a deeply knowledgeable guide to the fields of animal behavior, animal research, and human-animal interaction. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 21 Jun 10:
... Regardless of whether one is a welfarist or a rightist I would like to believe that it is, and will continue to be, human compassion for other beings that will result in our giving them the protection they deserve, because of who they are, not because of what they can do for us or because some law tells us what we have to do. It's our basic goodness, a point I stress in my book The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons For Expanding Our Compassion Footprint, that will make the lives of other animals better and more dignified, and also our own. Other animals are that important to our own well-being and psyche. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 10 Jun 10:
... Sentience, the capacity to feel pain and suffer, frequently is the main reason people 'go vegetarian or vegan. ' In his essay, Cox writes, 'Moreover, since oysters don't have a central nervous system, they're unlikely to experience pain in a way resembling ours--unlike a pig or a herring or even a lobster. ' However, we don't know this is so. And, it's not important if oyster pain or the pain felt by any other animal resembles ours. They have their own pain and their pain matters to them. People also vary in their pain thresholds and it would be wrong to conclude that someone doesn't feel pain because they don't express it in the usual way. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 06 May 10:
... It would be singularly unethical not to increase protection for fish and other animals who we previously thought weren't sentient. Teaching our children that ever popular catch-and-release programs are inhumane is a good way to go for making the future for fish and other animals a more humane and pleasant experience. We can always add more compassion to the world and expand our compassion footprint. ...
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Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
Bill McKibben
"Read it, please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important." —Barbara Kingsolver
Twenty years ago, with The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded; now, he insists, we need to acknowledge that we've waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way. Our old familiar globe is suddenl...
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Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
Bill McKibben
"Read it, please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important." —Barbara Kingsolver
Twenty years ago, with The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded; now, he insists, we need to acknowledge that we've waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way. Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. We've created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it Eaarth.
That new planet is filled with new binds and traps. A changing world costs large sums to defend—think of the money that went to repair New Orleans, or the trillions it will take to transform our energy systems. But the endless economic growth that could underwrite such largesse depends on the stable planet we've managed to damage and degrade. We can't rely on old habits any longer.
Our hope depends, McKibben argues, on scaling back—on building the kind of societies and economies that can hunker down, concentrate on essentials, and create the type of community (in the neighborhood, but also on the Internet) that will allow us to weather trouble on an unprecedented scale. Change—fundamental change—is our best hope on a planet suddenly and violently out of balance.
Bill McKibben is the author of The End of Nature, Deep Economy, and numerous other books. He is the founder of the environmental organizations Step It Up and 350.org, and was among the first to warn of the dangers of global warming. He is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College and lives in Vermont with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, and their daughter.
Twenty years ago, with The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded; now, he insists, we need to acknowledge that we've waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way. Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways no human has ever seen. We've created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it Eaarth. That new planet is filled with new binds and traps. A changing world costs large sums to defend—think of the money that went to repair New Orleans, or the trillions of dollars it will take to transform our energy systems. But the endless economic growth that could underwrite such largesse depends on the stable planet we've managed to damage and degrade. We can't rely on old habits any longer. Our hope depends, McKibben argues, on scaling back—on building the kind of societies and economies that can hunker down, concentrate on essentials, and create the type of community (in the neighborhood, but also on the Internet) that will allow us to weather trouble on an unprecedented scale. Change—fundamental change—is our best hope on a planet suddenly and violently out of balance. “Bill McKibben may be the world's best green journalist . . . What really sets Eaarth apart from other green books is McKibben’s prescription for survival. This won't be just a matter of replacing a few lightbulbs; McKibben is calling for a more local existence lived `lightly, carefully, gently.’ It’s a future unimaginable to most of us—but it may be the only way to survive.”—Time "The issues Bill McKibben addresses in Eaarth are, I believe, the most significant we face as a species, and the stakes could not possibly be any higher . . . This is the perfect book to serve as the capstone of my course. I cannot think of a more important work to focus young minds on what I believe are unquestionably the most important issues facing our planet."—Allen J. Share, Ph.D., Distinguished Teaching Professor of Humanities, University of Louisville"Eaarth is the name McKibben has decided to assign both to his new book and to the planet formerly known as Earth. His point is a fresh one that brings the reader uncomfortably close to climate change . . . Unlike many writers on environmental cataclysm, McKibben is actually a writer, and a very good one at that. He is smart enough to know that the reader needs a dark chuckle of a bone thrown at him now and then to keep plowing through the bad news."—Paul Greenberg, The New York Times Book Review “Bill McKibben may be the world's best green journalist . . . What really sets Eaarth apart from other green books is McKibben’s prescription for survival. This won't be just a matter of replacing a few lightbulbs; McKibben is calling for a more local existence lived `lightly, carefully, gently.’ It’s a future unimaginable to most of us—but it may be the only way to survive.”—Time “Superbly written . . . McKibben is at his best when offering an elegant tour of what is already going wrong and likely to get even worse. . . . Eaarth is a manifesto for radical measures.”—The National Interest “A valuable slice of acid-tongued reality.”—San Francisco Chronicle “This book must be read and his message must be understood clearly in Congress and in the streets. Indeed, throughout the world.”—The Capitol Times (Madison, Wis.) “Sounds a clarion at a time when the findings of climate scientists have been all but drowned out by skeptics and right-wing bombast. McKibben, however, does not doubt that facts will trump ideology. . . . McKibben is an eloquent advocate.”—The Oregonian (Portland)
"With clarity, eloquence, deep knowledge, and even deeper compassion for both planet and people, Bill McKibben guides us to the brink of a new, uncharted era. This monumental book, probably his greatest, may restore your faith in the future, with us in it."—Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us "The terrifying premise with which this book begins is that we have, as in the old science fiction films and tales of half a century ago, landed on a harsh and unpredictable planet, all six billion of us. Climate change is already here, but Bill McKibben doesn’t stop with the bad news. He tours the best responses that are also already here, and these visions of a practical scientific solution are also sketches of a better, richer, more democratic civil society and everyday life. Eaarth is an astonishingly important book that will knock you down and pick you up."—Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell and Hope in the Dark "Bill McKibben foresaw 'the end of nature' very early on, and in this new book he blazes a path to help preserve nature's greatest treasures."—James E. Hansen, Director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies "Bill McKibben is the most effective environmental activist of our age. Anyone interested in making a difference to our world can learn from him."—Time Flannery, author of The Weather Makers and The Eternal Frontier "For 20 years McKibben has been writing with clarity and zeal about global warming, initially in the hope of staving it off and now in an effort to lessen its dire impact. With climate change under way, we now live on a far less hospitable planet than the one on which our civilizations coalesced for 10,000 years amidst resplendent biological diversity. McKibben postulates that because today’s planet is so much hotter, stormier, and more chaotic with droughts, vanishing ice, dying forests, encroaching deserts, acid oceans, increased wildfires, and diminishing food crops, it merits a new name: 'Eaarth.' Although his meticulous chronicling of the current “cascading effects” of climate change is truly alarming, it isn’t utterly devastating. That’s because McKibben, reasonable and compassionate, reports with equal thoroughness on the innovations of proactive individuals and groups and explicates the benefits of ending our dependence on fossil fuels, industrial agriculture, and the unbalanced, unjust global economy. What distinguishes McKibben as an environmental writer beyond his literary finesse and firm grasp of the complexities of science and society is his generous pragmatism, informed vision of small-scale solutions to our food and energy needs, and belief that Eaarth will remain a nurturing planet if we face facts, jettison destructive habits, and pursue new ways of living with creativity and conscience."—Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
"The world as we know it has ended forever: that's the melancholy message of this nonetheless cautiously optimistic assessment of the planet's future by McKibben, whose The End of Nature first warned of global warming's inevitable impact 20 years ago. Twelve books later, the committed environmentalist concedes that the earth has lost the climatic stability that marked all of human civilization. His litany of damage done by a carbon-fueled world economy is by now familiar: in some places rainfall is dramatically heavier, while Australia and the American Southwest face a permanent drought; polar ice is vanishing, glaciers everywhere are melting, typhoons...
