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From the Library Shelf:
Proud Co-Founders of Transition Town High Wycombe
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Books - Authors I through L
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In this section you
will find our Book Reviews of the work of Authors I through L.
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 Post-Carbon
person should make a reasonable effort to read a selection of
these books based upon our recommendations. Knowledge is power. |
Tim Jackson "Prosperity Without Growth"
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 ISBN
978-1-84407-894-3. "Prosperity Without Growth - Economics
for a Finite Planet" by Tim Jackson was published by
Earthscan in 2009. The review hardback copy boasted 255
pages including no less than four forewords (with
contributions by Bill McKibben and Herman E. Daly),
appendices, notes and references. Tim's work is an extension
to his work as Economics Commissioner for the Sustainable
Development Commission (SDC). Specifically he draws upon the
"Redefining Prosperity" study (2003). Go see
www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/redefining-prosperity.html.
With so much academic work on the topic you would have
thought Tim's opus may have offered a more definitive
roadmap to a steady state economy. In this it does not
really deliver. Rather Tim talks around the topic and
largely delivers a thesis encapsulating the problem rather
than much of a solution. Indeed the field of monetary reform
seems to be far more advanced in terms of solutions - maybe
because it has been around as long as there has been Banks.
Despite the enormous debt (pun not intended) the modern form
of no-growth economists owe to the field of monetary reform
there is only one brief mention of the money supply and
banking reform in Tim's book.
Given the modern role of the City of
London in being the powerhouse of the British economy we
should have looked forward to a more advanced thesis on the
changes required to turn this monolith into a real tool for
building prosperity rather than simply sucking money out of
the real economy. Instead Jackson turns his attention to
macro-economics and the social issues concerning the desire
for growth. He correctly summarises one of the reasons why
growth is so essential to a capitalist economy but makes
little or no mention of the role of interest payments.
Without growth the capitalist system will collapse. Jackson
also makes no mention of population and steers a remarkably
conservative and safe path around what must be one of the
most dynamite topics of our times. He turns the entire
exercise into a dry economics text-book. This is not going
to popularise the topic in the manner of a 20th century
pamphleteer. Instead Jackson's argument has three legs: we
need to establish ecological bounds upon human activity.
Second, we need to re-invent macro-economics. Third we need
to fix the "damaging social logic" of consumerism. If
not, writes the author, "by the end of the century, our
children and grandchildren will face a hostile climate,
depleted resources, the destruction of habitats, the
decimation of species, food scarcities, mass migrations and
almost inevitably war."
Jackson is at his best when
deconstructing the myth that economic growth can somehow
cure ecological ills: "In a world of 9 billion people all
aspiring to western lifestyles, the carbon intensity of
every dollar of output must be at least 130 time lower in
2050 than it is today. By the end of the century, economic
activity will need to be taking carbon out of the atmosphere
not adding to it." He explains that, although there has
been some relative decoupling the possibility of absolute
decoupling continues to elude us. He goes on "...we are
desperate to believe in miracles. Technology will save us.
Capitalism is good at technology. So let's just keep the
show on the road and hope for the best. This delusional
strategy has reached its limits. Simplistic assumptions that
capitalism's propensity for efficiency will stabilise the
climate and solve the problem of resource scarcity are
almost literally bankrupt." As for the dilemma of our
society he writes "We've carved up our sense of shared
endeavour - sometimes (think of cars) quite literally - so
that we can sell off the pieces at market price just to keep
our economies growing. In the process, we leave ourselves
bereft of common meaning and purpose." All stirring
stuff but we are sure he is preaching to the converted.
There is little here we don't know already. So when it comes
down to the crunch of exactly HOW to reach steady-state
prosperity Jackson blinks and leaves us with "...delivering
these goals is a huge challenge. Ultimately, that task lies
beyond the scope of any single book." Oh dear. Instead
he suggests "a 'robust public discourse'. Opening out
that discourse has been one of the key aims of this
book." So it is all talks about talks. A delivery of
clever waffle.
