Tag: Climate Change

Title of the Book: Losing Earth: A Recent History

Author: Nathaniel Rich

Publisher: MCD (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Publication Year: 2019

Pages: 206 pgs.

ISBN: 978-0-374-19133-7

Age Group: IBDP, AS and A Level and IGCSE

Genre: Science/Environment/Politics Non-Fiction

IBDP and IGCSE Subjects Covered: Global Perspectives, Global Politics, History and Sociology

Review Written By: Fiza Pathan

Introduction

Global Warming is not a long-term effect that ‘will happen’ or is something that will be a ‘foreseeable future’. Global Warming is happening as we speak, and anyone who tells you otherwise is undoubtedly a pro who has been manipulating the facts for decades as a ‘master gaslighter’ (go figure!). This is because it is ridiculous to say that there isn’t anything like Global Warming when you are sitting there in your mansion and typing that very sentence on your X (Twitter) or Facebook account in the first place. After all, you could not go out because your city or town was on orange alert because of a simple rainstorm or snowstorm!

You would not have been sitting there in your mansion typing about there ‘not being global warming’ if there was no orange alert, period. You would be mooching about wasting the remaining part of your existence doing other things like getting more beer for the freezer, fixing your golf club (that incorrigible driver and wedge!), or eating an alligator from the local diner. But the fact that you got scared about your life and wished to stick it out at home rather than risk yourself outdoors indicates that you are aware that something is not right. That everything is not as it was 20 or even 25 years ago. The weather and climate have both changed, and changed for the worse. You don’t need a satellite or two or a rocket to go out of space to tell you that. You can see it in your perpetual rain and snow storms; you can feel it in the never-ending heat-wave of the tropics; you can hear it in the multiple cyclones and hurricanes that constantly follow your path; you can taste it in your disgusting over chlorinated drinking water because your tank water was so polluted that the only way it was fit to be consumed was by pouring a whole lot of disinfectant in it; you can smell it (the garbage) sometimes because otherwise your nose is always blocked because you are perpetually having the flu, Influenza, the viral, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, COVID, Monkey Pox, Malaria, Dengue, etc.

You don’t need anyone else, like a politician or a famous scientist, to ratify for you about global warming, YOU KNOW IT IS HERE and IT HAS ARRIVED. And you also know that we are too late to prevent global temperatures from escalating by the end of this year to more than 2 degrees Celsius.

We are already too late.

But according to many people, especially in the West, they wonder how it ever came to this in the first place. Wasn’t there any warning? Did not our scientists, physicists, astronomers, et al., expect this, and did not they try to stop us from making the planet Earth a massive tomb or coffin for the whole of humankind? The book being reviewed today written by ace-journalist and researcher Nathaniel Rich informs you that those scientists DID warn the Earth and all its many countries about Global Warming not only in the crucial decade of 1978 to 1989, but even way back in the 1940s and 1950s, just when World War II came to a catastrophic end with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

They did warn our powers that be, who were representing our interests, but who cared more for temporary short-term gains and their retirement plans than our future. These powers that be, including politicians, directors of major fossil fuel companies, influential millionaires, international government officials, and globally acclaimed scientists, have chosen to ignore the signs rather than implement drastic lifestyle and policy changes to save our planet – our only home, regardless of what Elon Musk may say. Even if Mars or whatever manages to be colonized by humankind one day, it still will not be anything close to our lives here on Mother Earth.

And we have ruined it, says this well-researched and chronicled book. We’ve ruined our long-term chances of survival for short-term gains, period.