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5 reviews from Green blogs:
- Green on HuffingtonPost.com 04 Aug 10:
... It is the carbon -- that’s why the seas are turning acid, a point Obama could have made with ease while standing on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. “It’s bad that it’s black out there, ” he might have said, “but even if that oil had made it safely ashore and been burned in our cars, it would still be wrecking the oceans. ” Energy independence is nice, but you need a planet to be energy independent on. Mysteriously enough, this seems to be a particularly hard point for smart people to grasp. Even in the wake of the disastrous Senate non-vote, the Nature Conservancy’s climate expert told New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, “We have to take climate change out of the atmosphere, bring it down to earth, and show how it matters in people’s everyday lives. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 07 Jun 10:
... ” Now, let’s catalogue the differences: Kennedy had the Cold War to help him, along with an accelerating economy and a strong congressional majority. Obama presides over a fragile economy, a fractious Congress, and must deal with a lunatic right that, at the last Republican convention, came together around the slogan “Drill, Baby, Drill. ” Not only that, but the challenge he faces is so much tougher. The Apollo mission was technically complex, but in a sense the very opposite of our energy challenge: a moon shot meant focusing all our energy on three guys and a rocket, while an energy revolution would mean, in essence, landing all of us on a different planet, one where we no longer need the fossil fuels that are currently the engine for our economy. ... - Climate Progress 22 May 10:
... You had to wonder when it would happen. That moment when someone would take us from talk of how to prevent climate change to acknowledging that it was here already, here to stay, and that it had — and would continue — to irrevocably foreclose on many of the opportunities humanity has taken for granted for millennia. Figures it would be Bill McKibben. His first book, The End of Nature was one of the earliest to introduce global warming into popular culture. His latest book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Hot New Planet, lays out our grim new reality relentlessly (excerpt here). Yet it is not, fundamentally, a pessimistic book. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 06 May 10:
... Bill McKibben in conversation is counting a few of the ways that earth has changed since Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman on his fourth turn around the moon in December 1968 tilted his craft and saw the earth rising, 'the most beautiful, heart-catching sight of my life. . . It was the only thing in space that had any color to it. Everything else was simply black or white. But not the earth. ' Bill McKibben has a revised spelling for a changed place in his new book: Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet: Pretty much name a physical feature of the planet. Take the great boreal forests that dominate the northern hemisphere across, say, North America. We've lost now tens of millions of acres of pine trees. You get up in a plane and, horizon to horizon, there's not a living tree because the pine bark beetle that had always been there. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 25 Feb 10:
... is the so-called “Climate-gate” scandal from an English research center last fall. The English scientist Phil Jones has been placed on leave while his university decides if he should be punished for, among other things, not complying with Freedom of Information Act requests. Call him the Mark Fuhrman of climate science; attack him often enough and maybe people will ignore the inconvenient mountain of evidence about climate change that the world’s scientific researchers have, in fact, compiled. Indeed, you can make almost exactly the same kind of fuss Johnnie ...
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Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy
Michael T. Klare
"Klare’s superb book explains, in haunting detail, the trends that will lead us into a series of dangerous traps unless we muster the will to transform the way we use energy."—Bill McKibben
Oil recently hit $140 a barrel, and it is still climbing. Unlike the oil shocks of the 1970s, this dizzying leap is not the product of an OPEC embargo or a sudden flare-up in the Middle East. Rather, it is a harbinger of a permanent new structure of world power, one in which market for...
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Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy
Michael T. Klare
"Klare’s superb book explains, in haunting detail, the trends that will lead us into a series of dangerous traps unless we muster the will to transform the way we use energy."—Bill McKibben
Oil recently hit $140 a barrel, and it is still climbing. Unlike the oil shocks of the 1970s, this dizzying leap is not the product of an OPEC embargo or a sudden flare-up in the Middle East. Rather, it is a harbinger of a permanent new structure of world power, one in which market forces and military strength matter far less than the scarcity of vital natural resources.
Now in paperback, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet surveys the energy-driven dynamic that is reconfiguring the international landscape: Russia, the battered Cold War loser, is now the arrogant broker of Eurasian energy, and the United States, once the world’s superpower, must now compete with the emerging "Chindia" juggernaut for finite and diminishing resources. Forecasting a future of surprising new alliances and explosive danger, Michael T. Klare, the preeminent expert on resource geopolitics, argues that the only route to survival in our radically altered world lies through international cooperation.
