Few issues have as far-ranging of a potential impact as climate change. Like nuclear weapons or global war, it has a very real potential to end human life on this planet, yet it is not (yet) taken seriously in political conversations in America. Instead, we dilly-dally about old debates like whether authoritarianism or democracy is a better form of practical government. In this book of futuristic fiction, Markley tries to predict how the American experiment…
Climate science is a hot topic these days, and many books (like Bill Gates’ How to Avoid a Climate Disaster) provide introductions to the topic for a popular audience. Those books are written to be digested by the masses, but detailed academic work is often lacking in them. Enter Perona’s textbook. (He calls it a “handbook,” but it more resembles an interdisciplinary textbook.) He explains the nitty-gritty of the science and extends the reasoning from…
Why develop a detailed history about something as ubiquitous as water? Salzman shows why in this well-written inspection of a resource without which humans could not survive. He covers contemporary legal issues as well as (in the revised edition) the 2016 debacle in Flint, Michigan. He discourses about science, economics, human history, and public policy at length. Through adept writing, he makes the mundane and overlooked to become interesting and critical. To the curious reader,…
I must confess, I am no ardent environmentalist. I am very sympathetic towards causes and policies which manage the environment sustainably, even at the expense of economics. However, perhaps because of my Christianity, I find the aligning of human spirituality and nature somewhat strange. When I am in nature, I see the footprints of God. I definitely do not take a step further and worship nature. Powers’ book seems to take us along that path.…