Now or Never: Why We Must Act Now to End Climate Change and Create a Sustainable Future
Written by Tim Flannery
Narrated by Michael Page
4/5
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About this audiobook
Utilizing the most up-to-the-minute data available, Flannery examines the environmental challenges we face and their potential solutions in both the big picture and in specific detail. This brilliant book explores everything from techniques for storing the carbon that dead plants release into the earth to the fragile balancing act between energy demands and food supply in India and China, from carbon-trading schemes in South America to a recent collaboration between a Danish wind-energy company and an automobile manufacturer that may produce a viable electric car and end the reign of big oil. Rather than looking backward to assign blame or weeping in despair, Flannery is looking forward in the belief that "a sense of hopelessness is just as great a danger to our future as the bankrupt philosophies of the recent past. Even world-weariness, a resignation to destruction, is profoundly inimical to sustainability, because its adherents believe that the fate of our planet is already sealed. If the British had thought that way in 1941, we might be living in a very different world."
Now or Never is a powerful, thought-provoking, and essential book that burns with Flannery's characteristic mix of passion, scientific precision, and "offhand interdisciplinary brilliance" (Entertainment Weekly).
Tim Flannery
Professor TIM FLANNERY is a leading writer on climate change. A Scientist, an explorer and a conservationist, Flannery has held various academic positions including Professor at the University of Adelaide, Director of the South Australian Museum and Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum. A frequent presenter on ABC Radio, NPR and the BBC, he has also written and presented several series on the Documentary Channel. His books include Here on Earth and the international number one bestseller The Weather Makers. Flannery was named Australian of the Year in 2007.
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Reviews for Now or Never
27 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good short summary of the climate problem. Lacks a personal spin to it to make it more interesting. Covered several topics but did not dig deep in details.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Thought provoking to say the least!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Some good essays, but I preferred The Weathermakers.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This pretty much starts out with some Gaia-speak that comes close to justifying the good Cardinal Pell's occasional assertions that the environmental movement is a form of neo-paganism: human beings collectively form the brain of Gaia and the purpose of our existence is to bring consciousness to her processes. (Actually, that's pretty close to how I understand things, only I'd prefer less theological ways of expressing it.) Theology out of the way, the essay has an unflinching look at the dire state of the Earth, and the urgency of the challenge from global warming. It argues that what is actually missing is vision, political will and leadership to rise to the challenges, and puts forward a number of hope-inducing proposals and examples, ranging from farming approaches that have already been tried and found extraordinarily effective in reducing greenhouse emissions to a possibly mad but nonetheless enticing vision of a new city, to be called Geothermia, near the Cooper Basin in South Australia, which would potentially supply all Australia's energy needs from environmentally friendly, carbon-neutral thermal.I started the essay expecting to be plunged into gloom and despair. Instead, I find I'm left with something approaching optimism about our chances.As always, a fair proportion of this issue (39 of its 106 pages) is taken up with correspondence about the last one. Given that Nº 30, Paul Toohey's Last Drinks, could reasonably be described as having attacked a number of public figures, it's striking that only of those figures, Rex Wild, has taken up the right of reply and he doesn't address Toohey's central, scathing criticisms of the Little Children Are Sacred report, of which he was co-author, but restricts himself to defending the aspersions cast on his behaviour as director of the NT Office of Public Prosecutions. He says near the start of his piece, 'I have been hesitant in accepting the editor's invitation to respond to Paul's essay as, among other things, I see he has a right of reply.' What on earth does that mean? And does it in some way account for the resounding silence from all the others, including the Aboriginal leaders repeatedly characterised (arguably defamed) in this correspondence as proponents of victimology. I find the whole thing baffling and disturbing, even more so given that Toohey's reply consists of nine lines, including this: 'My view is that I've had my go and now it is over to those who want to have their say to have it.' Hopefully QE #32 will resolve some of this.