Michael T. Klare is the author of thirteen books, including Blood and Oil and Resource Wars. A regular contributor to Harper’s, Foreign Affairs, and the Los Angeles Times, he is the defense analyst for The Nation and the director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College in Amherst. In March 2005, an unprecedented Chinese attempt to acquire the major American energy firm Unocal was blocked by Congress amidst hysterical warnings of a Communist threat. But the political grandstanding missed a larger point: the takeover bid was a harbinger of a new structure of world power, based not on market forces or on arms and armies but on the possession of vital natural resources.Surveying the energy-driven dynamic that is reconfiguring the international landscape, Michael Klare, the preeminent expert on resource geopolitics, forecasts a future of surprising new alliances and explosive danger. World leaders are now facing the stark recognition that all materials vital for the functioning of modern industrial societies (not just oil and natural gas but uranium, coal, copper, and others) are finite and being depleted at an ever-accelerating rate. As a result, governments rather than corporations are increasingly spearheading the pursuit of resources. In a radically altered world—where Russia is transformed from battered Cold War loser to arrogant broker of Eurasian energy, and the United States is forced to compete with the emerging “Chindia” juggernaut—the only route to survival on a shrinking planet, Klare shows, is through international cooperation. “If you want to understand the future of international relations, worry less about ideology and more about oil reserves. Michael Klare's superb new book explains, in haunting detail, the trends that will lead us into a series of dangerous traps, unless we muster the will to transform the way we use energy in this country. As illuminating as it is unsettling.”—Bill McKibben, author The Bill McKibben Reader
"What happens to world politics in an era marked by rising oil prices and resource scarcity? In this provocative study, Klare depicts a coming struggle for energy that will ignite dangerous geopolitical competition, with major states increasingly intervening in markets in an attempt to gain access and control."—John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs
"In clear and compelling fashion Michael Klare warns of the dangers of conflict among the United States, China, and Russia, all jostling for energy. More important, he proposes realistic cooperative projects that can prevent competition from spiraling into war. Policy makers and public alike need to read this book."—Admiral Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence
"A brilliant exposition on one of the gigantic problems facing society. Klare is a top expert on the politics of energy and resources."—Paul R. Ehrlich, author of The Dominant Animal
"Klare gives a good, comprehensive account of the tightening noose of available conventional energy resources. From 'peak oil' to the under-reported limitations of available fuel supply for nuclear power, here is a convincing case that the energy crunch is at least as threatening, if not more so, as the current credit crisis. Especially relevant in the current energy debate is Klare's point that there is only 40 years' worth of available uranium supply left to feed the world's 440 civilian reactors, and that any growth in nuclear generation will reduce that further . . . Climate change, Klare writes, is the 'ultimate squeeze.' It sounds like a rather terrifying hot date which, of course, it is. The future, he argues, is a bigger role for the state and more state collaboration, especially between China and the US."—New Scientist
"Four centuries ago, as the conquistadors roamed through South America, it was the search for gold that drove the clash of empires. A hundred years later, as the great powers fought over the West Indies, it was the quest for land that could grow sugar cane. Today, the key commodity is oil. No one knows this subject better than Michael Klare, and his book is a trenchant and informative guide to what the fatal thirst for oil means for the tensions and rivalries of our fragile planet."—Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost
“If you want to understand the future of international relations, worry less about ideology and more about oil reserves. Michael Klare's superb new book explains, in haunting detail, the trends that will lead us into a series of dangerous traps, unless we muster the will to transform the way we use energy in this country. As illuminating as it is unsettling.”—Bill McKibben, author of The Bill McKibben Reader
“Once again, Michael Klare has vividly spelled out the geopolitical ramifications of resource scarcity as he did in both Blood and Oil and Resource Wars. His new book deals with our pending clash as we enter an unprecedented time of surging demand for oil while its conventional supply peaks. The book is a serious must read for any student of geopolitics."—Matthew R. Simmons, author of Twilight in the Desert
"When danger looms, ignorance is not bliss. Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet defines a new benchmark for understanding the perilous complexities of strategic natural resources and how they shape the modern world. Klare articulates his message with sober honesty and appropriate urgency. If knowledge is power, it is also empowering; let us use this information to rekindle hope and commit to action, vigorously adopting the practical and profitable solutions that already do exist."—Amory B. Lovins, author of Winning the Oil Endgame
"A cheerless prognostication of a future driven by energy—acquisition battles that will prove especially gloomy for those who think that the price of gas is already too high. It has long been observed that the wars of the 21st century will be about such things as oil and water. The Nation defense analyst and national-security specialist Klare is well positioned to write about such things. At the outset, he establishes a matter-of-fact tone that assumes the worst, at least if you're a neocon: The United States was supposed to be the world's one superpower after the Cold War ended, but at the moment Russia and China are rising rapidly, the former because of its vast energy holdings and potential, the latter because it has so much American money as a result of a staggering trade imbalance. The United States is thus not among the 'nations that wield disproportionate power in the international system by virtue of their superior energy reserves,' even if the continued occupation of Iraq may one day give an advantage to U.S. energy companies. Energy is its own politics: For all the sword-waving and name-calling, the Venezuela of Hugo Chavez still supplies ten percent of America's imported oil; the Darfur tragedy is ongoing precisely because Sudan has energy reserves and enjoys the diplomatic patronage of its chief customer for oil, China; the dictatorship of Kazakhstan is golden because it has so much oil, with Dick Cheney praising its government for 'impressive political development' despite having rigged the last few elections and forbidden opposition. Klare urges several policy changes at the national and international level, including not just the expected call for increased efficiencies and the development of renewable energy, but also the formulation of new consortia: an alliance of Japan and China for the peaceful development of gas fields in the South China Sea. A useful survey for students of energy, geopolitics and realpolitik."—Kirkus Reviews
"Looking at the 'new international energy order,' author and journalist Klare finds America's 'sole superpower' status falling to the increasing influence of 'petro-superpowers' like Russia and 'Chindia.' Klare identifies and analyzes the major players as well as the playing field, positing armed conflict and environmental disaster in the balance. Currently in the lead is emerging energy superpower Russia, which has gained 'immense geopolitical influence' selling oil and natural gas to Europe and Asia; the rapidly developing economies of China and India follow. Klare also warns of the danger of a new cold-war environment that...