He rarely challenges the consensus other
than to deliver this pithy observation: "Those inclined
to question the consensus wisdom were swiftly denounced as
cynical revolutionaries or modern day luddites. 'We do not
agree with the anti-capitalists who see the economic crisis
as a chance to impose their utopia, whether of a socialist
or eco-fundamentalist kind', roared the Independent on
Sunday late in 2008. 'Most of us in this country enjoy long
and fulfilling lives thanks to liberal capitalism: we have
no desire to live in a yurt under a workers' soviet.'"
In this case "their utopia" spells continued human
existence. Until we can answer this kind of blinkered
conservatism then Jackson is just blowing in the wind. There
is still hope as an EU Commission seeks to redefine the
measurement of GDP but this is but a token. Much like
monetary reform before it, there is much to be gained in
real prosperity in a steady-state economy. However there are
a vast array of forces pitched against such a necessary
move. A small number of very wealthy and powerful people are
not going to let there be any constraints upon them. It is
in their nature to drive their resource base into the
buffers rather than see any change in the status quo. Hence
something dramatic will need to happen. Jackson isn't
talking about drama. We need to be.
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Lovins "Oil Endgame"
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 ISBN
1-84407-194-4. "Winning the Oil Endgame - Innovation for
Profits, Jobs and Security" written by Amory B Lovins, E
Kyle Datta, Odd-Even Bustnes, Jonathan G Koomey and Nathan J
Glasgow with forewords by George P Shultz and Sir Mark
Moody-Stuart. If this books teaches us anything it is that
it is possible to plan economic measures in advance of Peak
Oil such that it a potential disaster can be turned into an
economic advantage. Indeed it is only by ignoring the
problem that it turns into a crisis. So why not get on with
it? Well, this books seems to think Peak Oil will hit in
2040 which seems outlandish.... Therefore if they think we
have all this time of course they can be relaxed about a
slow 20 year cutover. They also underestimate the effects of
Climate Change and ignore tipping points. Hence everything
is a little unreal and over-relaxed. Maybe that is a good
thing? Somehow.....We
get so used to thinking of the Peak Oil and Climate Change
challenges as being Global issues that it really stops us in
our tracks when a group of individuals produce a book
describing solutions for JUST ONE COUNTRY - the USA. This is
clearly a policy document for the Whitehouse and was funded
by the Pentagon. As such it has peculiarly US-centric view
of the World and America's Foreign Policy. The
authors would like to have told Americans that their
Government has been utterly corrupted by Oil. However it all
comes out in a shrouded language that will grate with most
readers beyond the borders of the continental USA. An
example of which is the description of multiple American
'Military interventions' in the Gulf Region as being for
"stability" purposes. In the same paragraph the author notes
(hopefully with irony) that, despite these efforts the
Americans are resented as much as ever. This is a book about
myopia inside the American Bubble and boundless
techno-optimism. Technology will solve all problems if only
Government would get out of the way of the Corporations. You
couldn't get closer to the heart of Republican conservatives
if you tried. The authors seriously believe there is no need
for further energy taxation or further incentives (they then
completely contradict this point!). The market will take
care of everything - for Americans anyway. The basis for
this assumption is fundamentally flawed for two reasons:
firstly Lovin's statistical analysis suggests that
the US Economy grows at a pace far greater than Oil Imports
because of greater efficiency, but this ignores the impact
of Globalisation which exported heavy industry to the
Developing World whilst the US focussed on services and the
money markets for wealth creation. Secondly, despite rising
efficiency the US Economy keeps growing to suck in more Oil
not less. Endless expansion of consumer products to every
mortal being on the planet is impossible in a finite world -
it doesn't matter how smart the technology. For every
statistic in this book I have heard others that suggest the
opposite. The problem is GROWTH. Business-as-usual assumes
growth and with compound growth we will consume everything
on the planet within the lifetime of our children. The US's
'lead' in wealth generation is because it excludes most of
the rest of the world from the party. To read this book you
would think that it was because they were terribly clever in
using so much finite resource. Being able to print debt in
your own currency base is no proof of a divine right to
asset strip the planet. Occasionally Lovins will present an
anecdote to prove a point whilst ignoring the evidence that
proves the opposite. An example of which is the claim that a
Chemical Plant in Europe uses as much energy as the same US
Company's Plants in America despite higher Fossil Fuel
prices in Europe. That is a generalisation based upon just
TWO Plants! The alternative conclusion is that the Americans
just made their European plants as inefficient as their US
ones. All the other evidence shows just how efficient Europe
& Japan are in comparison to the US because of high Fossil
Fuel Taxes. Price does work - a point Lovins concedes later
on. This aside there are a lot of great facts and figures
here to browse through and there is surprisingly much you
can agree with. There is even brief mention of "Community"
and "all levels of society" - however you quickly get the
suspicion that their 'community' is Wall Street and
'society' is just the Board Room. When Lovins talks about
'local resilience' he doesn't mean a walking community - he
means one where there is some local access to local fuel
production so that everyone can keep driving their SUV's.
