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The Revolution
This is a revolution. If you want to shut an airport then stop flying.
Want an end to factory farming? Grow your own. An end to pollution?
Change to renewables. An end to war & poverty? Microgenerate. Life
for your childen? Stop needing oil. YOU have THIS Power. You do not
need Government. Seize the initiative. Bring democracy to your
community. Be an example to your children. Take responsibility.
Change for good today. |
Books - Authors A through D
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In this section you
will find our Book Reviews of the work of Authors A through D.
The topics we cover are across the spectrum of topics including
Global Warming, Peak Oil, Oil Security, Politics, Environmental
issues, etc. The views expressed here are purely those of the
reviewer's. These reviews are not prompted by copies direct from
the Publisher.
It is our policy to
be fair about each book and to point out good and bad in each
review. In our opinion we believe that the informed Carbon
Cutter should make a reasonable effort to read a selection of
these books based upon our recommendations. Knowledge is power. |
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Brower "Consumer's Guide"
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ISBN 0 609 80281 X. Full Title "The Consumer's Guide to
Effective Environmental Choices - Practical Advice from the
Union of Concerned Scientists". Written by Michael Brower
and Warren Leon (both PhD). Published by Random House in
1999. Well, if you, like us, had never heard of the 'Union
of Concerned Scientists' then there is a little section at
the back to explain - an independent NGO the UCS (in the
U.S.) conducts studies and public education in order to
influence government policy for a 'healthier environment'.
Whatever that is. The book kicks off with an amazingly dumb
anecdote about how a group of keen recyclers drove a car
stuffed with newspapers all over someplace in hicksville USA
looking for a recycling center. The anecdote has no point to
make about wasting finite fossil fuels or your carbon
footprint - no. The book is so steeped in North American
mega-consumption culture that this simple matter never
arose. Much to our astonishment. The book continues in a
similar fashion even if the intro was a lamentable low point
that they do (thankfully) recover from. For readers in
Central Asia, the far East, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa,
well... Anywhere outside the USA, this book is mostly
irrelevant. Its research (for what it is) is scientific but
parochial. America is an exception to the rule. American's
consume in a fashion that leave the average European as
bewildered as European habits would bewilder a S ub-Saharan
African. Hence many of the basic rules we learn as European
low-carbon lifestyle devotees simply don't seem to apply to
Americans. Some advice seems completely irrelevant and some
is just plain wrong. At a time when tanker loads of precious
Fossil Fuels can be saved by using bio-mass energy to heat
our homes one of the primary recommendations of this report
is that Americans must stop burning wood! Simple
wood-burning stoves exist in Europe that meet strict
no-smoke regulations. Apparently no such thing exists over
the pond. On the other hand some of the reasoning is
applicable. They correctly identify the American love of the
automobile as a primary cause of Global Warming but seldom
talk of cars. Americans now drive things called "light
trucks". They have so far to go. In Europe our fridges have
a low carbon footprint but in the USA they seem to guzzle
energy like crazy for some reason. Likewise American
spending patterns include categories for "firearms" and
"swimming pool heaters". The book is out of date,
lightweight on matters of resource depletion, and based on a
couple of questionable studies. It is a vaguely useful read
and the topic deserves far more research. It needs something
like this for all major regions of the world. So, if you
believe (as we do) that pollution and biodiversity threats
are almost irrelevant in the face of Climate Change and Peak
Oil then you will find this book next to useless. It does
show how far America has to go to come even close to
catching up with the rest of the Planet.... |
James Bruges "Big Earth Book"
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ISBN 13 978 1 901970 87 6. Published by Alastair Sawday
Publishing in 2007 with sponsorship from Yeo Valley Organic.
When they say "BIG" they mean BIG. This is a coffee table
heavyweight measuring 27cm x 20cm x 2.5cm (hardback) with
288 thick pages. The book is lavishly illustrated with large
full-colour pictures and it looks like it is aimed at
children ages 8 to 16 although I am sure adults will get a
kick out of this. Despite the child-friendly layout the
topic and language of the book is a far cry from the play
ground. I was at first astonished then delighted as James
explores the Economic fragility of this Globalised world.