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5 reviews from Green blogs:
- Green on HuffingtonPost.com 22 Jun 10:
... As a result, they have taken up arms in a bid for a greater share of the revenues the Nigerian government collects from the foreign energy companies doing the drilling. Leading this drive is the Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta (MEND), a ragtag guerrilla group that has demonstrated remarkable success in disrupting oil company operations. The U. S. Department of Energy (DoE) rates Nigeria’s innate oil-production capacity at about 2. 7 million barrels per day. Thanks to insurgent activity in the Delta, however, actual output has fallen significantly below this. “Since December 2005, Nigeria has experienced increased pipeline vandalism, kidnappings, and militant takeovers of oil facilities in the Niger Delta, ” the department reported in May 2009. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 19 May 10:
... Led by former Halliburton CEO Vice President Dick Cheney, the framers of the policy warned that the United States was becoming ever more dependent on imported energy, thereby endangering national security. They called for increased reliance on domestic energy sources, especially oil and natural gas. “A primary goal of the National Energy Policy is to add supply from diverse sources, ” the document declared. “This means domestic oil, gas, and coal. ” As the NEP made clear, however, the United States was running out of conventional, easily tapped reservoirs of oil and natural gas located on land or in shallow coastal waters. “U. S. oil production is expected to decline over the next two decades, [while] demand for natural gas will most likely continue to outpace domestic production, ” the document noted. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 05 Apr 10:
... Perhaps more than any other recent developments, China’s global shopping spree reveals how the world’s balance of power is shifting from West to East. Michael Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. , and the author, most recently, of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet. A documentary movie version of his previous book, Blood and Oil, is available from the Media Education Foundation. Related Links: Me, on Grit. tv, talking about Obama’s drilling plan Energy Independence Through Greater ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 23 Feb 10:
... I wouldn’t be the person to write the film’s plot or script—I know my limits—but when it comes to charting future resource wars, I think I could be useful. Drawing on Cameron’s clues in Avatar and my own books, including Resource Wars, Blood and Oil, and Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet, let me just sketch out the prequel scenario I envision:It’s the torrid summer of 2144, just a decade before Avatar begins. (That movie takes place in summer 2154, after a flight from Earth that, we’re told, involves six continuous years of sleep, ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 23 Feb 10:
... Admittedly, I wouldn’t be the person to write the film’s plot or script -- I know my limits -- but when it comes to charting future resource wars, I think I could be useful. Drawing on Cameron’s clues in Avatar and my own books, including Resource Wars, Blood and Oil, and Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet, let me just sketch out the prequel scenario I envision: It’s the torrid summer of 2144, just a decade before Avatar begins. (That movie takes place in summer 2154, after a flight from Earth that, we’re told, involves six continuous years of ...
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The Lomborg Deception: Setting the Record Straight About Global Warming
Howard Friel
In this major assessment of leading climate-change skeptic Bjørn Lomborg, Howard Friel meticulously deconstructs the Danish statisticianâs claim that global warming is “no catastropheâ by exposing the systematic misrepresentations and partial accounting that are at the core of climate skepticism. His detailed analysis serves not only as a guide to reading the global warming skeptics, but also as a model for assessing the state of climate science. With attention to the complexities o...
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The Lomborg Deception: Setting the Record Straight About Global Warming
Howard Friel
In this major assessment of leading climate-change skeptic Bjørn Lomborg, Howard Friel meticulously deconstructs the Danish statisticianâs claim that global warming is “no catastropheâ by exposing the systematic misrepresentations and partial accounting that are at the core of climate skepticism. His detailed analysis serves not only as a guide to reading the global warming skeptics, but also as a model for assessing the state of climate science. With attention to the complexities of climate-related phenomena across a range of areas—from Arctic sea ice to the Antarctic ice sheet—The Lomborg Deception also offers readers an enlightening review of some of todayâs most urgent climate concerns.
Frielâs book is the first to respond directly to Lomborgâs controversial research as published in The Skeptical Environmentalist (2001) and Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalistâs Guide to Global Warming (2007). His close reading of Lomborgâs textual claims and supporting footnotes reveals a lengthy list of findings that will rock climate skeptics and their allies in the government and news media, demonstrating that the published peer-reviewed climate science, as assessed mainly by the U.N.âs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has had it mostly right—even if somewhat conservatively right—all along. Frielâs able defense of Al Goreâs An Inconvenient Truth against Lomborgâs repeated attacks is by itself worth an attentive reading.
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4 reviews from Green blogs:
- Climate Progress 01 Sep 10:
... But that assumes you ascribe a level of nuance to Lomborg that sometimes exists in his writing, but not in how the anti-science ideologues have used him throughout the years. Below is an excerpt from Media Matters piece, “How will right-wing media react to former climate skeptic Lomborg?” that drives this point home. Then I’ll repost a piece by Howard Friel, author of The Lomborg Deception, who explains why “Lomborg is not a responsible climate commentator. ” Lomborg: Global warming “a challenge humanity must confront” … Previously, Lomborg said climate change “is emphatically not the end of the world. ” In his 2007 book, Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming, Lomborg stated that while “climate change is a problem … it is emphatically not the end of the world. ... - Climate Progress 31 Aug 10:
... Of course, Lomborg doesn’t really know anything about the solutions and most of the people he got to write essays for his book don’t either — and there’s no way of telling if in a few years Lomborg won’t just stick his finger in the wind and flip flop again if that seems like the way to get attention. So I can’t imagine why someone would want to buy this book. Lomborg is, after all, one of the most debunked writers on climate in the world — see “Lomborg’s main argument has collapsed” and links below (or just buy The Lomborg Deception). In the final paragraph of the book, he provides a seemingly strong call to action: If we care about the environment and about leaving this planet and its inhabitants with the best possible future, we actually have only one option: we all need to start seriously focusing, right now, on the most effective ways to fix global warming. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 15 Mar 10:
... by Joseph Romm Another op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg, another Gish Gallup of non-stop disinformation. The good news is that the task of debunking the Septical Environmentalist (sic), has been made easier by the publication of whole book dedicated to that tedious task, The Lomborg Deception. And yes, “Septical Environmentalist” is not a typo. Sure, it may seem like a mistake to use the word “environmentalist” to describe Lomborg. But it’s the very fact that he calls himself an environmentalist while dedicating his life to spreading disinformation and delaying serious action on the seminal environmental issue of our time that makes him septical. ... - Climate Progress 14 Mar 10:
... Another op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg, another Gish Gallup of non-stop disinformation. The good news is that the task of debunking the Septical Environmentalist (sic), has been made easier by the publication of whole book dedicated to that tedious task, The Lomborg Deception. And yes, “Septical Environmentalist” is not a typo. Sure, it may seem like a mistake to use the word “environmentalist” to describe Lomborg. But it’s the very fact that he calls himself an environmentalist while dedicating his life to spreading disinformation and delaying serious action on the seminal environmental issue of our time that makes him septical. ...
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How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth's Climate
Jeff Goodell
When Jeff Goodell first encountered the term "geoengineering," he had a vague sense that it involved outlandish schemes to counteract global warming. As a journalist, he was deeply skeptical. But he was also intrigued. The planet was in trouble. Could geoengineers help? Â Climate change may well be the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. Temperatures in some regions of the world could increase by as much as fifteen degrees by the end of the century, causing rising sea levels an...