Although he doesn't mention organic farming he does believe
that biofuels will be produced in the US in a fashion that
restores carbon back into the soil. Then it is admitted that
this "environmental" aspect is largely promoted to get
around WTO rules about subsidising farms. Around page 180
onwards Lovins moves on to solutions. Some of the jingoistic
language is tempered in favour of genuine Government
intervention in the market through a variety of measures
such as feebates and military procurement. You do get a
one-half page about how suburbia could be redesigned so that
people could walk and cycle to where they need to be but,
apart from this brief nod, the rest of the solutions
actually read as if they intend to drive up car ownership,
not deter it. Lovins wants to get the US public out of their
inefficient SUV's and into slightly more efficient SUV's.
This is on the basis that the American consumer will NEVER
sacrifice any of the American Dream for the future of their
children. Through the book the evidence is largely based
upon programs running in Europe and  Japan. This goes to show
just how far behind the rest of the world the US is. This
books shows no signs of the US catching up. It desires
greater efficiency at a time where the Europeans and
Japanese are already looking towards reengineering
Communities so they don't need, or want, cars. As such they
are slowly moving to where we were 20 years ago. Considering
the rhetoric of recent US Administrations (Reagan onwards)
this is some form of progress but it isn't enough. Maybe
social change is the final and bitterest pill for the US
citizens to swallow. Fantasies like this only stall
for time. Full of great ideas that I would wish would come
true - as long as I don't look out of a window. Whereas the
American military lusts after its "full spectrum dominance"
of the battlefield maybe they should be considering full
spectrum dominance on the solutions for Peak Oil and Climate
Change, ie, all possible solutions - including those largely
ignored in this book. The end of oil is not a game. You are
not going to win it. Deal with it and move on. A politically
inspired wet dream.... But, oddly enough, still worth a
read!
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Lomborg "Skeptical Environmentalist"
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 ISBN 0 521 01068 3. Bjørn Lomborg's "The Skeptical
Environmentalist - Measuring the Real State of the World".
Love him or hate him Lomborg sure stirred up a hornets nest
with this one. Widely quoted within the environmental
movement itself, this has been a phenomena that could not be
ignored. Why all the fuss? Although now largely out of date
(published 2001 by Cambridge University Press) he compared,
what he calls the environmental "litany" to statistical
evidence to see how bad things really are. For an alleged
member of Greenpeace Lomborg sure takes an active dislike to
the polemic of environmental activists. What he comes up
with is a mixed bag. He tries to prove that our resources
are not running out, that fewer people are starving and that
all is well with the World. The Forests are not dying,
Global Warming won't kill you and the species are not dying
out as quickly as claimed. As such he provides a valuable
and level-headed contribution to the debate about, for
example, such pre-conceived links between pesticides and
cancer. We learn how GM foods are not necessarily bad for
us, and so on. As such this work is not original and many
have analysed just how far society has abandoned enlightened
thought. Science and statistics have been abandoned and
hijacked by anyone with a point to prove. It would be nice
of Lomborg had restricted his argument to the facts. Despite
claiming that he is using the facts against the myths he
only trades one set of irrational arguments for another. His
work is as subjective and qualitative as any of the people
and organisations
 he
criticises. His argument about Global Warming is largely
mystifying to the average reader. Even worse, his analysis
of Oil supplies are just plain wrong. He never mentions
standard geological evidence for Hubbert's Peak (apart from
a brief mention in the end notes where he tries to claim
that Hubberts Curve only applies to the USA - maybe like the
law of gravity?) Whilst even the oil companies make no
secret that Oil supplies peak sometime around 2015, Lomborg
ignores all the evidence and draws a convenient line of
expanding supplies up until 2001. This is years short of the
known peak. This kind of cornucopian idealism is at odds
with the facts. Indeed, to continue to propagate absurd
ideas of endless supplies of Energy, that will be
continually renewed by "human ingenuity", undermines many of
the valid arguments he makes. Some of his arguments are
circular and confuse cause and effect. Despite arguing that
we need do nothing about Global Warming for years he goes
onto say that CO2 emissions will be negated by switching to
Solar Power. Well, why would we do that then? Maybe because
we are worried about Global Warming? And why is there a
correlation between wealth and natural resources? Is it
because your natural resources are your wealth or, as
Lomborg claims, that the wealthier you the more you look
after your environment? A useful book but somewhat
undermined by its author's enthusiasm for iconoclastic
idealism. Worth a read. Just the once. For a rebuttal of
Lomborg's claims go to
www.lomborg-errors.dk/skeptical.htm.
