The Weather Makers, by Tim Flannery (***** out of 5)

Now for the other half of my pair of global warming books to review.* I started with Michael Crichton's entertaining State of Fear, which made the case that climate change is an inconclusive theory which has been pushed by overzealous scientists in the hopes of landing bigger research grants. It makes for an entertaining read, but it would not be my first recommendation as a starting point for your global warming research. That distinction would go to The Weathermakers, by Tim Flannery.

*While I hope that it proves to be a helpful exercise for me to hold these two books up side by side, for reviewing purposes I've tried to judge each work on its own merit. So my ratings of these books have nothing to do with whether I agree with the author's conclusions.

On to the review...

I'm not sure where I even heard about this book, but I purchased it at the Atlanta airport while I was having a conversation with one of my bandmates about how I wanted to find a book on climate change which just presented the facts without entering some kind of "debate". My impression was that Tim Flannery started out as a skeptic, so hopefully he would back up enough and provide a good background on the subject.

Yes, Flannery gave a great background on the subject, but there was much more. The author's introduction presented plenty of evidence that carbon dioxide levels are perhaps the highest they've ever been and that human activity, most notably the burning of fossil fuels, is the culprit. Flannery gave a great explanation on the characteristics of CO2 which make it both the main greenhouse gas of concern and an easy thing to track: it stays in the atmosphere for 100 years. He then offered some ideas for how we can each play a part:

1. Purchase "green" power.
2. The next time you buy a car, buy one with the best fuel efficiency possible, preferably a hybrid.
3. Vote for a politician who makes climate policy a priority, and you can change the world.

And this was just the intro. Flannery went on to explain Lovelock's Gaia theories, give a brief history of coal, give specific examples of animals and coral habitats and human populations in developing nations who have already been impacted by global warming. Finally, he went through the Kyoto protocol and other potential solutions which have been offered thus far.

Since Flannery is from Australia, he provides a unique perspective. Australia is the only developed country besides the U.S. which hasn't ratified Kyoto, and Flannery gave both his country and the U.S. some harsh criticism. He also provided some interesting anecdotes from Australia including water crises is Perth and Sydney, and the nation's logic for walking away from Kyoto despite lenient treatment.

My one complaint with the book would be the final section where Flannery walks through different possibilities for clean energy. He provided a wealth of knowledge throughout the book, and seemed to have an answer to everything. Yet he seemed to find a major flaw in just about all forms of renewable energy. Nuclear was presented as an option before being dismissed, as was natural gas and, to a lesser extent, hydrogen. I was left with an incomplete picture and a lack of a clear answer. But Flannery did make it clear that action is necessary, and sooner rather than later.

Overall, The Weathermakers is a work of brilliance. If I had to choose one book to recommend for a clear picture of climate change (and believe me, I've read several and counting), this is the one.

Comments

[MrsJason]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5733830

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