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How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth's Climate
Jeff Goodell
When Jeff Goodell first encountered the term "geoengineering," he had a vague sense that it involved outlandish schemes to counteract global warming. As a journalist, he was deeply skeptical. But he was also intrigued. The planet was in trouble. Could geoengineers help? Â Climate change may well be the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. Temperatures in some regions of the world could increase by as much as fifteen degrees by the end of the century, causing rising sea levels and severe droughts. But change could also happen much more suddenly. What if we had a real climate emergency, the ecological equivalent of the subprime mortgage meltdownâhow could we cool the planet in a hurry? Â As Goodell shows in this bracing book, even if we could muster the political will for it, cutting greenhouse gas emissions alone may not be enough to reduce the risk of climate catastrophe. This has led some scientists to pursue extreme solutions: huge contraptions that would suck CO2 from the air, machines that would brighten clouds and deflect sunlight away from the earth, even artificial volcanoes that would spray heat-reflecting particles into the atmosphere. Â In How to Cool the Planet, Goodell explores the scientific, political, financial, and moral aspects of geoengineering. How are we to change the temperature of whole regions if we can't even predict next week's weather? What if a wealthy entrepreneur shots particles into the stratosphere on his own? What about wars waged with climate control as the primary weapon? What happens to our relationship with nature when, as Goodell puts it, we all find ourselves living in a giant terrarium? Â And our options are dwindling. Maybe, Goodell suggests, we need to start taking geoengineering seriously. Maybe it's Plan B for the planet. And if it is, we need to know enough to get it right. Â Thoroughly reported and convincingly argued, How to Cool the Planet is a compelling tale of scientific hubris and technical daring. But it is also a thoughtful, even-handed look at a deeply complex and controversial issue. It's a book that will surely jump-start the next big debate about the future of life on earth. Â Â
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4 reviews from Green blogs:
- Grist - Climate & Energy 07 May 10:
... by David Roberts What seems like a thousand years ago (I’ll never get used to print media pacing), I wrote a review of Jeff Goodell’s new book for the American Prospect. It appears in the latest issue and has now been published on their website. Here’s how it begins: ——— How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth’s Climate by Jeff Goodell Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 272 pages, $26. 00 During the 1950s, the atomic scientist Edward Teller was eager to prove that nuclear bombs could be used in construction as earthmovers, and in 1958 he won the approval of the U. ... - Climate Progress 18 Mar 10:
... ” That’s one reason why, as journalist Jeff Goodell put it to me, it “needs to be purer than pure. ” My Monday post pointed out that it appeared to fail that test because its Sole “Strategic Partner” is Australia’s “dirty coal” state of Victoria. Goodell, author of the forthcoming book, How to Cool the Planet, said of that sponsorship, “I think it looks awful. ” But a far bigger issue, according to many leading experts I spoke to, is that the “developer” of the entire conference is the Climate Response Fund, which has close ties to a very controversial geo-engineering firm, Climos. ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 16 Mar 10:
... by Joseph Romm Climate Progress is beginning a multipart series on what has been called the “Woodstock” of geo-engineering. This historic but controversial event will take place March 22 – 26 in Asilomar, CA. Details can be found here on the website of the conference “developer, ” Dr. Margaret Leinen of the Climate Response Fund. I have been interviewing leading experts on geo-engineering about this conference, including journalist Jeff Goodell, author of the forthcoming book, How to Cool the Planet. This conference proclaims its lofty goal “to develop norms and guidelines for controlled experimentation on climate engineering or intervention techniques. ... - Climate Progress 15 Mar 10:
... Climate Progress is beginning a multipart series on what has been called the “Woodstock” of geo-engineering. This historic but controversial event will take place March 22 – 26 in Asilomar, CA. Details can be found here on the website of the conference “developer, ” Dr. Margaret Leinen of the Climate Response Fund. I have been interviewing leading experts on geo-engineering about this conference, including journalist Jeff Goodell, author of the forthcoming book, How to Cool the Planet. This conference proclaims its lofty goal “to develop norms and guidelines for controlled experimentation on climate engineering or intervention techniques. ...
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Climategate: The Crutape Letters (Volume 1)
Steven Mosher
The Climategate scandal covered from beginning to end--from 'Hide the Decline' to the current day. Written by two authors who were on the scene--Steven Mosher and Tom Fuller--Climategate takes you behind that scene and shows what happened and why. For those who have heard that the emails were taken out of context--we provide that context and show it is worse when context is provided. For those who have heard that this is a tempest in a teacup--we show why it will swamp the conventional ...
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Climategate: The Crutape Letters (Volume 1)
Steven Mosher
The Climategate scandal covered from beginning to end--from 'Hide the Decline' to the current day. Written by two authors who were on the scene--Steven Mosher and Tom Fuller--Climategate takes you behind that scene and shows what happened and why. For those who have heard that the emails were taken out of context--we provide that context and show it is worse when context is provided. For those who have heard that this is a tempest in a teacup--we show why it will swamp the conventional wisdom on climate change. And for those who have heard that this scandal is just 'boys being boys'--well, boy. It's as seamy as what happened on Wall Street.
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3 reviews from Green blogs:
- DeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science 29 Apr 10:
... True to form, Sussman, like Glenn Beck, also appears to be a proponent of investing in gold, as his personal website is named God, Guns and Gold. I suspect that Sussman's climategate book is selling better than the first climategate book by Steve Mosher because it is positively nuttier. Mosher, who broke the climategate story in November, believes that climate change exists. His book, (Climategate: The CRUtape letters) does not make expansive claims about socialist conspiracies, but instead details (in somewhat dry text) his and co-author Tom Fuller's understandings of the workings of climate scientists at CRU. This post is hardly an endorsement of the CRUtape Letters, but I cite it to highlight how one book became more popular among the conservative base. ... - DeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science 30 Mar 10:
... On Monday the 23rd, Glenn Beck did a segment, and on Tuesday Pat Michaels was interviewed on Fox News. A mid-western group even produced a video on the 24th called 'hide the decline' which rose to 500, 000 views on Youtube after it was promoted by Rush Limbaugh. Steve Mosher and Tom Fuller went on to write a book detailing the series of events around the hack. Collectively, the group of skeptic bloggers have written extensively about the link and refer to it frequently. Police have made little progress in identifying who stole or leaked the files. The skeptic bloggers were able to take a security breach and present it to the PR and media organizations invested in opposing action to reduce global warming emissions. ... - Climate Progress 24 Feb 10:
... piece: So what motivated their FOIA requests of the CRU at the University of East Anglia? Last weekend, I was part of a discussion on this issue at the Blackboard.  Among the participants in this discussion was Steven Mosher, who broke the climategate story and has already written a book on it here. They are concerned about inadvertent introduction of bias into the CRU temperature data by having the same people who create the dataset use the dataset in research and in verifying climate models; this concern applies to both NASA GISS and the connection between CRU and the Hadley Centre. ...
