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Requiem For A Species: Why We Resist The Truth About Climate Change (2010)

by Clive Hamilton(Favorite Author)

4.02 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1849710813 (ISBN13: 9781849710817)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Earthscan Publications

review 1: Hopefully it’s fairly clear to any observer that this non-fiction work is ‘pro’ climate change (by which I mean believes its existence) – rather than debate the science this book is devoted to explaining why people so vehemently deny climate change and oppose steps taken to prevent it.The author’s strategy is to avoid running through the arguments themselves and instead rely on his references to carry the science. Initially rather than dulling us with debates, Hamilton depresses us with the bleak probabilities of the future and governments tendency to not only move slowly on the issue but more often than not do too little.After painting a dark (or hot) picture for our environmental fate, Hamilton goes on to explore why there is such resistance to climate change s... morecience, focussing mostly on government a little social psychology. While Hamilton clearly thinks that large corporations are the true culprits behind climate change resistance, he resists polarising ranting and stresses the importance of legislation.Then we move onto a cultural/historical look at the relationship between people and nature. While the author provides some interesting insights into how such relationships have changed, this chapter is perhaps the weakest, coming across as more of a review of the film Wall-E rather than a strong independent argument. Hamilton finishes with a look at potential solutions, a much more uplifting section than the early chapters (although apparently the feeling of uplift is a mere delusion) and effectively decides that green energy sources such as wind, solar and tide are the way to go. Nuclear energy has some advantages but it would take an astrological amount of time to significantly replace carbon emitting power sources with nuclear, and environmental engineering would be unlikely to make sufficient difference to all the negative effects of greenhouse gases.Requiem for a species is most likely too academic for most to enjoy, and as mentioned before is very bleak reading, however there are lessons to be learnt from this text, and while I would have preferred more psychological dabbling and perhaps solutions to changing the minds of resisters Hamilton has produced a solid book.
review 2: I already knew we (the human race, the planet and every other living thing on it) are pretty screwed, but this book lays out just how screwed we really are. While the author doesn't promise some wind, solar, carbon capture or geo-engineering solution nicely packaged and ready for us, he does end a slightly positive note - even though we're screwed, we are human beings and we don't give up easily and after we despair for and then accept our lost future, we will act and in the process discover another, different future instead (although surely one with significantly fewer numbers of us in it).I have already gone through the despair phase myself (most of the previous decade), and am well into the acceptance phase, so this book didn't depress me like it might others. But if you're at all interested in climate change and planning for our very different future (which is coming shortly, within the next couple of decades), then I highly recommend this well written, thoroughly researched book.The focus of this book is more on the psychology of climate change rather than the mechanics or the causes, although the latter are discussed. less

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