The Long Heat
Climate Politics When It’s Too Late
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A scathing critique of proposals to geoengineer our way out of climate disaster, by the bestselling authors of Overshoot
The world is crossing the 1.5°C global warming limit, perhaps exceeding 2°C soon after. What is to be done when these boundaries, set by the Paris Agreement, have been passed? In the overshoot era, schemes proliferate for muscular adaptation or for new technologies to turn the heat down at a later date by removing CO2 from the air or blocking sunlight. Such technologies are by no means safe; they come with immense risks and provide an excuse for those who would prefer to avoid limiting emissions in the present. But do they also hold out some potential? Can the catastrophe be reversed, masked or simply adapted to once it is a fact? Or will any such roundabout measures simply make things worse?
The Long Heat maps the new front lines in the struggle for a liveable planet and insists on the climate revolution long overdue. In the end, no technology can absolve us of responsibility for our planet and each other.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the bleak but enlightening follow-up to Overshoot, climate scholars Carton and Malm explain that since the world has missed the opportunity to curtail CO2 emissions before they led to dangerous increases in global temperatures, three primary paths forward have emerged: adaptation to the new normal, carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere, or geoengineering to block incoming sunlight and cool down the planet. The authors make the case, however, that all three strategies are misguided, because each encourages continued fossil fuel usage and may lead to consequences every bit as dire as the existential threat posed by global warming. Efforts to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, for example, are fruitless if the removed molecules are sent back into the ground to enhance oil production. Similarly, geoengineering strategies designed to reduce solar radiation reaching Earth's surface will have to continue for centuries, and if they're ever terminated, the heat would come rushing back. The authors' conclusion is as straightforward as it is dire: "Nothing can save us other than an avalanche in the prevailing order." They urge an immediate end to the use of fossil fuels and encourage state-run carbon removal efforts. It's a startling and persuasive call to action.
