Books for Gaia
Lovelock's, the vanishing face of Gaia
For anyone interested in the people who contributed in various ways to the development of the field, 2008’s Fixing Climate authors Robert Kunzig and Professor Wallace Broecker tell a comprehensive, entertaining and broadly informative story of the history of climate science. (They also offer a technologically demanding and probably unrealistic ‘fix’ for carbon dioxide pollution: capture, convert and bury it.)
Last year’s The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability by American professor James Gustave Speth is a critique of capitalism’s glorification of excessive economic growth and its role in creating an unregulated and destructive corporate agenda which, he argues, has given rise to today’s global ecological problems. Speth’s ‘bridge’ to a sustainable future involves reining in the system while moving away from consumer values.
Considered the ‘father’ of the environmental movement by many and a nutcase by others for his development of Gaia theory, scientist James Lovelock earlier in the year released his latest and, he claims (at age ninety), his last, book. Vanishing Face of Gaia reveals his current view of the climate crisis: the planet will survive but humanity’s fate is uncertain. For those interested in learning more about Lovelock, John and Mary Gribbin have written an ‘official’ biography: He Knew He Was Right: The Irrepressible Life of James Lovelock and Gaia, also published this year.
The Worldwatch Institute’s release State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World (from the State of the World series) discusses global warming and some of the options on the table at the moment to tackle the issue - for example, a section is devoted to agriculture/land use as a way to reduce warming - can be downloaded from their website.
Considered by some to be a fringe publication, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester R. Brown (now in its 3rd edition, the 4th edition is due out later this year) suggests, as hinted in the title, a radical and sobering solution to the effects of global warming that may not be feasible yet will get you thinking. Download the book for free at Brown’s Earth Policy website.
Finally, energy economist Steven Stoft’s recent book Carbonomics: How to Fix the Climate and Charge It to OPEC gives a fairly even discussion of the proposed energy/climate policies that are under current U.S. governmental consideration or that will soon be law. Stoft looks to the past to find a future solution to oil dependency, rather than resigning himself, and the world, to it.
Related articles:
- Evolution’s Edge
- Hans Baer: health impacts of climate change
- Population: the real problem?
- Being Food Savy
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