How Are We Going to Explain This?: Our Future on a Hot Earth,Jelmer Mommers

-Résumé

why read a book about climate change when we are still suffering from the consequences of Covid-19. Is it really the right time to take on another disastrous subject? Is it necessary?

I think so. In this book, I will write about the political, technological, financial and societal forces that are giving us a shot at keeping the earth habitable.

Yet right now, the strength and persistence of each and every one of these forces is tested by the outbreak of the corona-pandemic in late 2019.

The societal and economic repercussions of this crisis are only starting to emerge as I write this, yet it’s clear they will be momentous. Will our economies be strong enough to continue investing in green energy, or will we fall back on old-fashioned fossil fuels?

Will we return to flying and driving as if nothing were the matter?

Will Covid-19 fuel nationalism and xenophobia or will it boost solidarity and cooperation?

It all seems possible.

this book will show you. The most important difference, however, has to do with time. Whereas the dreadful consequences of the virus outbreak could be felt in a matter of days, those of climate change accumulate much slower, over a period of years and decades, with reverberations through centuries.

And while measures taken today to prevent the spread of the virus may have an effect in a week or two, those taken to counter climate change will only be felt in a decade or two. That’s just one of the reasons why climate change is such a wicked problem. And why, like the corona-crisis, it so desperately needs our involvement to be addressed.

This book is designed to help you think about how we might make our societies sustainable, to show you how a revolution of sorts is already underway, and how you can help.

Covid-19 regretfully reminded us of something we tend to forget: that we are connected to each other and to this planet. So we need to take care of one another and our shared home. The main argument of this book is that in the long run, those two things are essentially one and the same.

In this book I want to show that there’s a way of looking at things in which despair is the start of something new, instead of a reason to look the other way.5 There’s a new story in the making, one in which the consequences of our actions add up – and every contribution is meaningful.

-Contents

Preface
Part I: What’s the Problem?
1. How We Got Into Trouble
2. There’s Something in the Air
3. All Bets Are Off
Part II: Where Are We Headed?
4. It’s Not Too Late
5. Future Scenario 1: Walls
6. Future Scenario 2: Forests
Part III: What Can We Do?
7. Alternatives and Opportunities
8. The Battle of the Century
9. The Power of Small Changes
Appendix
Afterword and Further Reading
Notes
Acknowledgements

-Caractéristiques

Date de parution :2 juillet 2020

Poids : 180 g

N .de pages : 224 pages

ISBN-13 : 978-1788164931

Dimensions : 12.9 x 1.3 x 19.8 cm

Éditeur : Profile Books Ltd; Main édition ()

Langue :  Anglais