Climageddon: The Global Warming Emergency And How To Survive It by Lawrence Wollersheim (book review)

As the extended title should tell you, Lawrence Wollersheim’s book, ‘Climageddon: The Global Warming Emergency And How To Survive It’ is about the dangers of global warming and what needs to be done. What was weird from the start was his declaring that at the opening and ending of each chapter will be bullet markers of what it was about for those who didn’t want to read the entire chapter. He even points out which chapters can be ignored. OK, I thought, he’s dealing with some members of the Internet generation who don’t necessarily read books or maybe not non-fiction or even read books in their entirety. You still have to ask would they buy such a book but there is an ebook version out there so you can take your pick.

As a reviewer, I tend to read straight through and then the realisation that by his having double space between each paragraph that it still felt like he was in bullet or bulletin mode. As such, your reading eye reads but doesn’t absorb information as much as it should and I found I was reading it far too fast. That’s how bullets are read after all and your eye adjusts accordingly. This is one of the major reasons why I don’t like reading books digitally because you don’t absorb the information as you’re supposed to which is the main objective for a reviewer. That’s a shame really because he does goes over the climate problem in some detail, adding graphs and other visual data to ensure you understand the problem and how neglect is going to limit our chances of getting out of it.

I’m less sure about people surviving by moving to the equatorial regions. Mostly because even if the oceans rise 10 or 20 feet, there will still be some lands that can survive that if only because there are some low level valleys likely to take the extra water. Likewise, drawing comparison to the Earth resembling Venus isn’t very accurate. Yes, Venus has a greenhouse effect but it was made from entirely different reasons and not because it was a hospitable planet because it’s too close to the sun.

His points about the weather that is getting progressively worse isn’t without foundation and you do have to wonder why the current resident of the White House doesn’t see it as a problem. Global warming doesn’t pick and choose which country it affects and this is one of the things internationally we must all address if we want to save mankind. Later in the book, Wollersheim references Obama favourably, so he must really in turmoil over Trump who categorically dismisses scientists on the subject. In other respects, the Paris Agreement shows the rest of the world is taking global warming seriously so be aware the book isn’t totally up-to-date on the current political moves. Then again, on any topical book such as this, I think I would be worried if nothing was happening.

Some of Wollersheim’s solutions are a little worrying. Obviously, he is targeting a mostly American audience but I would be concerned to include a pistol in any survival kit. This is mostly because certain types in the USA will see it as an excuse to be fully armed with as many armaments as they can carry as they rush to the equatorial regions. The last thing we need with a world falling apart is a ‘Max Max’ scenario.

There is nothing said about preserving the Amazonian rain forests by giving the people there better incentives and pay to keep than tear it down. The same could apply to any other conservation. If trees are taken down then they should be encouraged to plant replacements so it is a controlled ecology. I’m making a point about these forests and plants in particular photosynthesis carbon dioxide and release oxygen as something that needs to be encouraged.

Educating the young not to be wasteful and the problems we have today. The older generations might not be so easy to change in their attitudes but getting youngsters to be less wasteful will make a difference.

Please bear in mind I’m reading this book as a reviewer. There is a lot of useful information contained in this book and I’ve picked some examples as well as things covered but I did pick up a lot of repetition as well. If Wollersheim wants to convince potential book readers, I do think he should produce either an abridged version or one with only pertinent information and greater choices in what to do. To just dictate a single path of what to do does tend to reduce flexibility to adjust to a changing situation. Whatever, global warming isn’t something that should be ignored.

GF Willmetts

July 2017

(pub: Job One For Humanity. 440 page illustrated enlarged paperback. Price: $21.95 (US). ISBN: 978-0-99713-532-9)

check out website: www.joboneforhumanity.org