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Kunstler "Long Emergency"
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 ISBN 1-84354-453-9. Published by Grove Atlantic in 2005. I read this
book in January and February 2007. Despite the blurb on the book
this is not intended for a universal readership. When they use the
word "we" they, of course, mean the citizens of the United States of
America. This is a parochial Book for a parochial people. However
(unusually for me) I don't hold this against the author, it is only
the blurb of the Publishing House. The Publisher made other
mistakes. Kunstler wrote three versions of his book and submitted it
all jammed together. The publisher should edit this down into one
book. They didn't, rendering it too long and repetitive. Kunstler's knowledge of the people of the
Middle East and Europe is poor. He has obviously never been to these
places and his manner borders upon xenophobic. Likewise his attitude
towards young blacks and black culture is racist. In fact he is a
perfect white middle class product of
up-state New York. He has read the New York Times for his entire
life and his whole world is constructed around the world-myth it
propagates. The irony of the author owning two homes passes with no
comment despite the sarcasm in which he treats his other  SUV-loving
Americans. If you want to read the twisted logic of the neo-con
reason for war in Iraq then read this book. This is meant to be a book about the decline
of western civilisation through the effects of climate change and
the end of oil. Despite his obvious ignorance Kunstler accidentally
manages to deliver on the title of the book. If someone had edited
out the obvious hogwash then it might be more reasonable. As soon as
he gets around to his main topic then it all works. It charts just
how large parts of North America will descend into chaos, violence
and disease in the next fifty years before it all reverts back to an
agrarian existence. He seems to have an overtly rosy view of US gun
culture and fails to see that civil war is a more likely outcome in
a country saturated with guns. The 'mad max' scenario would play
more true in the world he writes of. However, putting these criticisms to one side
here is a perfectly good book about how western civilisation will
transform into a post-oil existence. It is a reasonable lesson for
Europeans too - particularly inhabitants of the United Kingdom who
have gone the furthest in copying the US Suburban model minus the
guns. This remains possibly the only book to chart this
uncomfortable future but sadly it is so flawed that the message gets
lost. Worth a read if you have the patience to study it properly.
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Laughton "Tapping the Sun"
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 ISBN 1 90217 529 8. Published in 2006 by the Centre for
Alternative Technology. The perfect companion to Chris
Laughton's "Home Heating with Wood" although it is much
shorter - weighing in at only 56 pages versus 117 - half the
size. This book is in its fourth edition with the first and
second having being written by Brian Horne whilst the third
was written by Pete Geddes. Hence why it is so short remains
a mystery. Although short it is densely packed with loads of
information, pictures and diagrams. By the end of this book
any novice will be well armed with every piece of
information required to select their own installation even
if they are having it installed by professionals. You will
know the right questions to ask so there is no danger of any
'pro' befuddling you with the science. Chris is very honest
about how much these installations cost and their pay-back
period. He admits they may never pay for themselves but then
doesn't really mention the fact that oil and gas prices are
bound to increase faster than inflation whereas the sun is
always free. Yes, you can install such systems yourself but
most of us would be terrified at the prospect and Chris is
equally honest about the hazards. However, most of the
pitfalls mentioned come from much older systems and from
saving money on cheap plumbing
work. The book largely discusses the different varieties of
central heating systems into which to plug your Solar
Panels. If you are into plumbing this will be for you but I
admit to finding this largely dull! So you get a good run
down of heat transfer systems, hot water storage and thermal
storage devices. Some of the advice is invaluable - such as
how to calculate the size of the Thermal Store and your
Radiators. There is probably no better 50 page guide on this
topic on the market. Another must have.