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Hack the Planet: Science's Best Hope - or Worst Nightmare - for Averting Climate Catastrophe
Eli Kintisch
An inside tour of the incredible—and probably dangerous—plans to counteract the effects of climate change through experiments that range from the plausible to the fantastic
David Battisti had arrived in Cambridge expecting a bloodbath. So had many of the other scientists who had joined him for an invitation-only workshop on climate science in 2007, with geoengineering at the top of the agenda. We can't take deliberately altering the atmosphere seriously, he thought, because t...
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Hack the Planet: Science's Best Hope - or Worst Nightmare - for Averting Climate Catastrophe
Eli Kintisch
An inside tour of the incredible—and probably dangerous—plans to counteract the effects of climate change through experiments that range from the plausible to the fantastic
David Battisti had arrived in Cambridge expecting a bloodbath. So had many of the other scientists who had joined him for an invitation-only workshop on climate science in 2007, with geoengineering at the top of the agenda. We can't take deliberately altering the atmosphere seriously, he thought, because there’s no way we'll ever know enough to control it. But by the second day, with bad climate news piling on bad climate news, he was having second thoughts. When the scientists voted in a straw poll on whether to support geoengineering research, Battisti, filled with fear about the future, voted in favor.
While the pernicious effects of global warming are clear, efforts to reduce the carbon emissions that cause it have fallen far short of what’s needed. Some scientists have started exploring more direct and radical ways to cool the planet, such as:
- Pouring reflective pollution into the upper atmosphere
- Making clouds brighter
- Growing enormous blooms of algae in the ocean
Schemes that were science fiction just a few years ago have become earnest plans being studied by alarmed scientists, determined to avoid a climate catastrophe. In Hack the Planet, Science magazine reporter Eli Kintisch looks more closely at this array of ideas and characters, asking if these risky schemes will work, and just how geoengineering is changing the world.
Scientists are developing geoengineering techniques for worst-case scenarios. But what would those desperate times look like? Kintisch outlines four circumstances: collapsing ice sheets, megadroughts, a catastrophic methane release, and slowing of the global ocean conveyor belt.
As incredible and outlandish as many of these plans may seem, could they soon become our only hope for avoiding calamity? Or will the plans of brilliant and well-intentioned scientists cause unforeseeable disasters as they play out in the real world? And does the advent of geoengineering mean that humanity has failed in its role as steward of the planet—or taken on a new responsibility? Kintisch lays out the possibilities and dangers of geoengineering in a time of planetary tipping points. His investigation is required reading as the debate over global warming shifts to whether humanity should Hack the Planet.
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3 reviews from Green blogs:
- Climate Progress 25 Mar 10:
... So startup Calera, who seeks to turn CO2 exhaust into limestone for “carbon negative” cement, has struck a $15 million deal with coal giant Peabody. And Monday you reported on various issues facing the technology. I thought I’d offer more: Harvard geochemist Dan Schrag says its CEO is “pulling numbers out of his a##. ” And other independent experts have their doubts as to various aspects. I cover Calera closely in Hack the Planet, my new book on geoengineering. For a chapter on carbon called “The One-Ton-Sucking Challenge, ” I spent a day at Calera’s offices in Los Gatos, California and met its business-saavy and brash CEO, Stanford geologist Brent Constanz. Not only did Constanz disparage mainstream climate scientists (“A philosophy major in college, ” he scoffed at one point, obliquely but clearly referring to rival Ken Caldeira). ... - Grist - Climate & Energy 22 Mar 10:
... To be absolutely clear, Climate Response Fund will not fund field experiments for any climate intervention technique now or in the future including, but not limited to, ocean fertilization, solar radiation management by stratospheric aerosols, tropospheric aerosols, adding alkalinity to the ocean or any other particular climate mitigation techniques. That is the unequivocal statement many had been looking for, to eliminate the appearance that the nonprofit helping to shape the norms and guidelines for geo-engineering experiments had a potential financial interest in the outcome. How important is this statement?Eli Kintisch, reporter for Science magazine, has a forthcoming book on geo-engineering, Hack the Planet, which discusses CRF (run by Margaret Leinen) and its relationship to the firm Climos (run by her son, Dan Whaley, with her, formerly, as its chief scientific officer). Climos had been pursuing a doubly dubious scheme to perform ocean iron fertilization experiments and sell carbon offsets for them (see “Rule Three of Offsets: No Geo-engineering“). ... - Climate Progress 22 Mar 10:
... To be absolutely clear, Climate Response Fund will not fund field experiments for any climate intervention technique now or in the future including, but not limited to, ocean fertilization, solar radiation management by stratospheric aerosols, tropospheric aerosols, adding alkalinity to the ocean or any other particular climate mitigation techniques. That is the unequivocal statement many had been looking for, to eliminate the appearance that the nonprofit helping to shape the norms and guidelines for geo-engineering experiments had a potential financial interest in the outcome. How important is this statement? Eli Kintisch, reporter for Science magazine, has a forthcoming book on geo-engineering, Hack the Planet, which discusses CRF (run by Margaret Leinen) and its relationship to the firm Climos (run by her son, Dan Whaley, with her, formerly, as its chief scientific officer). Climos had been pursuing a doubly dubious scheme to perform ocean iron fertilization experiments and sell carbon offsets for them (see “Rule Three of Offsets: No Geo-engineering“). ...
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Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century
William J. Mitchell
This book provides a long-overdue vision for a new automobile era. The cars we drive today follow the same underlying design principles as the Model Ts of a hundred years ago and the tail-finned sedans of fifty years ago. In the twenty-first century, cars are still made for twentieth-century purposes. They're well suited for conveying multiple passengers over long distances at high speeds, but inefficient for providing personal mobility within cities—where most of the world's people now live....
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Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century
William J. Mitchell
This book provides a long-overdue vision for a new automobile era. The cars we drive today follow the same underlying design principles as the Model Ts of a hundred years ago and the tail-finned sedans of fifty years ago. In the twenty-first century, cars are still made for twentieth-century purposes. They're well suited for conveying multiple passengers over long distances at high speeds, but inefficient for providing personal mobility within cities—where most of the world's people now live. In this pathbreaking book, William Mitchell and two industry experts reimagine the automobile, describing vehicles of the near future that are green, smart, connected, and fun to drive. They roll out four big ideas that will make this both feasible and timely.
