Suzuki has a long, rich history of making you feel shitty for being human and alive. In this book he has taken a new direction; instead of beating you over the head explaining how thoroughly we've messed up the planet he now gives suggestions as to how to fix the problem.
Climate change is a big, messy problem but, interestingly, the solutions all exist, it's just a matter of will to fix things.
One observation really stuck out for me. No matter where you fall in the climate change debate you can't argue with this: even if we go all-in on expanding renewable energy and find that we were wrong about climate change we would find ourselves with a new alternative energy source AND fossil fuels. We would have employed countless people, created new technologies, modernized our electrical systems and increased available power.
There is no down side to this.
Suzuki and his co-author Ian Hanington, tackle solutions that can be applied to four general segments of human existence: Personal, Agricultural, Technological and Institutional.
It's that last category that is preventing us from really digging in and implementing solutions. There needs to be political will to nurture and direct a new way of living on the planet.
I found the book to be well thought out, easy to read and understand. It gave me ideas about changes I can make myself and opened my eyes to the infrastructure around me.
If you care about the environment or are simply interested in getting a better understanding about climate change this is a great place to start.
Recommended.
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