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Klare "Blood & Oil"
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  ISBN 0-141-02003-2. Published by Penguin Books in 2004. Following up on his successful "Resource Wars" (above) the
subtitle for this books is "How America's Thirst for Petrol is
Killing Us". John Gray gets to pour on his praises on the front
cover. This is Klare's post 9/11 view of the same topic of his
previous book. This time he is focused on the U.S.
petro-Foreign Policy and the hole the Americans are digging for
themselves. Their domestic supplies are running dry so military intervention
will be 'necessary' in various unstable corners of the World -
Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea, Latin America and Africa. Klare exposes
the fundamental truth about American foreign policy and the growing
US dependence on oil from abroad. They undermine foreign governments
in a desperate lust for control and generate the hatred that
blows-back as 'terrorism'. You pick fights and people fight back -
surprise surprise. Klare goes into detail of the close history and
relationship between Saudi Arabia and America. Recommended.
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Jeavons "How to Grow More..."
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 ISBN
978-1-58008-796-4. "How to Grow more Vegetables (and fruit,
nuts, berries grain and other crops than you ever thought
possible on less land than you can imagine" by John Jeavons
was published in this 7th edition by Ten Speed Press in 2006.
The book has its origins in work dating back to 1974 when the
first edition was published. At first the book looks a little
daunting at over 260 pages long with foreword, preface,
introduction nine chapters, bibliography, resources, appendices
and index. It is physically large in softback-A4-sized and about
an inch thick! The more feint-hearted might be reluctant to pick
it up. However it turns into a remarkably easy read - and quick
too - the reason being is that vast sections are just tables of
raw data giving planting distances and yields for every variety
of crop you could imagine. The font size is very large and the
text is scattered with very large, and very clear, diagrams and
illustrations of good quality. They really help too. One of
frustrations about organic books published in the UK by Green
Books has been their utter lack of meaningful diagrams leaving
the poor reader to figure stuff out from the written word.
Yes, this is a book about organic gardening
or "grow biointensive" to give it its technical name. This is
not to be confused with "biodynamic" which is an entirely
different, if not unrelated, form of horticulture. Jeavons is
very informative in telling us the nature of the threat from
industrial farming - and he has the research to prove it. Modern
farming isn't sustainable because it will simply run out of land
as it is so inefficient. Jeavons tells us that in 1940 "American
farmers used 50 million lb of pesticides and lost 7% of their
crop". By 1970, 12 times more pesticides were used "yet the
percentage of crops lost had doubled". Today about 30 times more
pesticides are used than in 1940 and the percentage of crops
lost to insects is as high as 37%. "Current agricultural
practices reportedly destroy 6lbs of soil for every lb of food
produced." Worldwide we have only as much as 80 year's worth of
top soil left. Modern agriculture is depleting soil between 18
and 80 times more quickly than nature can rebuild it. In the
last 60 years since China "modernised" her agricultural system
with machines and chemicals they lost as much as 33% of their
farmland. In contrast it is claimed that biointensive
horticulture can reduce water consumption by up to 88%, reduce
fertiliser use by 50%, 99% reduction in energy used, 100%
increase in soil fertility, 400% increase in calorific output
per unit area and a 100% increase in farm income. It relies, of
course, upon humans in a human-scale farm (called a
"micro-farm") because one person consumes the food equivalent of
just 32.6 gallons of petrol per year making them 20 or 30 times
more efficient than machines. Various numbers are thrown around
but they reckon that you can grow the food for one person per
year on only 200 square feet or 4000 square feet - depending
upon which page you are reading. At our post-carbon home we have
about 190 square feet to feed 2 adults and one child. However
that is only the cultivated area so if we converted the lawn and
included space used for apple trees then we are talking over
1200 square feet. Very comforting.