Indeed, the middle word of the title is misleading. This has
nothing to do with the "Earth" in the typical 'ecology'
sense. We all know that this planet will continue to circle
the Sun for a good few billion years. Any loss of
biodiversity today will finally be made up for my nature
within a few million years. The only thing fragile about
this "Earth" is the life of mankind. From the point of view
of the Earth the existence of humans is a brief aberration
in the scheme of things. Come and gone in the blinking of
the geological eye. We are as Mayflies. No more. Why do we
identify US as the "Earth"? We are not. The author states
clearly he wishes to provoke the readership. If you give
this to your kids thinking it will be about volunteering to
save a few fluffy Panda's then you are in for a shock.
Environmental destruction and loss of biodiversity - the
typical litany of the Eco-type, is only a minor sub-topic.
James is clearly well read on what damage mankind is doing
to itself. You need only read the References section at the
rear to know where he is coming from. He has used "The
Economist", "New Scientist", Mark Lynas, Mayer Hillman,
Aubrey Meyer, George Monbiot, Julian Darley, ASPO, Kenneth
Deffeyes, Richard Heinberg, Roy Arundhati, George Soros,
Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jorgen Randers, Joseph
Stiglitz, John Gray, James Lovelock, Gore Vidal, Greg
Palast, Noam Chomsky, John Pilger and Michael T Klare to
name but a few. James splits the book into four sections:
"The Elements", "Money", "Power" and "Life". Ironically the
last section is the weakest. The opening section details the
well known litany of Climate Change & Ozone Depletion, but
moves rapidly on to Peak Oil. Then, in "Money" he moves onto
detail the problems of our Economies. He lists many
alternative ideas for how a modern economic system could,
and should, work. In "Power" he is largely writing on the
Global Economy again but studies Third World Debt and the
spread of American Hegemony. The "Life" section does not
reach the heights of the middle two. It only raises the
relevant point of Food Security. Here he struggles with his
other chosen topics to illustrate the point he is making.
The books just tales off into navel gazing.
 Maybe
the Publishing house wanted the book a bit bigger so the
author had to throw a few loose ideas into the back as
padding? Apart from this minor criticism, this book does
well to bang the drum about Money and Power and how it is
destroying all of our collective futures. The author goes
beyond books that say they offer solutions. James really
does deliver. His pages sparkle with numerous bright ideas
for alternative forms of human existence. Stunning. Buy this
book now and scare your children into action. Don't be
surprised if they don't rush out and save a hedgehog
though... They are more likely to throw Molotov Cocktails at
a G8 Summit after reading this! |
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Julian Darley "High Noon"
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ISBN 1-931498-53-9. Published by Chelsea Green in 2004. Much of
the written work currently on Oil depletion does not cover
Natural Gas depletion in great detail. This book does. Unusually
it is not the normal parochial 'US-only point-of-view' because
Darley is actually a British environmental researcher (although
he now lives in Canada). Hence the work is more balanced and
global in nature. The foreword is by Richard
 Heinberg and the mutual appreciation is obvious as they quote each
other freely. Darley's work does contain some technical data -
graphs and maps, but don't let this put you off. It is a relatively
easy read. The books warns of an impending over-reliance upon Gas as
a substitute for Oil when Gas, itself, is on the brink of running
out. He examines how this depletion is already effecting domestic
and foreign policy across the industrialised world. The future is
bleak and definitely not 'gas-shaped'. Recommended. |
Deffeyes "Hubbert's Peak"
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ISBN 0 691 09086 6. "Hubbert's Peak - The Impending World
Oil Shortage" by Kenneth S. Deffeyes. Published by Princeton
University Press in 2003. This is the sixth reprint, the
first in paperback and it describes itself as "revised and
updated" although this means a new preface by the author.
The new preface shares with us the slightly scary fact that
evidence suggests that Peak Oil came and went in the year
2000. This is based upon actual numbers. Deffeyes is a child
of the Oil Industry and born to a family literally up to
their armpits in Oil. Texas Oil. Of course the historical
perspective supplied is largely North American and it is
written for a US audience. The author is an Oil Geologist
with a not totally dissimilar background to Hubbert himself.