But who were these stalwarts who tried to talk sense into the masses of powers that be who were holding the reins to our future? What did they do to make sense out of money crazy politicians and to force the hands of international governments to write some semblance of a ‘policy’ towards the clubbed issues of global warming, climate change, the hole in the ozone layer, and the mass extinction of our flora and fauna? That is something tackled by this book, making it not only compulsory reading for every human being on planet Earth, but also for every IGCSE, IBDP, AS and A Levels student who has already been equipped through their IB and IGCSE PYP and MYP courses over their school years about information regarding global warming and climate change and who need to know the truth about the people who messed up their present as well as their future. This book will also teach them about the heroes of this epic saga trying to make the powers that be see reason about this issue – heroes like Rafe Pomerance, Gordon MacDonald and James Hansen, who risked their work, their reputations, their jobs and ultimately at times their sanity, if not their lives, to keep this issue alive which they have successfully managed to do so. That is why we still hear about it today in this post-truth era and the rise of the age of Right-Wing Strong Men Politicians globally.

We are still getting to hear about global warming and climate change because the syllabus of the IB and IGCSE focus on the same right from the PYP, right through the MYP, making the International Board students climate conscious and aware about the ways and means to effectively prevent the growth of global temperatures and how to make the Earth a more healthier and less polluted place to reside in. Even if state and national government boards wish to downplay this crucial issue, the IGCSE and IB boards will not let that happen worldwide.

It is imperative that International Baccalaureate (IB) students are updated about the decade that has brought us to where we are in this world, which is experiencing a climate crisis. ‘Losing Earth: A Recent History’ will focus on the science, history, and also the politics related to this particular decade between the years 1978 and 1989, as mentioned earlier in this review. The book is informative, enlightening, highly revealing, and expository.

History also has to be included as a subject in this category as ‘Losing Earth’ teaches students about a crucial time towards the end of the 20th century that will probably outlive the History of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the fall of Communist USSR, the assassination of PM Rajiv Gandhi and the India-Pakistan Kargil War, et al., because this topic in our contemporary history beats all the others; because it is about a long term consequence which is taking place right now as we speak and read this review in full swing.

Synopsis/Summary

‘How to explain the mess we’re in? Nathaniel Rich recounts how a crucial decade was squandered. ‘Losing Earth’ is an important contribution to the record of our heedless age.’

–           Elizabeth Kolbert

(Author of the book ‘The Sixth Extinction’)