So - the main promise of biointensive is that
you can grow more with less space and resources. To do this you
plant everything close together in order to create a
leaf-covered microclimate. This suppresses the weeds and makes
best use of water. Compare this to the "no-dig" gardening
technique where vast quantities of mulch are used. Unlike no-dig
the biointensive method requires you to double-dig in vast
quantities of compost. This compost has to be manufactured on
site given the precise methods explained in the text. Indeed
much land is put aside every year to manufacture the biomass to
make this compost. The idea is that if you feed the soil then
the resulting good soil will feed your plant. If you make good
soil then you grow strong plants. Strong plants can resist
disease and attacks from insects. Throw in a bit of crop
rotation and co-planting with other species and you get the
perfect recipe for sustainable gardening to feed the world.
 As
good as this book is at explaining everything you might get put
off by some minor points. Despite the internationalist flavour
of the text (it is far from parochial) the author has a mental
block about converting the imperial measurement system into
metric. Metric is not mentioned anywhere and there are no
conversions charts or factors. It is almost as if the every
country that Jeavons has been to works on the imperial system.
This is despite him admitting that the intensive methods of
gardening originated near Paris in France (not Texas). It is
also probably fair to quibble with some points about the
composting - specifically the claim that nothing should be
shredded. According to Jeavons any old tree branch will compost
to nothing inside six months. We can guarantee that you can wait
six months and still pull the damn thing out whole. Wait long
enough and it just might be coal. We recommend chopping
everything up as small as possible. There is also a peculiar
section where we learn that weeds like poor soil. This makes no
sense at all as the author tells us that weeds are just plants
in the wrong place. Hence by his own definition the talk of
weeds comes over as oxymoronic. Despite this nitpicking you will
not be disappointed by this book. Put it on your bookshelf now
and live by it.
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Kleveman "New Great Game"
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  ISBN 1-84354-121-1. Published by Atlantic Books in 2003.
Subtitled "Blood and Oil in Central Asia". One of two books I
bought to read whilst on a trip to Kazakhstan. This was quite an
eye-opener and revealed the politics and military engagement
into the Caspian Sea area and how the post-9/11 world has been
opened up by so called 'national security' issues. Politicians
in both the west and north (Russia) are fighting over the oil
resources and clashing
with the inherent Islam in the area. Politicians struggle to control
Central Asia and nobody asks whether it is ethical, right or wrong.
Such morality is thrown out of the window in an orgy of corruption,
bribery and under-hand dealings. All the Great Game players are
joined for battle - the USA, Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran. Out
goes the rule book as each power-bloc seeks the ultimate prize -
power, money and oil in Central Asia. The losers are all the usual
people - the innocent members of the public in the Central Asian
countries as well as peoples of the perpetrators of the crimes.
Recommended.
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Lynas "Carbon Counter"
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 ISBN 978 0 00 724812 4. This Book, although looking like one of
those Collins Pocket Reference Guides, is actually classified
under "Politics/Current Affairs" and is written by Mark Lynas. I
actually read the entire thing before I realised who wrote it.
Mark is famous for his books "High Tide" and "Six Degrees" where
he plots the damage that Global Warming can, and will, do to
mankind.
 Mark liberally borrows from so many of the other books
you will see reviewed on these pages such as "How we can save
the Planet" by Mayer Hillman and "Heat" by George
Monbiot. Lynas also gets several opportunities to discretely
plug his own books on the matter. This is a pocket guide. No
doubt about it. It is aimed at the UK market and provides a lot
of links to web sites as
well as Tables of numbers to use on ready-reckoners so everyone can
very roughly calculate their Carbon Footprint. The advice contained
on reducing this Carbon output is very similar to Chris Goodall's
book "How to live a Low Carbon Life" reviewed elsewhere on this web
site although it was not credited by the author of this little work.
There are lots of good numbers to get tucked into here. The book
steers clear of controversy and sticks mostly to the main facts in a
very light-hearted, bright and breezy tone that some may find
annoying. However, it is a great little read and every home in the
UK should have a copy posted through it's letter box by the
Government.