First, we must transform the DNA of the automobile, basing it on electric-drive and wireless communication rather than on petroleum, the internal combustion engine, and stand-alone operation. This allows vehicles to become lighter, cleaner, and "smart" enough to avoid crashes and traffic jams. Second, automobiles need to be linked by a Mobility Internet that allows them to collect and share data on traffic conditions, intelligently coordinates their movements, and keeps drivers connected to their social networks. Third, automobiles must be recharged through a convenient, cost-effective infrastructure that is integrated with smart electric grids and makes increasing use of renewable energy sources. Finally, dynamically priced markets for electricity, road space, parking space, and shared-use vehicles must be introduced to provide optimum management of urban mobility and energy systems.
The fundamental reinvention of the automobile won't be easy, but it is an urgent necessity—to make urban mobility more convenient and sustainable, to make cities more livable, and to help bring the automobile industry out of crisis.
Four Big Ideas That Could Transform the Automobile:
- Base the underlying design principles on electric-drive and wireless communications rather than the internal combustion engine and stand-alone operation
- Develop the Mobility Internet for sharing traffic and travel data
- Integrate electric-drive vehicles with smart electric grids that use clean, renewable energy sources
- Establish dynamically priced markets for electricity, road space, parking space, and shared-use vehicles
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2 reviews from Green blogs:
- Grist - Climate & Energy 17 Feb 10:
... optimism is technology, and vice versa. I’ve come to think that this conflation of progress/innovation and technology—specifically energy-generation technology—is one of the principal barriers to a bright green future. To illustrate the point, consider a book I recently reviewed, Reinventing the Automobile, by two engineers from from GM’s advanced auto division and the head of MIT’s Smart Cities program. Among other things, it describes the sustainable city of the future in considerable detail. Here is an extremely condensed sketch of that city:Everything is ... - Grist - Living Green 16 Feb 10:
... by David Roberts I have a piece in the latest issue of the American Prospect called “This Is How You’ll Get There. ” It’s a review of two books: Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), by journalist Tom Vanderbilt, and Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century, by three brilliant supergeeks (two from GM’s advanced auto division; one from MIT’s Smart Cities program). I know book reviews aren’t the most exciting genre in the world, but I quite like this one, mainly because the books kind of blew my ...
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Wild Weather
Dr. Reese Halter
Weather can be wild and it is getting wilder. Global warming has been linked to myriad natural catastrophes, and race is on to change the way we interact with our planet. In the next decade, we will experience the greatest technological advancements ever witnessed, as we move beyond our reliance on fossil fuels and harvest the sun.
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Wild Weather
Dr. Reese Halter
Weather can be wild and it is getting wilder. Global warming has been linked to myriad natural catastrophes, and race is on to change the way we interact with our planet. In the next decade, we will experience the greatest technological advancements ever witnessed, as we move beyond our reliance on fossil fuels and harvest the sun.
| Amazon Rating: | |
| US$9.95 | |
(As of Sep 05 14:47 , info) | |
2 reviews from Green blogs:
- Climate Progress 16 Aug 10:
... It’s time to take a stand, once and for all, and allow innovation to deliver a made-in-America green technologies energy solution. That’s Dr. Reese Halter, writing in Huffington Post piece, which I excerpt below. Halter is a Science Communicator and a conservation biologist at Cal Lutheran University. In 2006 I finished the book Wild Weather the Truth Behind Global Warming. As a field biologist with a quarter century of experience I felt anxious about how nature and people would cope with the times ahead. So far this year, globally, the weather patterns, insects, wild fires, melting glaciers, sea ice and the oceans all appear to be on performance-enhancing drugs eclipsing, in some cases, thousand year events. ... - Green on HuffingtonPost.com 14 Aug 10:
... In 2006 I finished the book Wild Weather the Truth Behind Global Warming. As a field biologist with a quarter century of experience I felt anxious about how nature and people would cope with the times ahead. So far this year, globally, the weather patterns, insects, wild fires, melting glaciers, sea ice and the oceans all appear to be on performance-enhancing drugs eclipsing, in some cases, thousand year events. The first half of 2010 shattered many weather records since the inception of continuous record keeping in 1879. Of immediate concern is the lightning speed of 34, 000 square miles, each day in June, that Arctic sea ice melted; it was more than 50 percent greater than the average rate of 20, 000 square miles a day set in 2006. ...
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Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America
Nick Rosen
Inside the subculture of off-grid living
Written by a leading authority on living off the grid, this is a fascinating and timely look at one of the fastest growing movements in America. In researching the stories that would become Off the Grid, Nick Rosen traveled from one end of the United States to the other, spending time with all kinds of individuals and families striving to live their lives the way they want to-free from dependence on municipal power and amenities...
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Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America
Nick Rosen
Inside the subculture of off-grid living
Written by a leading authority on living off the grid, this is a fascinating and timely look at one of the fastest growing movements in America. In researching the stories that would become Off the Grid, Nick Rosen traveled from one end of the United States to the other, spending time with all kinds of individuals and families striving to live their lives the way they want to-free from dependence on municipal power and amenities, and free from the inherent dependence on the government and its far-reaching arms. While the people profiled may not have a lot in common in terms of their daily lives or their personal background, what they do share is an understanding of how unique their lives are, and how much effort and determination is required to maintain the lifestyle in the face of modern America's push toward connectivity and development.
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2 reviews from Green blogs:
- sustainablog 28 Jul 10:
... Nick Rosen's Off the Grid You may have noticed that we’ve published more content in recent months on off-grid living: my connection to the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, and introduction to a number of writers living this way, has provided great insight into the day-to-day practices of those who rely on solar panels* or wind turbines* for energy, rain collection and wells for water, and gardening and animal husbandry for food. It’s not an easy way to live, but it’s possible, and our contributors have provided useful practical information… plus a peek at the motivations for those who choose to forgo many of the “modern conveniences” most of us take for granted. In his new book Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America (affiliate link), documentary film maker, author, and owner of Off-Grid. net Nick Rosen digs deeper into the reasons more Americans are choosing to live of the power grid. What he finds goes well beyond the desire for a more sustainable lifestyle that we tend to promote here. ... - Worldchanging 20 Jul 10:
... I was even born into a group of people who have owned and cared for and tried to restore a big piece of land in rural Northern California since the early 1970s; it's a place I love deeply. I harbor the occasional fantasy about running off to that land to live. In some ways, I expect that I'm a perfect target reader for Nick Rosen's new book, Off the Grid. The story Rosen tells in Off the Grid is an old one, and a quintessentially North American one, that of the noble soul stepping away from the entanglements of modern life, going back to the land and getting off-the-grid. By 'the grid' here -- and it almost begs ominous capitalization, The Grid -- we are of course meant to understand not just wires and pipes, but also the corporations and wealthy men who control them, and the demands they place on us of conformity and servile obedience. ...