In the book ‘Losing Earth: A Recent History’ by Nathaniel Rich, we first come across a few scientists who are instrumental in the formation of the initial Charney Report concerning Global Warming to be taken up as a Government Issue worldwide and for policy decisions to be made on the same. Furthermore, James Hansen, a nondescript physicist, analyzes his alternative planet world simulations, revealing that by the year 2000 A.D., the Earth’s global temperatures would have risen by 2 degrees Celsius, exceeding the normal temperatures suitable for the planet. Eventually because of this, severe climate changes would ensue along with the rise of flood waters, loss of coastal landmasses, massive environmental hazards like major earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis and all this would needless follow alongside the complete melting of the polar icecaps which would cause a major hole in the ozone layer and worsen the greenhouse effect on the planet leading to severe rise in temperatures. The most disheartening aspect of James Hansen’s predictions is that, despite Western developed countries, primarily the USA, being responsible for most carbon emissions and fossil fuel depletion and use, it is developing and underdeveloped countries that will bear the brunt of the adverse effects of climate change. He, along with Rafe Pomerance and the politician and statesman Gordon MacDonald, attempted to persuade the reigning Western and then global powers that be to initiate a policy addressing this issue, raise awareness, and, first and foremost, implement a carbon emission tax. The US presidents during this crucial period, namely, President Jimmy Carter, President Ronald Reagan, and President George H.W. Bush, all failed to prioritize this issue at their election rallies and respective presidencies to maintain the popular vote. Similarly, in the present time, no President receives the popular vote if theythe people are taxed for something not currently visible but which is going to happen in the foreseeable future or is a culmination of various smaller events. After a series of negotiations, long nights of endless discussions and even some more begging even on the part of fossil fuel companies like Exxon to study the matter further and to at least start the process of carbon emission taxation to deter the addition of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – eventually, everything fell apart during the reign of US President George H.W. Bush. The book notes that President Bush was initially sympathetic and aware, but later became partially vagrant and wayward in his stance on global warming and climate change. Unlike most Americans of the 1980s, he did not believe in the hole in the ozone layer, and he found it difficult to relate the same phenomenon to global warming and climate change. The book ‘Losing Earth: A Recent History’ indicates that it took the three heroes Rafe Pomerance, Gordon MacDonald and James Hansen a lot of time, effort and scientific jargon made simpler to indicate to Western countries, especially the USA that the hole in the ozone layer and global warming with climate change both were related to one another! Yet, despite President Bush sympathizing with the scientific fraternity fighting for this cause, and these individuals were already being ‘camped’ as the ‘Left Wing’ scientists of the USA, he revealed that he could do nothing much because his hands were tied regarding national policy about something in the foreseeable future which could take longer than even 20 years. President Bush was vague about the claims of Rafe Pomerance, Gordon MacDonald, and James Hansen, but it would be John Sununu who would come in the way of a final deal regarding a cut in US emissions. The book then shows us, in its magnificent and well-crafted yet hard-hitting afterword, how, from the 1950s onwards, scientists and officials from fossil fuel and oil companies were aware that something like global warming was going to take place. Ironically, and indirectly, most US citizens, if not anyone else, were aware of Global Warming and Climate Change because, in quite a few newsreels, movies, and documentaries of the 1940s and 1950s, a reference was always made to the same, especially about increasing temperatures across the Earth. One example of the movie ‘The Unchained Goddess’ was mentioned in the book ‘Losing Earth’, along with the crucial dialogue for the same. Yet, it has been proven, says the afterword, that by negating the existence of Global Warming, we are proving without any shadow of a doubt that we care a tuppence for the lives of our so-called ‘children and children’s children and their children in turn’. It is sad, it is murky, but it is real – the greatest fraud humanity has ever committed – probably the most hair-raising one of all, is that we refuse to believe that actions have consequences. Especially actions against the environment. The end of the book signals for us to change our lifestyle choices for the sake of the planet – not just to alter our habits, but to fundamentally change our way of life, which would even mean to rid ourselves of the conveniences of our everyday existence forever. Otherwise, it is certain that the waters of the Earth will rise and probably like the famous photograph of one of our book’s heroes, Gordan MacDonald from Discovery, we will witness by the year 2030 the horror of seeing the Washington Monument underwater; and probably we’ll at last make that trip to the Grand Canyon, but our sea vessel will be floating over it!

For more information on what that earlier capitalized FOREVER means about the lifestyles that we should then be forced to adopt as human beings for our survival, please refer to my book review of the 2020 Booker Prize Shortlisted book ‘The New Wilderness’ by Diane Cook on my literary blog, insaneowl.com.

‘This deeply researched, deeply felt book is an essential addition to the canon of climate change literature. Others have documented where we are and speculated about where we might be headed, but the story of how we got here is perhaps the most important one to be told, because it is both a cautionary tale and an unfinished one.’

–           Jonathan Safran Foer

(Author of the book ‘Eating Animals’)

Book Analysis

‘In this book, Nathaniel Rich demonstrates exquisitely how shallow the debate of a deep problem – the planetary scale and civilizational consequences of climate change – exacerbates the problem. We are still a long way from thinking about climate change in the multi-century frame we need to deal with realistically. Getting there will be a new skill for humanity, if we get there.’

–           Stewart Brand

(Author of the book ‘Whole Earth Discipline’)

‘I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all. The worldwide ecological movement has already made considerable progress and led to the establishment of numerous organizations committed to raising awareness of these challenges. Regrettably, many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental crisis have proved ineffective, not only because of powerful opposition but also because of a more general lack of interest. Obstructionist attitudes, even on the part of believers, can range from denial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant resignation, or blind confidence in technical solutions. We require a new and universal solidarity. As the bishops of Southern Africa have stated: “Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation”. All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements, and talents.’