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Laughton "Home Heating with Wood"
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 ISBN 1 90217 527 1. Published by CAT Publications in 2006. A
cracking little read as these things go. These little ring-bound
pocket books are put out by the Centre for Alternative
Technology and this is one of many available. It is pitched at
the UK Market and serves as a primer on the topic answering all
the most obvious questions. The books opens with some great
facts and figures -
 this is really well researched. There is
precious little out there on this topic which makes this a
treasure-trove. Chris kicks off with the oddly self-obvious
topic of "How Wood Burns" - apparently most of us have no idea!
Judging by the science it is far more complicated than a few
flames. Which probably explains why modern stoves are so much
more efficient than the old open fire-places. Moving on from the
science we look at the different type of appliances that can be
used to burn wood to heat a home, office or factory. Then there
is hooking
them up to your Central Heating System, chimney and flue. We
learn how different types of wood burn and the various legal
requirements within the UK. Towards the end of the 115 pages we
get some maths for calculating the size of wood heating systems
and a few case studies. It is all very succinct. The books
bristles with illustrations and pictures. I read this from cover
to cover in under and hour and a half whilst sitting one sunny
Saturday afternoon in the Conservatory in February. A delight. A
must-have. Very useful.
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Klare "Resource Wars"
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  ISBN 0-8050-5576-2. Published by Henry Holt in 2001. I
probably read this book several years later in 2005.
Although I was primarily interested in Oil Wars this book
was quite an eye-opener as to how common wars for resources
were, not only now but in history. The more you think about
it the more you come to believe that this is self evidently
true. Behind most of our cherished "principles" there is an
underlying current of greed. All empires are built out
of a desire to secure resources, even if that resource is profit or
security. However, this book focuses on primary resources - commodities such
oil, gas, water, diamonds, etc. The data on water-wars was new to me and the
problem with water-stress in the Middle-Eastern conflicts was a surprise. We
think of the Middle Eastern problems being largely to do with Zionism, Oil
or Islam - however, water is a real problem for the burgeoning population
of the region. A dry read (no pun intended) but recommended.
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Mark Lynas "Six Degrees"
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 ISBN 978-0-00-720904-0. "Six Degrees - Our Future on a
Hotter Planet" by Mark Lynas. Published by Fourth Estate in
2007. There are few books that cross the desk, here at
Post-Carbon Living, that truly stand out. Robert Kennedy's
"Crimes Against Nature" was one, Chris Goodall's "How to
Live a Low Carbon Life" and Richard Heinberg's "The Party's
Over" are others. These books all have one thing in common -
they pretty much make all other books on the topic redundant
in being a truly defining work. We tend to be critical of
many books for various failings but we were hard-pressed to
find a single thing wrong with this little gem. Perfect. 10
out of 10. If you read ONE Book on Global Warming please
make it this one. If you inherit a lot of money and decide
to push one book through every letterbox in Britain makes it
this one. If you ever get a chance to put a book on the
National Curriculum please make it "Six Degrees". Why?
Because it simply removes the veil from our eyes and tells
us exactly what Global Warming will mean for us Human
Beings. It lays it out straight. There is no flinching from
the grim reality of the challenge ahead. He pulls no
punches. We get a frank appraisal of the link between Global
Warming and Peak Oil - namely that when the clean Oil and
Gas supplies dry up  we'll pump out countless billions of
tonnes of CO2 by switching to coal, shale oil and other
dirty substitutes with a low energy yield. Peak Oil makes
things much, much, worse as it decreases our ability to cope
with Global Warming. Mark steps through each degree of
warming from 1 degrees up to 6. At each step he deals with
how many species and habitats get destroyed. However, it
ain't just the fluffy bunnies. One of the habitats to get
wiped out is the Human one. We will have to keep moving
further and further north as the weather becomes more and
more violent. The chances of us ever being able to feed
these 6 billion people looks exceedingly remote. To make it
clear there is a handy table on page 274 that tells you
which circle of Dante's Hell we pass into as we allow CO2
ppm to pass from 450 to 550 and beyond. Let's
be honest, much beyond 600 and we are all dead. Anything up
to 400ppm can mean up to a 2 degree rise and that is enough
to have a serious effect upon human populations. There is
nowhere to hide. Scary as hell and there is no happy ending.
