Jerry Silver
SEVEN YEARS TO SAVE THE PLANET
The Questions…And Answers
London: Weidenfield & Nicholson, 288pp, £9.99. ISBN: 978-0297853367
This book is a very readable and comprehensive survey of the causes, problems and possible solutions to the threat of major global warming and climate change. McGuire examines closely the pros and cons of various measures to limit atmospheric CO2 concentrations to 450 parts per million in future (it is 380 now) or preferably down to 350 ppm.
Whatever targets are set will require massive changes in personal lifestyles, corporate behaviour and government and international agreements and action. The western economic model of ever-increasing material consumption and greed will have to change to sustainable economics.
Major energy conservation programmes are needed and a large scale transfer to renewables is essential. We cannot look to magic technological fixes. Nuclear power is not an option. He is scathing about present UK government policy – “is still in the Dark Ages. Inefficient centralised generation remains utterly dominant, with micro-generation strangled at birth by government cut-backs.” The clock is ticking, our only hope is that a major global programme can be agreed at the Copenhagen COP15 meeting in December 2009.
Bill Hughes
Mark Thomas
BELCHING OUT THE DEVIL
Global Adventures With
Coca-Cola
London: Ebury, 384pp, £11.99.
ISBN: 978-0091922931
This is a revealing exposé about the business dealings of the world’s most popular soft drink. From death threats and assassinations of union members in Colombia, to the flagrant theft of ground water in India, Thomas charts the indiscretions of a brand that seeks to bring everyone together provided that a brown soft drink is at the centre of the embrace. The result is a thorough dissection of what it really means to live on the side of life that Coke promotes, where the reality of the company’s dealings in the developing places of the globe is far, far removed from the ideas and concepts the company uses to sell its product.
While the combination of investigative journalism and humour can, at first, take some getting used to, the one-liners and humourous asides help to both multiply and alleviate the horror stories the book contains.
Philip Sainty
Cedric Pulford
AIR MADNESS
Road’s Mistakes Repeated
Northants: Ituri Press, 212pp, £10.99.
ISBN: 978-0953643080
Cedric Pulford provides an up to date summary of many key documents and arguments against airport expansion. The book begins by considering the history of car use which may offer lessons about future aviation expansion. Whilst the book pre-dates the current recession, which could reduce airport expansion, the high risks of enlarged ‘noise footprints’ and greenhouse gas contributions from civil aviation are well elaborated. Cedric might have made more of the decline in aviation taking place before the current recession: UK regional airports have generally been contracting. Curiously, amongst many references to regional airports, the minute Lydd Airport in Kent is mentioned, but not Manston which has six times as many passengers.
The references to the tourism ‘deficit’ provide some of the book’s most useful arguments: The £16 billion spent by foreign visitors to the UK is dwarfed by the £34 billion UK travellers spend abroad. This may well change given the recession and the comparative strength of the Euro, as UK residents holiday less abroad and Europeans find their Euros buy a lot here. The book offers local campaigners plenty of material to support local and greener tourism within the UK. The book also has useful points for campaigners and for discussion groups at the end. Definitely recommended reading for anti-airport campaigning.
Steve Dawe
Steve Dawe recently prepared submissions on plans for the expansion of Manston Airport in Kent for Kent Green Party and for Caroline Lucas MEP
SEVEN YEARS TO SAVE THE PLANET
The Questions…And Answers
London: Weidenfield & Nicholson, 288pp, £9.99. ISBN: 978-0297853367
This book is a very readable and comprehensive survey of the causes, problems and possible solutions to the threat of major global warming and climate change. McGuire examines closely the pros and cons of various measures to limit atmospheric CO2 concentrations to 450 parts per million in future (it is 380 now) or preferably down to 350 ppm.
Whatever targets are set will require massive changes in personal lifestyles, corporate behaviour and government and international agreements and action. The western economic model of ever-increasing material consumption and greed will have to change to sustainable economics.
Major energy conservation programmes are needed and a large scale transfer to renewables is essential. We cannot look to magic technological fixes. Nuclear power is not an option. He is scathing about present UK government policy – “is still in the Dark Ages. Inefficient centralised generation remains utterly dominant, with micro-generation strangled at birth by government cut-backs.” The clock is ticking, our only hope is that a major global programme can be agreed at the Copenhagen COP15 meeting in December 2009.
Bill Hughes
Mark Thomas
BELCHING OUT THE DEVIL
Global Adventures With
Coca-Cola
London: Ebury, 384pp, £11.99.
ISBN: 978-0091922931
This is a revealing exposé about the business dealings of the world’s most popular soft drink. From death threats and assassinations of union members in Colombia, to the flagrant theft of ground water in India, Thomas charts the indiscretions of a brand that seeks to bring everyone together provided that a brown soft drink is at the centre of the embrace. The result is a thorough dissection of what it really means to live on the side of life that Coke promotes, where the reality of the company’s dealings in the developing places of the globe is far, far removed from the ideas and concepts the company uses to sell its product.
While the combination of investigative journalism and humour can, at first, take some getting used to, the one-liners and humourous asides help to both multiply and alleviate the horror stories the book contains.
Philip Sainty
Cedric Pulford
AIR MADNESS
Road’s Mistakes Repeated
Northants: Ituri Press, 212pp, £10.99.