–           Pope Francis

(LAUDATO SI’ Introduction 14-22)

This book, titled ‘Losing Earth: A Recent History’ by author Nathaneil Rich, is a part of contemporary 20th-century history and Geo-Politics with regards to how we’ve got to this stage where it is an inevitability that the Earth’s temperatures will increase by 2 degrees Celsius. Nothing can stop it, because those countries whose statistics can tip the scale are not interested in following a reasonable climate policy for a safe and cooler global climate.

It was interesting to note among many revealing and informative facts from this book that the countries India, the Philippines, Gambia, Morocco, Ethiopia, Costa Rica and Bhutan are the only countries in the world since the crucial date of 1978 post the release of the Charney Report, who are close to limiting emissions at the level necessary to keep warming to 2 degrees. If we can’t prevent it from rising by 2 degrees, we must ensure it stays at 2 degrees from now on, or we’ll face even worse consequences!

It was also heartening to note that the only world leader until 2019 who directly addressed global warming and climate change was the recently deceased Pope Francis, who served as Pontiff of Rome from 2013 to 2025. In his 2015 Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’, he categorically calls this heinous act against Mother Nature a sin and, in turn, gave a sort of shout-out to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, also known as the ‘Green Patriarch’ who is the Spiritual Leader of Orthodox Christians. It was Patriarch Bartholomew who first:

‘…called on every living person to repent for the ecological damage we have contributed, ‘smaller or greater, to the disfigurement and destruction of creation’……’

–           Nathaniel Rich

(Losing Earth: Afterword page 193)

It was surprising to note that only Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew were the famous individuals who openly, in their form of ‘governments’, tried to make some ‘policy’ changes regarding the way at least the Catholic Church would now tackle the issue of global warming and climate change. It would be equated with sins of a serious nature, and Catholics would be held accountable for their actions in this regard. They would also focus their attention on addressing the issue and trying to lessen global temperatures by heeding the advice and guidance of environmental scientists and other international global warming experts.

The afterword of the book ‘Losing Earth: A Recent History’ also called out:

‘….the unrestrained efforts of the fossil fuel industry, compounded by the ingratiating abetment of the Republican Party of the USA to suppress scientific fact, confuse the public and bribe politicians in their country.’

–           Nathaniel Rich

(Losing Earth: A Recent History: Afterward Page 181)

Thus, many skeletons from various cupboards were let loose upon the world through this book, and in this analysis giving justice to all aspects of the text is next to impossible for one simple blog post. However, in the context of the IB and IGCSE subjects of Global Perspectives, Global Politics, Sociology and History that I the writer of this review/analysis Fiza Pathan am willing and am being trained to teach at the IB and IGCSE level, here are a few points for analysis that can be explored in depth and can afford for a brief discussion accordingly:

(1) Because of the increased efforts in the USA since the year 2016 to accelerate the use of the remaining meagre fossil fuels available on this planet in the form of natural gas, coal and oil, the estimate of James Hansen and others and their predictions of the crucial decade of 1978-1989 can be just turned into everyone’s worst nightmare. This is because unlike the earlier estimates, it is evident now that the using up of fossil fuels will happen sooner than expected, that no lasting and issue based (serious) efforts are being made with regards to alternate forms of energy production like solar panels, hydroelectricity, etc, and most importantly that the heating of the earth with the rising of flood water levels along vulnerable coastal areas will take place sooner than ever expected. Sadly, we will probably be witnessing our worst living nightmares – the seas and oceans taking over by 2030, guaranteed.

(2) Global Politics IB and IGCSE students as well as students of Global Perspectives will take note that in addition to the fact that 1978-1989 was a crucial year in climate change history, it was then the job of scientists and politicians to try and prove whether or not global warming was serious or not -something that will happen now or much later in the future. Now post-2016, the situation has turned into a cacophony of lies where the aim is to deny that the problem ever existed in the first place. American scientists from the Republican side have been systematically brainwashing and disseminating fake scientific information regarding this issue, or the lack of it, to suit the purposes of the big fossil fuel and oil companies, as well as self and public-destroying statesmen in office. In fact, as a Global Perspectives question at the IGCSE, I can see inserts regarding Climate Change, coastal reclamation of land by the sea, and mass displacement, along with issues related to immigration in the USA, being a part of the syllabus and a crucial interconnected question in the Global Perspectives question paper. The Immigration Policy of the USA post-2025 will have a vital effect, according to ‘Losing Earth’, upon several American states, especially the state of Florida. Again, the interconnected aspects of Poverty, draconian immigration laws, rising water levels due to global warming, etc., can be a foreseeable set of issues in a future Global Perspectives IGCSE or O Levels Paper.