Indeed they new each other for many years before M King
Hubbert's death in 1989. In this book we get an Oil industry
insider's view of the Hubbert Peak phenomena. We learn many
interesting nuances to the simplistic tale of the Oil
Scientist
who-predicts-the-end-of-oil-and-no-one-believes-him. It is
now such a well known story it is hardly worth repeating.
Within the Oil Industry itself Hubbert is almost better
known for his theories about how water lubricates tectonic
plates.
 When
you think about it all Hubbert did was stand up and tell us
the emperor had no clothes. Before him everyone pretended
that Oil would last forever. Of course Oil is finite and, in
the end, it must run out. What Hubbert did was put a date on
this. The science is almost child's play in its simplicity.
It is easy to understand the basic concept. You discover Oil
in one year and then its production peaks about 10 to 20
years later. Hence if you know when all the Oil was
discovered then you can predict when it will run out.
Hubbert used historical precedent in the US Oil Fields and
guessed correctly when their production would peak.
Interestingly we discover that this was partly guesswork.
The disappointing aspect of this work is that a full
two-thirds of this book is practically a geology textbook
for beginners. It is as dull as ditch-water. If you want to
read one book about Peak Oil don't read this. Choose one of
Heinberg's books, ie, "The Party's Over" |
Douthwaite "The Growth Illusion"
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ISBN 1 870098 76 5. Published by Green Books in 1999 (a
revised edition from a work originally published in 1992).
Written by Richard Douthwaite, the full title reads "The
Growth Illusion - How Economic Growth has Enriched the Few,
Impoverished the Many and Endangered the Planet". It is hard
to believe that any such writer, journalist, speaker and
'professional Economist' could make such a bad job of
writing about something we all know to be true. There should
be hundreds of books like this but sadly there are too few.
Which makes it all the bigger shame that this is not a
better book. I fear most readers will not get past chapter
one. The problem? Well, when Richard is talking economics
his use of Statistics is quite bewildering. He reminds me of
some very bad lecturers at University who knew their topic
inside out but just couldn't communicate it to students.
Note that Richard does not claim to be a teacher. This book
could easily have been half the size. It is too long and
large sections confuse the reader with their questionable
relevance. What a topic like this needs is lots of killer
facts that are easy for the audience to assimilate. So for
the first nine chapters (153 pages out of 346) Richard leads
us through a long historical study to show why Capitalism
needs growth and what that meant for Empire, the Industrial
Revolution and, more recently, Margaret Thatcher. The author
throws in every possible fact and figure to the ends that
they seem to contradict, not only each other but, the point
he is trying to make. He therefore concludes growth is a
very bad thing - heh presto! His readership is way, way
behind. So unconvincing is his argument that growth is bad
that we have to wait for him to lurch onto a more stable
platform - that of the growth and sustainability before he
starts to make any sense. And even then he is repeating a
familiar litany that we have read in a dozen other books.
Despite the stink he creates, with the first half of the
book, he manages to rescue his work towards the end with his
last two chapters. This is where he delivers an original and
comprehendible assessment of where we are and where we have
to get to. Can his book be recommended? As there is not a
lot of choice out there then we would have to say read it if
you can stay awake through an economics text book. Otherwise
focus your efforts on more accessible work such as Bruges
"Big Earth Book" which manages to deliver most of the same
information. Douthwaite is dogmatic in his beliefs. It oozes
through his work. He has made his mind up and will twist
every fact and figure to demonstrates what he believes. Yes,
we know economic growth is unsustainable but the many of the
negative points he digs up are just swings versus many
roundabouts. It is clearly population growth and use of oil
that has fuelled growth. He DOES make this point but only at
the end of the book. The trick is to deliver the benefits of
growth in a  way
that truly benefits mankind without really growing or using
anything up. Growth itself is a neutral factor. The relative
misery of humankind is largely a permanent state of this
planet's sentient creature - a fixture of life that cannot
be mended. The rough that makes us understand the smooth.
Clearly nothing will make us more unhappy that being out of
work, cold and starving. The system is configured to
guarantee such a disastrous result if we stop growing.
Therein lies the challenge in transition. How to avoid this
crash? |
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