I don’t normally recommend books on this blog, particularly books I may never finish, but I would urge any person of reason,particularly anyone who doubts the seriousness of the threat of climate change, to read eaarth, by Bill McKibben.
I have a fairly strict rule when it comes to books: if I start one I finish it, no matter how dreadful. When I bought McKibben’s book I figured it would be a weekend read, as it’s only two hundred or so pages long, but it’s so profoundly depressing that I can only take it in small chunks. I’m still planning on finishing, but it just might beat me. Despite my difficulties, it should be required attempted reading for anyone who thinks that the climate crisis is a problem we can deal with in the long term.
According to McKibben, it is already upon us, is in many respects irreversible, and will only get worse. That would be the case even if we actually responded to the threat in a rational way, which of course, we are not. Not having gotten to the end, I can’t yet say if he holds out much hope, but if he does, it goes without saying that we are going to need to respond in a way that is politically impossible.
I’m fervently hoping that McKibben is an alarmist, but I very much doubt that he is. He marshals his evidence extremely well, and there’s plenty of evidence to support him. Give it a read, if you can.
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