(3) It is not that the politicians and statesmen of today are convinced that there is no such thing as Global Warming. Like Nathaneil Rich states, they have brainwashed everyone into believing that they are confident that there is no such thing as global warming!

(4) Where Sociology is concerned in IB schools at the IBDP level, it was earlier believed that countries like India and China did not make a real dent in the whole carbon emission cycle business, unlike the USA and other European countries. However, it is evident that with the rise of urbanization and further modernization of these countries, their role in this destructive cycle can be crucial to the overall global temperature figures coming out post-2025. In fact, by 2026, China will surpass the USA as the world’s largest emitter of carbon emissions.

(5) For those students who wish to add to their Climate Change information base regarding the following:

1. Aerosol Pollution

2. ‘World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security’ at Toronto

3. Vienna Convention of 1985

4. Montreal Protocol of 1987

5. The IPCC or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Please refer to the non-fiction book under our study today titled ‘Losing Earth: A Recent History’ by Nathaneil Rich and get a bird’s-eye view of the respective roles of each contributor during this decade who tried to make the future more livable. It will add to your already adequate repertoire of collected information regarding the same during your MYP and PYP classes. This is unique information not usually mentioned in most other books published these days, nor in most online information resources, nor correctly yet on AI.

Book Review

I found the book to be unique and revelatory, as mentioned before, especially about the roles of various reports used during crucial climate change and global warming meetings like the 1981 study by James Hansen titled ‘Climate impact of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide.’ I found all of James Hansen’s reports to be enlightening and not exaggerated. The author Nathaniel Rich also managed to compose James Hansen’s words and explanation in a calm and ‘concerned professor-like’ tone, which appealed to me, and I’m sure it will appeal to many readers of the report and research-study portions of this text.

The essential episodes during that crucial decade like the publishing of the 1981 study on Climate impact of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide by Hansen and others, the release of the Charney Report, the 1985 a joint UNEP/WMO/ICSU Conference on the “Assessment of the Role of Carbon Dioxide and Other Greenhouse Gases in Climate Variations and Associated Impacts”, 1988 the WMO established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with the support of the UNEP, etc., were handled beautifully and suspensefully enough for the book to read almost like an apocalyptic thriller, but with a workable solution at the end of it rather than just sadistic destruction and chaos.

The scenes of the many global conferences in that decade, between 1978 and 1989, especially between 1985 and 1989, were crafted vividly, and one could easily picture everything like an HD motion picture with sound effects, etc. That terrible climax to a great decade of hard work gone by, orchestrated by US politician John Sununu, sounded in the book like a death knell worse than the ones heard at state funerals in Europe. It was an anti-climax for the US government to negate the whole idea of global warming and its long-term effects. I could not believe that we were this close to living with our luxuries and other conveniences, maybe for a very long time to come along with our kids, but without beating about the bush (sorry! really!) the last nail on that coffin was sealed by Sununu with the Republican Bush Government take it or leave it. At least I give President Bush credit for admitting that he believed in the cause and the issue, but his hands were tied.

