Name: The Burning Question
Rating: 3.8 (29 reviews)
Author: Mike Berners-Lee and Duncan Clark

What’s in it for me? Learn about the catastrophic consequences of climate change – and how you can help prevent it.

Everyone has already heard about climate change, but not everyone believes in it. Many people are still unconvinced by the evidence, which they consider imprecise and uncertain. Although no reputable scientist claims to know the exact impact of our emissions on the climate, they do consider – without exception – that climate change is a fact that will influence our lives and the lives of all future generations.

This book confronts readers with the latest scientific facts of climate change that will alter your opinion on the issue forever. The authors explain the social, economic and psychological factors that keep us from tackling the problem head on and expose those who don’t want us to see the problem in front of our very eyes.

In these blinks, you’ll learn about the disastrous consequences that an increase of a mere 2 degrees may have – and why it seems very likely that we’ll exceed this number.

You’ll also discover why most governmental pledges and local carbon footprint reductions have proven ineffective so far – and why a global approach is needed to tackle the problem head on.

Finally, you’ll find out what we, as a society and as individuals, have to do to create a sustainable future for everyone.

Climatic change is not a scientific theory anymore – it’s a fact.

To this day, many people still believe that global warming is a theory that has yet to be proven. Fact is, the climate of our planet is changing. And it’s happening a lot faster than we anticipated.

In the last couple of years, the whole world has reported a rapid change in weather.

Moreover, in June 2012, Saudi Arabia reported that, despite a temperature of 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit), it had actually rained in Mecca, making it the hottest rainfall in the history of the planet! And the list goes on: at the end of that year, England had announced that it’d had the wettest year on record, and Australia suffered from such a severe heat wave that it had to add two new colors to its temperature maps.

These reports aren’t coming from scattered sources: every single reputable scientific institution in the world agrees that our planet is getting warmer, and that greenhouse gases emitted by human activity are almost certainly the main cause.

In fact, we’ve known since the nineteenth century that additional greenhouse gases in the air, such as carbon dioxide and methane, will warm the planet. And over the last century, we’ve been releasing those gases into the atmosphere, where they’ve been continuously accumulating. One study performed at Lancaster University even showed that our man-made carbon dioxide emissions are exponentially rising.

Even a small temperature increase could lead to disastrous global effects.

In 2009, world leaders finally agreed to try limiting global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) – a figure considered reasonably safe at the time. But recent events have shown that it simply isn’t enough.

Why not?

Judging from today’s developments, the 2-degree target is too tough to achieve.

We’ve all heard that the natural reserves of fossil fuels are running low, but actually, there’s too much oil rather than too little – at least when we’re talking about climate change.

Why?

Government pledges, greener behavior and energy efficiency alone can’t stop the imminent climate catastrophe.

Most people believe that climate conferences and the new wave of green technologies will lead the way to a sustainable future.

Unfortunately, this may just be wishful thinking.

The complexity of the climate problem and lobbyist schemes prevent us from taking action.

Have you ever asked yourself why most people don’t undertake drastic actions when the threat of climate change is so imminent?

One reason is that, due to climate change’s complexity, most people are struck by disbelief and confusion.

Saving the climate might mean a setback in economic growth – which might not be as bad as it sounds.

As we’ve seen, government pledges and green technology alone are not enough to solve the problem of climate change. It looks like the only way forward is to implement global constraints on carbon emissions – even though this would massively devalue existing fossil fuel supplies and infrastructures.

And drastic measures must be taken. In a 2011 study, researchers found that if we want a fair chance of staying within the 2-degree target, we need to annually reduce emissions by 5 to 6 percent starting in 2016 – a massive reduction.

To tackle the climate issue head on, we have to minimize the oil industry’s influence on politics and public opinion.

So what can be done to counter the political influence of the fossil fuel industry?

One way is to stop spending on fossil fuel reserves and infrastructure, and divest – the opposite of invest – out of the oil industry.

To battle climate change, we have to simultaneously constrain global carbon emissions and invest in green technology.

So what can be done considering that voluntary pledges to reduce carbon emissions have proven ineffective?

Answer: countries have to be forced to respect the planet.

Politicians aren’t the only ones who can have an impact on climate change – we all can.

As mentioned before, one of the key factors for creating change is raising a global awareness of the issue. And, like every revolution, it starts with the individuals of a society – which means we all have to take part.

How?

The Burning Question summary