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Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People
Emily Pilloton
In January of 2008, with a thousand dollars, a laptop and an outsized conviction that design can change the world, rising San Francisco-based product designer and activist Emily Pilloton launched Project H Design, a radical non-profit that supports, inspires and delivers life-improving humanitarian product design. "We need to go beyond 'going green' and to enlist a new generation of design activists," she wrote in an influential manifesto. "We need big hearts, bigger business sense and the br...
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Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People
Emily Pilloton
In January of 2008, with a thousand dollars, a laptop and an outsized conviction that design can change the world, rising San Francisco-based product designer and activist Emily Pilloton launched Project H Design, a radical non-profit that supports, inspires and delivers life-improving humanitarian product design. "We need to go beyond 'going green' and to enlist a new generation of design activists," she wrote in an influential manifesto. "We need big hearts, bigger business sense and the bravery to take action now."
Featuring more than 100 contemporary design products and systems--safer baby bottles, a high-tech waterless washing machine, low-cost prosthetics for landmine victims, Braille-based Lego-style building blocks for blind children, wheelchairs for rugged conditions, sugarcane charcoal, universal composting systems, DIY soccer balls--that are as fascinating as they are revolutionary, this exceptionally smart, friendly and well-designed volume makes the case for design as a tool to solve some of the world's biggest social problems in beautiful, sustainable and engaging ways--for global citizens in the developing world and in more developed economies alike. Particularly at a time when the weight of climate change, global poverty and population growth are impossible to ignore, Pilloton challenges designers to be changemakers instead of "stuff creators." Urgent and optimistic, a compendium and a call to action, Design Revolution is easily the most exciting design publication to come out this year.
Emily Pilloton is the founder and Executive Director of Project H Design, a global industrial design nonprofit with eight chapters around the world. Trained in architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, and product design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pilloton started Project H in 2008 to provide a conduit and catalyst for need-based product design that empowers individuals, communities and economies. Current Project H initiatives include water transport and filtration systems in South Africa and India; an educational math playground built for elementary schools in Uganda and North Carolina; a homeless-run design coop in Los Angeles; and design concepts for foster care education and therapy in Austin, Texas.
Allan Chochinov is Editor in Chief of Core77.com, and writes and lectures widely on the impact of design on contemporary culture.
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2 reviews from Green blogs:
- GOOD Blog 15 Jul 10:
... For an appropriately compelling finale of the Different by Design session and the day at large, Emily Pilloton of Project H Design offered a case study that embodies her six guiding principles of design for social change: There is no design without action Design with, not for Document, share, and measure Start locally, scale globally Design systems, not stuff Pilloton's talk was very much an eloquent, reality-rooted response to Bruce Nussbaum's Is Humanitarian Design the New Imperialism? op-ed, which stirred quite a kerfuffle in the social design community last week. Emily Pilloton, Humanitarian design activist, during TEDGlobal 2010 Session 6: Different by Design, July 2010 in Oxford, England. Credit: James Duncan Davidson / TED Pilloton's book, Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People, came out last fall and is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in how humanitarian design can lay the groundwork for a smarter, more sustainable future of society. Which, perhaps, should be everyone. Follow our live coverage of TEDGlobal the rest of this week and keep an eye on ted. ... - inhabitat 18 Jan 10:
... the hot seat across from Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report TONIGHT! Project H Design is a non-profit humanitarian design initiative that brings design to the places in the world that need it most. From their Hippo Rollers that provide a means of carrying fresh water to Emily’s new book Design Revolution, Project H Design is doing a lot of good for a lot of people. Now it’s time to see if Emily can swing Stephen Colbert to her side! We know she’s going to be great and we can’t wait to hear what Stephen is going to say. Tune in tonight at 11:30 p. m. EST and 8:30 ...
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The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: "On Robustness and Fragility"
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Â
A black swan is an event, positive or negative, that is deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences. In this groundbreaking and prophetic book, Taleb shows in a playful way that Black Swan events explain almost everything about our world, and yet weâespecially the expertsâare blind to them. In this second edition, Taleb has added a new essay, On Robustness and Fragility, which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world.
*2nd Edition, With ...
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The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: "On Robustness and Fragility"
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Â
A black swan is an event, positive or negative, that is deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences. In this groundbreaking and prophetic book, Taleb shows in a playful way that Black Swan events explain almost everything about our world, and yet weâespecially the expertsâare blind to them. In this second edition, Taleb has added a new essay, On Robustness and Fragility, which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world.
*2nd Edition, With a new essay: "On Robustness and Fragility"
| Amazon Rating: | |
| US$10.99 | |
(As of Sep 05 17:34 , info) | |
2 reviews from Green blogs:
- The Oil Drum 30 Jun 10:
... More than two decades ago Edward Abbey wrote, in One Life at a Time, Please, that '[W]e can see that the religion of endless growth--like any religion based on blind faith rather than reason--is a kind of mania, a form of lunacy, indeed a disease, ' adding that 'Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. ' He expressed his concern about modern economics as follows: 'Economics, no matter how econometric it pretends to be, resembles meteorology more than mathematics. A cloudy science of swirling vapors, signifying nothing. ' Similarly, Nassim Taleb wrote, in The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, that 'Economics is the most insular of fields; it is the one that quotes least from outside itself!' Gus Speth argued, in The Bridge at the End of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, that 'In the end, what has to be modified is the open-ended commitment to aggregate economic growth--growth that is consuming environmental and social capital, both in short supply. ... - ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science 27 May 10:
... Edge. org has invited comments on Craig Venter's synthetic bacterium from thinkers like Freeman Dyson, George Dyson, and our very own PZ Myers. Nassim Taleb is particularly pessimistic: If I understand this well, to the creationists, this should be an insult to God; but, further, to the evolutionist, this is certainly an insult to evolution. And to the risk manager/probabilist, like myself & my peers, this is an insult to human Prudence, the beginning of the mother-of-all exposure to Black Swans. Let me explain. Evolution (in complex systems) proceeds by undirected, convex bricolage or tinkering, inherently robust, i. ...
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