We need to cut the crap now and do something. Even towards
the end Mark is clear what the options are and how difficult
it will be. Just like THIS Web Site he believes there is no
ONE solution but there will be a rich mix of solutions. We
just need the courage to take them, and take them ALL.
Unbelievable. A must read.
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Sir David King "Hot Topic"
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 ISBN 978-0-7475-9395-9. "The Hot Topic - How to tackle
Global Warming and still keep the lights on" by Gabrielle
Walker and Sir David King was published by Bloomsbury in
2008. Two books by two authors - Gabrielle Walker is an
author, journalist and broadcaster whilst Sir David used to
be Tony Blair's Chief Scientific Adviser. From the off it is
fair to point out that this book is a mixed bag of the good,
the bad and the downright ugly. It has none of the plain
speaking of George Monbiot's "Heat" nor does it have any of
the authority of David MacKay's "Sustainable Energy without
the hot air". To be fair it probably isn't even trying to
take on either of these to giants. However its ugliest
moments stem from the authors' complete ignorance of the
existence of David Hopkins' "Transition Handbook" or Pat
Murphy's "Plan C". Their's is a world of mainstream
convention. There is no talk of curtailment, relocalisation
or building post-carbon societies. No. The fact that the
book gets a glowing reference from James Lovelock just might
set the alarm bells ringing. Firstly the good: the sections
written by King give a good overview of the Politics of
Climate Change. It is all rather self-congratulatory with
glowing praise for the work of the EU and the UK. If you
believed all of this you might believe we could leave it all
up to the politicians and the job is practically done. Add
to this the normal platitudes about a few energy-saving
light bulbs and this is as "good" as it gets. Well, maybe I
exaggerate, there is also a good overview of the science and
the myths - however King is a scientist so this should be a
slam-dunk. Likewise we get a reasonably balanced and
praiseworthy account of Carbon Offsetting.... but.... Now
for the 'bad' - King is pro-nuclear and manages to deliver
this with all the usual pro-nuclear obfuscation that you
come to expect. According to King there are some misguided
people called "environmentalists" who believe that Nuclear
Power is dangerous and leaves lots of radioactive waste. Of
course this straw-man is easily disputable for a scientist.
(Here's a hint David: check out these other people called
"economists" & "accountants" who also tells us that Nuclear
Power is so expensive as to be an utter waste of time.) King
then takes the sunny-side-up approach and talk only about
the fantasy Nuclear Power that is utterly safe and, somehow,
incredibly cheap. Too cheap to meter perhaps? Even worse is
that King goes on to tell us that we'll have more food to
eat in a warmer world. It is left to Walker to tell us that
it may not be that simple. As we are tapped into a global
food market and our weather is about to get very violent
then there is no guarantee that the global food situation is
about to improve at all. (Without a large change in
lifestyle then our meat-dominated diets are completely
unsustainable - but this book doesn't mention any of this.)
Now the "ugly" - well, let me quote "[Governments
should.....] Find a way to tap the rising tide of
consumer desire for action." This is so wrong in so many
ways it is staggering. The archetypal belief that we can
 consume our way out of the crisis by buying a few A+ rated
fridges is beyond belief. We will never make the sort of
cuts in GHG's required if people like this are running
policy. Clearly they don't have a clue how to solve the
problem beyond a bit of carbon trading and unplugging your
mobile phone charger. It is only by page 252 (out of 272)
does the book even mention "local solutions". (To be fair
Chapter 14 is "How You Can Change the World" but it is all
the usual bollocks about carbon footprinting and a drop of
recycling.) However a "local solution" for Walker and King
is something a Town, City, Council or Borough does. There is
no mention of what communities or farmers can do. There is
no permaculture. There is no reduction in consumption. There
is no monetary reform or getting out of debt.... Still...
"The Hot Topic" is not all that bad and a lot of what it
says is perfectly correct. However,
this is 2009 not 1989. The world has moved on but these two
authors are stuck in the past where simplistic solutions
might have saved us. It is too late. The climate has moved
on two decades and now we need drastic community solutions
not another climate summit. Get real and grow up. Read this
book if you want to pretend everything is in hand and the
Government will sort it out for you. However, as all the
evidence shows that the Governments are doing jack shit we
recommend you read the other books we mentioned above.
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