The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming in Science and Inquiry

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The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

David Wallace-Wells

Start date: December 1, 2019

Finish date: December 31, 2019

Discussion: Book Club 2019

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Book Club 2019

December 2019 - Uninhabitable Earth
By Betsy , co-mod · 8 posts · 108 views

last updated Dec 21, 2020 08:09AM

November 2019 - Invisible Women
By Betsy , co-mod · 17 posts · 122 views

last updated Oct 18, 2020 06:07PM

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What Members Thought

Apr 30, 2019 David Rubenstein rated it it was amazing

Shelves: environment, ecology, engineering, technology, science, politics

This is an exceptional, must-read book about the prognosis for our planet Earth. The prognosis is not a happy one--it is truly depressing. If things continue at the present pace, by 2100, temperatures will rise by more than 4C. Large parts of Africa, Australia, the United States, South America, and Asia will become uninhabitable. The U.N.Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a very conservative group, and considers only the most recent, inarguable research. They state that if we ac ...more

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Apr 01, 2019 Mitchell Friedman rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, published-2019, political, science, library, liked-reviews, author-w

Flawed. Not very well written. Overwrought. But an especially short book for such a big subject. The author would seem to be willing to reach out and hit the reader with a sledgehammer if he only could figure out how. The short chapters on heat, hunger, drowning, wildfire and so on are definitely the best part. All in all the book is clear and reasonable and utterly frightening. Worth reading.

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Jan 18, 2021 Sam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ecology, popular-science, proper-books, earth-science, psychology

While this book does not delve into the science of climate change, or much in the way of possible solutions, it is a clear and powerful statement to all of us that we need to get a grip and start properly and fully making significant changes to address this issue. Many reviews have described this as a worst-case scenario, it really isn't. It describes the approximate path we are currently on based on the effort, or lack thereof, we, individually and collectively, are putting in to address the dr While this book does not delve into the science of climate change, or much in the way of possible solutions, it is a clear and powerful statement to all of us that we need to get a grip and start properly and fully making significant changes to address this issue. Many reviews have described this as a worst-case scenario, it really isn't. It describes the approximate path we are currently on based on the effort, or lack thereof, we, individually and collectively, are putting in to address the drivers of climate change that we have control over. The scenario does cover the 1.5 to 4 deg C of warming as that is the range we are currently looking at, depending on what we do in the coming decade. The worst-case scenario is easily doubles the top end of this.

Having depressed you with that, Wallace-Wells does hold a certain degree of optimism that we can make the necessary changes to avoid catastrophic warming (and yes, anything over 2 degrees will be pretty catastrophic, for us not just the current environment (the planet will be fine)). However, this is only true if we accept reality and stop waiting for technology to save us, or provide a quick fix that let's us carry on as we are. This is not an option as Wallace-Wells demonstrates, and this type of thinking is what has led us to such a critical juncture in our history as a species.

While I did find some of this text a little repetitive, given that the IPCC has been highlighting this very problem for nearly 4 decades, clearly it is a message that needs to be said again, and again, and again (I can sympathize with this as I have to do the same in my work, stating the same obvious thing over and over again as many people just do not care, or are too concerned about their own immediate benefits, or believe humans to be all important to the detriment of everything else, depending how cynical you wish to be). Wallace-Wells has clearly done his research and translates this into as clear a message as I have read, although I suspect for some it is still not clear enough. ...more

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Jan 23, 2020 Amanda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: pop-sci, politics

Required reading for being a good global citizen in the modern era, as far as I'm concerned. I cannot recommend this book enough, but be prepared to be utterly devastated by Wallace-Wells' clear look at the future possibilities. He pulls no punches in this one; he doesn't sugarcoat the possible consequences of our immediate political choices as a global society over the next few years. Organizing parts of the book by what happens if we hit a certain number of degrees of warming is very effective ...more

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