ISBN: 978-0953643080
Cedric Pulford provides an up to date summary of many key documents and arguments against airport expansion. The book begins by considering the history of car use which may offer lessons about future aviation expansion. Whilst the book pre-dates the current recession, which could reduce airport expansion, the high risks of enlarged ‘noise footprints’ and greenhouse gas contributions from civil aviation are well elaborated. Cedric might have made more of the decline in aviation taking place before the current recession: UK regional airports have generally been contracting. Curiously, amongst many references to regional airports, the minute Lydd Airport in Kent is mentioned, but not Manston which has six times as many passengers.
The references to the tourism ‘deficit’ provide some of the book’s most useful arguments: The £16 billion spent by foreign visitors to the UK is dwarfed by the £34 billion UK travellers spend abroad. This may well change given the recession and the comparative strength of the Euro, as UK residents holiday less abroad and Europeans find their Euros buy a lot here. The book offers local campaigners plenty of material to support local and greener tourism within the UK. The book also has useful points for campaigners and for discussion groups at the end. Definitely recommended reading for anti-airport campaigning.
Steve Dawe
Steve Dawe recently prepared submissions on plans for the expansion of Manston Airport in Kent for Kent Green Party and for Caroline Lucas MEP
Elizabeth Farrelly
BLUBBERLAND
The Dangers of Happiness
Massachusetts: MIT Press, £12.95,
219 pp, ISBN: 978-0262562362
Blubberland is another ‘Planet in Crisis’ book – but one in which the author seeks the reasons why we seem incapable of abandoning habits we know to be destructive.
She explores human history, through religion, art and philosophy, revealing how our perceptions and attitudes to such things as beauty, truth and morality have changed in modern and post-modern society, and how this relates to our behaviour today.
This book provides a real insight as to why we, who think we are so rational and intelligent, behave in entirely the opposite way. How our goal of happiness is sought in a success which is seen in increasingly measurable and material terms. The more we have, the more we want – but still happiness eludes us as we grow increasingly bloated, bored and dissatisfied. Meanwhile our continuing assault on nature jeopardises our survival.
Blubberland is a well-researched book which I found compelling reading and truly thought-provoking. It provides many ideas and answers to today’s crisis. The challenge that remains, however, is how to facilitate the necessary changes on what the author describes as ‘this crazy species’.
Peter Barnett
Frank Ackerman
CAN WE AFFORD THE FUTURE?
The Economics of a Warming World
London: Zed Books, 2009, 151 pp + viii pb, £12.99. ISBN: 978-1848130388
Frank Ackerman makes a decent fist at explaining how conventional economics is good at pricing some things but poor at gauging our impact on the things that sustain us on Earth. He introduces us to the sort of economic operating assumptions that, if left unchecked, would leave us with an inhabitable planet.
Ackerman then argues for an economic perspective that favours long-term investment over short-term competition. Ackerman makes an example of levee-building in the Netherlands, where the better approach also brings indirect benefits.
He ends by drawing lessons for concerted international action, with a review of both good and bad examples of climate change initiatives.
I have problems with Ackerman’s assertion that we have about fifty years to turn things around. Ackerman needs to say more about how we can overcome selfish habits in less than half that time.
Shahrar Ali
BLUBBERLAND
The Dangers of Happiness
Massachusetts: MIT Press, £12.95,
219 pp, ISBN: 978-0262562362
Blubberland is another ‘Planet in Crisis’ book – but one in which the author seeks the reasons why we seem incapable of abandoning habits we know to be destructive.
She explores human history, through religion, art and philosophy, revealing how our perceptions and attitudes to such things as beauty, truth and morality have changed in modern and post-modern society, and how this relates to our behaviour today.
This book provides a real insight as to why we, who think we are so rational and intelligent, behave in entirely the opposite way. How our goal of happiness is sought in a success which is seen in increasingly measurable and material terms. The more we have, the more we want – but still happiness eludes us as we grow increasingly bloated, bored and dissatisfied. Meanwhile our continuing assault on nature jeopardises our survival.
Blubberland is a well-researched book which I found compelling reading and truly thought-provoking. It provides many ideas and answers to today’s crisis. The challenge that remains, however, is how to facilitate the necessary changes on what the author describes as ‘this crazy species’.
Peter Barnett
Frank Ackerman
CAN WE AFFORD THE FUTURE?
The Economics of a Warming World
London: Zed Books, 2009, 151 pp + viii pb, £12.99. ISBN: 978-1848130388
Frank Ackerman makes a decent fist at explaining how conventional economics is good at pricing some things but poor at gauging our impact on the things that sustain us on Earth. He introduces us to the sort of economic operating assumptions that, if left unchecked, would leave us with an inhabitable planet.
Ackerman then argues for an economic perspective that favours long-term investment over short-term competition. Ackerman makes an example of levee-building in the Netherlands, where the better approach also brings indirect benefits.
He ends by drawing lessons for concerted international action, with a review of both good and bad examples of climate change initiatives.
I have problems with Ackerman’s assertion that we have about fifty years to turn things around. Ackerman needs to say more about how we can overcome selfish habits in less than half that time.
Shahrar Ali