The sad thought from President Bush is beautifully summed up by the author in this book, who notes that the seriousness with which US Presidents address the Global Warming issue spans as long as two Presidential terms. President Barack Obama, to play devil’s advocate here, also managed to pose himself as a great emancipator of all those who were fighting for the lost cause of global warming. But ironically, which President Trump does not fail to highlight in his many rally speeches, it was during the tenure of President Barack Obama that the most significant consumption of fossil fuels took place which outbeat not only all the previous decades gone by right since the Industrial Age, but it also outdid all the hard work put into the 1990s in the name of uniting the world towards creating a more greener and cleaner earth! He even attempted, like President Clinton, to introduce a carbon emissions tax in Congress, but, as usual, it was vetoed. To save his Presidency from further harm, he backed out of taking a more decisive step on Global Warming and Climate Change. The irony was that President Clinton and President Obama both Democrats had managed to pull the wrong strings just at the time when the Climate issue needed their greatest aid: President Clinton thought of propelling his tax forward during the time when the infamous Lewinsky case was going on; President Barack Obama tried to do this during the very first year of his Presidency when the Republicans were already blaming him with alleged money frauds, etc.

For more information on President Barack Obama and his years as President check out my book reviews on insaneowl.com of the following books ‘The Audacity of Hope’ by Barack Obama, ‘A Promised Land’ by Barack Obama, ‘Change We Can Believe In’ by Barack Obama and ‘To Obama, With Love, Joy, Hate and Despair’ by Jeanne Marie Laskas.

So the ending of the book ‘Losing Earth’ was like a death sentence. Maybe one could say that it is a death sentence in layers. If water levels rise by 2030, World War III could commence that year, and smaller-scale pandemics, coupled with disastrous weather conditions, would plague developing and underdeveloped countries. We will officially have to change more than just our AC regulators or the type of fridges we have in our kitchen. We will probably have to give up our technologically advanced lives, as suggested by ‘Losing Earth’, and revert to a more basic and primitive style of life, as often depicted in science fiction apocalyptic books, movies, and now OTT serials. If we really, at this point, care about our ‘future generations’ and we still seriously want to bring more children into this cruel world, then we’ll have to go back quite a bit. My estimate would be where lower middle class and poor citizens would be concerned only of their country, considering the increasing number of detrimental viral and flu diseases that will plague us, we better shift to the foraging and hunting gathering stage or better something the way our 20th century Bedouin friends in Arabia and the Sahara lived their days out.

I’m not joking.

Since most of the USA will probably be submerged, especially the greater part if not the whole of the Grand Canyon area, I will right now not be in a position to determine what kind of life will be suitable there for them to recoup; especially considering the turmoil in their political system currently, but I would again estimate that it would have to be based on more of an underwater city. Additionally, a more eco-friendly city built above the skyscrapers, which would be underwater, is a great idea. Utilizing more green technology, such as ‘ship vessels’ or ‘light-weight submarines,’ would be an effective solution.

I’m serious. I’m giving tips that have been pondered upon by plenty of scientists who have their minds in the right place.

There is no more time for damage control; we are way past that now. It is time we accept the inevitable and move on from there, despite our many right-wing strong ‘I gotta be a macho man’ statesmen and political leaders (now my favorite 1980s band, Village People, is playing in my head! Sigh!). It will be tough, but it will be inevitable when the waters come, let alone anything else.

A few tips from ‘Losing Earth’ for IB and IGCSE Global Perspectives and Global Politics students for their projects (IOs) and exam papers:

• Exxon, SHELL and other fossil fuel and oil companies did start by trying to aid the investigation and awareness campaign about Global Warming, but turned back for a reason not totally definable or definite, at least for our three heroes and their team (Rafe Pomerance, Gordon MacDonald and James Hansen – we must never forget these true USA heroes!). However, it is identifiable that the moment the Right Wing Republican Scientists, or rather fake scientists, started downplaying the Global Warming issue to the public, we suddenly saw that these big oil companies backed off from their earlier intended proposals.
• The US presidents mentioned in this book are not being demonized; instead, the book and its writer are trying to put things into perspective. The truth is, they were merely victims of their popular vote bank and their own ambitions to keep their tenures and seats at all costs, through thick and thin, even if that meant that the ozone layer was getting thinner and thinner! A special shout-out nevertheless to only one US President who at least towards the end of his Presidency as well as later during the trying tenure of President Ronald Reagan, managed to inform not only America but also the whole world about Global Warming and its many after effects – President and Humanitarian Jimmy Carter is that President and it is heartening how he latched on to this and tried to carry it forward. The whole situation should have cropped up before 1978, before Jimmy Carter’s tenure was spent focusing on restoring a sense of morality to both domestic and foreign policy following the traumas of the Vietnam War and Watergate. If IB and IGCSE students especially from the bustling IB and IGCSE school of Podar International, Santacruz manage to delve more into the life and times of President Jimmy Carter rather than only the many foibles of his successors, we can get a lot of useful material for our projects and thesis papers, especially in Global Perspectives and now strangely, even in a IBDP subject like English where the IO project is focused on the comparative study of a novel or a set of poems, an artwork and then a major global issue. What could be a major common factor in most fiction novels of the day, including those dating from the European Industrial Age, other than Global Warming?
• Do not consider that any policy now can keep the Earth’s temperature from increasing by 2 degrees. It is happening and probably before this year 2025 ends, we will not only sadly be a full 2 degrees hotter as a planet, but we’ll immediately be moving onto covering the next half a degree lap and by 2027 we’ll be another degree hotter. The book ‘Losing Earth’ has been trying to indicate that 5 degrees Celsius is the death sentence, and more irresponsible use and even wastage of fossil fuels with no sustainable development in sight will be the death of our species; period.
• A significant debate took place during the critical period from 1980 to 1985, as detailed in the book, to confirm a temperature rise that would be ‘workable’. Yes, although James Hansen had bluntly stated 2 degrees, it was debated whether such a serious rating should be shared with the US public or if a more alarming rating should be shared to ensure that some seriousness would be taken in this matter! After initially deviating from 2 degrees to 1.5, then to only 1, which would be totally incorrect, and finally to 2.5, which freaked some of the US fossil fuel companies out, we eventually came back to a safe 2 degrees rise in global temperatures. The point is that it could be more, since 2 degrees was just an estimate at the end of the day, not exactly a scientific fact! But definitely, it won’t be less than that, sadly.
• In the field of Global Perspectives and Sociology, it is painful, as mentioned before, to note that the people worst affected by Global Warming are the people who could never afford to emit so much carbon emissions in the first place. These countries being among the poorest, the countries including India will be severely affected by the after shocks of severe Global Warming including rise in sea levels, more contagious and debilitating flus and fevers affecting the population, more pollution, hygiene and sanitation issues, flooding, erratic monsoons, severe rains, cities becoming more polluted, the urban air becoming unbreathable etc. The poor will be most affected. In India, the heat is excruciating when temperatures rise above 40 degrees Celsius at noon. Moreover, the humidity during the monsoons exacerbates the heat, making the weather remain hot, if not hotter. This makes living, working, and studying conditions next to impossible and agonizing. As more slums grow in cities and other urban areas, traffic issues will escalate to a point where it will be imperative to seek the aid of some billionaires to start creating some air vehicles to reach a place of work or study on time! With no alternative but to remain in India, considering the immigration issues taking place worldwide, the future of global warming will only rattle the bones of the poor, who already are skin and bones because of hardship, dire destitution, and innumerable national budget issues.
• Consider other minimalistic and simplistic modes of living that are congenial with the Earth, characterized by less technology and more sustainability. The time has come for us to embrace this, especially to protect our future children from deadly airborne viral and flu ailments, particularly those born after Gen Beta. Their constitution won’t be as good as ours. So they will be susceptible to deadly viruses that will plague our many nations, not to mention the chronic and lethal air pollution that will plague our atmospheres post-2030. Some concerned parents will even consider disbanding from ‘real life’ to retreat to the remaining forests, jungles, and woodlands for the sake of their children’s health and well-being. I hardly think everyone will commit mass suicide when such an eventuality comes up; humans are very accommodating and adjustable animals – I hope!
• Study the atmosphere of Venus like Dr. James Hansen, even if you don’t have a simulator or a simulated environment. Realize, as you study, especially IBDP students, that Venus was very much like Earth more than the ways we have learnt in our old Science or UOI PYP classes, like the fact that they are both the same size, they both have an atmosphere, they both are rocky inner planets, they both have clouds, etc. They also share comparable atmospheres with complex weather systems. However, Venus’s atmosphere is vastly different due to a runaway greenhouse effect that makes it the hottest planet in the solar system. Venus’s thick, carbon dioxide atmosphere traps heat, creating an extreme greenhouse effect and scorching surface temperatures that can melt lead, making it the hottest planet in the solar system. One fine day, the planet emitted too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It did not wait for more to be emitted when the total greenhouse effect took hold of the planet, making it an extremely hot and unlivable planet at an unbelievably fast rate, like what it is today. With the loss of oceans and the absence of Plate Tectonics, massive and sustained volcanism released large amounts of CO2, and the lack of water recycling contributed to Venus becoming a hot, uninhabitable ball of land. Strangely enough, it was once livable like Earth, but the planet’s surface was resurfaced within the last 500 million years, making it difficult to find evidence of ancient conditions. Scientists use computer models and simulations to understand how Venus evolved, with studies suggesting that a near-global resurfacing event could have been the turning point in Venus’ history. As an IB or IGCSE PYP student who has studied Science or UOI in the past, the situation the Earth is in today is very similar. If we hit that 5-degree rise in temperature mark, we may become the next Venus.

