#1259 - David Wallace-Wells

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming is a comprehensive and alarming account of the potential impacts of climate change. The book, inspired by Wallace-Wells' 2017 New York Magazine article of the same name, explores various scenarios of Earth's future under different temperature increases. It discusses a wide range of climate-related disasters, including rising sea levels, extreme weather events, extinctions, disease outbreaks, fires, droughts, famines, and increased geopolitical conflict. While the book focuses on the dire consequences rather than solutions, it acknowledges that measures such as a carbon tax, changes in agricultural practices, and investments in green energy and carbon capture could mitigate some of the worst effects. The book is praised for its urgent and detailed portrayal of climate change but has also been criticized for its alarmist tone and lack of concrete solutions.

Published in 1968, 'The Population Bomb' by Paul and Anne Ehrlich predicts catastrophic consequences, including mass starvation and environmental ruin, due to unchecked population growth. The book argues that immediate action is necessary to control population growth to prevent these dire outcomes. Although many of the Ehrlichs' predictions did not come to pass, the book significantly raised awareness about population and environmental issues and influenced public policy in the 1960s and 1970s. The authors emphasize the need for conscious regulation of human numbers and highlight the strain that growing populations place on the natural world.