Here is a review from TLS of seven books discussing the climate change, namely,
- Al Gore — An inconvenient truth;
- Thomas E Lovejoy and E Hannah (Ed.) — Climate change and biodiversity;
- Nicholas Stern — The economics of climate change;
- George Monbiot — Heat;
- Travis Bradford — Solar revolution;
- Alfred W Crosby — The children of Sun; and,
- Daniel C Esty and Andrew W Winston — Green to gold;
Philobiblon feels that the review is a good primer on the issue for conservative figures. The review also points out the actions that we should be taking:
One thing is clear: the magnitude of the problem is such that there is no single answer. Our possible actions can be usefully divided into four categories. First, we can adapt to change: stop building on flood plains; start thinking more deliberately about coastal defences and flood protection, recognizing that some areas should, in effect, be given up. Second, we can reduce wasteful consumption, in the home, marketplace and workplace: we can now design houses which consume roughly half current energy levels without significantly reducing living standards. We could, without significant loss of amenity, reduce the overpackaging of foods and other products in supermarkets and elsewhere; in the developed world today we typically spend ten calories (mostly on transport and packaging, and mainly derived from fossil fuels) to put one calorie of food on the table. Third, and necessary in the medium term while we continue to burn fossil fuels, we could capture as much as possible of the carbon dioxide emitted at source, and sequester it (burying it on land or under the seabed). Fourth, we could move more rapidly towards renewable sources of energy, which do not put greenhouse gases into the atmosphere: these include geothermal, wind, wave and water energy; solar energy (from physics-based or biology-based devices); fission (currently generating 7 per cent of all the world’s energy, and – despite its problems – surely playing a necessary role in the medium term); fusion (a realistic long-term possibility); biomass (assuming that the carbon dioxide you put into the atmosphere was carbon dioxide you took out when you grew the fuel). Some of these renewables are already being used, others are more futuristic.
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At the heart of possible solutions must be a recognition that this is everyone’s problem. Ultimately, we need a shift in cultural norms, in the mores that shape everyday behaviour.
Take a look!