I want to mention here a heirloom of our shared contemporary past and a major part of this book. Former Vice President Al Gore’s contribution to the climate change issue has been a significant focus, which we lauded in 2006 when his documentary movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ aired worldwide and stunned us into a deathly silence. We then realized how serious this issue could be and who was partially complicit in hiding the facts from us. However, there were many instances during the latter portion of the 1980s where Al Gore’s stance on Global Warming and Climate Change was not clearly articulated by him personally or by his aides or media staff. We can see here that politics and economic gain have always trumped the climate. Also, notwithstanding that Al Gore himself is a highly controversial US Political figure and an inconvenient truth in himself, it is applaud worthy of him to have gone out of his way to put before a larger portion of the Western public an issue that will affect all of us, some worse than others. I highly recommend that all Global Political students, particularly those at the IBDP level, watch this movie before starting their research papers. IGCSE Global Perspectives students will also find the viewing of this movie very helpful and informative to aid them in answering their papers, and especially to revise earlier MYP Global Perspective topics of:

(a) Climate Change, energy, and resources

(b) Environment, pollution, and conservation

Conclusion

Whatever our differences as people, we must set aside everything else to assess what has come before us and what we can do to salvage the situation. Some of us have been here long enough to acknowledge that we allowed the whole thing to slip right past us, despite numerous signs to the contrary. Whether it be documentaries or encyclicals of Popes from Pope John the XXIII to even Pope Benedict XVI let alone the writings of late Pope Francis, Hollywood movies or newspaper articles galore, featured stories in the magazine Nature about Global Warming for decades to even pop stars like Michael Jackson for whatever reason publicizing about the issue on live TV through his concerts – we still chose to be indifferent and not see the real signs of the times. Or rather, the red traffic lights right in front of our faces! This is because we human beings tend to say, like in India, ‘we will adjust when the time comes’ or ‘we will know how to manage then’ or ‘some brilliant scientist will think of something by that time and we’ll be saved’. But we can’t ‘adjust’ ourselves out of this conundrum this time. Read this book to understand that if you genuinely care about ‘our future generations’, this is our last chance.

Special Note

If you are interested in more book reviews, indie author interviews, book analyses, short story analyses, poems, essays, essay analyses, and other bookish content, check out my blog, insaneowl.com. If you are interested in purchasing my books, you can check the products page of my blog or on Amazon. There is a lot of good stuff to buy! Happy reading to you always!

©2025 Fiza Pathan