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A review by mchester24
Losing Earth: A Recent History by Nathaniel Rich
informative
fast-paced
4.0
What can you call this other than a sobering (but important) read. The author does a great job highlighting the history of the climate struggle in the political sphere and you can’t help but come away frustrated. We’ve been having these conversations for 40+ years and from a policy perspective we’re still in this same mode of deadlock? How infuriating to read about all the chances we had as a species to get on the right back so many years ago and how it’s the selfish, immediate-minded nature of society that has prevented it.
If we want to take positives away: we can learn what hasn’t worked and do better. Rich emphasizes what has been true for years: we have the technology today to solve these existential crises, but infuriatingly the issues remain pretty purely political. A too common theme of energy and sustainability.
The afterword serves as a welcome pep talk and shaming kick in the pants, valuable to keep on hand for those who need it and want to remain hopeful that the human-driven breakthrough can still come.
If we want to take positives away: we can learn what hasn’t worked and do better. Rich emphasizes what has been true for years: we have the technology today to solve these existential crises, but infuriatingly the issues remain pretty purely political. A too common theme of energy and sustainability.
The afterword serves as a welcome pep talk and shaming kick in the pants, valuable to keep on hand for those who need it and want to remain hopeful that the human-driven breakthrough can still come.