The Weather Makers: How We Are Changing the Planet and What it Means for Life on Earth
Written by Tim Flannery
Narrated by Drew De Carvalho
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Tim Flannery
Tim Flannery is a scientist, explorer, conservationist, and author of several works of nonfiction, including The Future Eaters and international bestseller The Weather Makers. A regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and The Times Literary Supplement, he also contributes to ABC Radio, NPR, and the BBC. He is the former director of the South Australian Museum and is currently a professor at Sydney’s Macquarie University.
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Reviews for The Weather Makers
11 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you read only one book about climate change let it be this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flannery succeeds in explaining the science behind climate change and humanity's recent effect in an understandable manner. He traces the history of climate change on civilisations and ecologies, how scientists model the future and what it could mean, delves into the reasons why we, our governments and corporations have not responded yet and suggests future solutions. Flannery is in no doubt that we are tweaking the earth's climatic systems to such a degree that we are close to a tipping point, and that an inevitable momentum is already built into the them. The call to action is unmistakable and urgent. I live in one - and close to another - biodiversity hotspot that are both queued for extinction, namely the fynbos and succulent Karoo biomes - unless the vegetation can migrate..... The implication is clear - I may yet witness their passing.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I ended up getting so worked up about The Weather Makers that I ran around telling co-workers, fellow commuters and complete strangers that we are bad bad people who are killing the planet with CO2 emissions. I ended up going to websites to do check out the latest research and looked up ways that I could make my house more environmentally friendly. This was a clearly written and easy to read (although alarming) book and I wish that everyone would read it and become advocates for the environment not to mention agents of change.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Accessible synopsis on climate change research and our dwindling options for maintaining a temperate planet. Boy is this book depressing. Hey, good news — if we act now (7 years ago), we might be able to save nine-tenths of all living species!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fossil fuels - oil, coal, and gas - are all that remains of organisms that, many millions of years ago, drew carbon from the atmosphere. When we burn wood, we release carbon that has been out of atmospheric circulation for a few decades, but when we burn fossil fuels, we release carbon that has been out of circulation for eons. Digging up the dead in this way is a particularly bad thing for the living to do. A comprehensive and easily accessible book covering climate change and all it's complexities. I had no idea how complex climate change is -- water temperatures, plankton blooms, changes in migratory patterns, the Gulf Stream and el Niño. I'm shocked by the number of peoples in the Arctic and on Pacific Island atolls that are about to lose their nations as conditions worsen and the land (actually ice or coral reefs) and food sources disappear. Sadly I am not surprised to learn of the bullying by Australia and the US of their neighbors and other nations. I was shocked though, that an Australian politician publicly stated that it would be easier to evacuate all the Pacific Island atolls than it would be to require that Australia decrease carbon emissions. Flannery also covers potential solutions that might lower the carbon in the atmosphere -- wind power, solar power, current and tidal power, utilization of different fuels for cars and cargo ships, legal action against corporations and governments that don't comply with set carbon emission levels and, unfortunately, increased use of nuclear power. This is the third book I've read by Flannery. Like the others this book is easy to read, yet without the feeling that it was dumbed down for a general audience. It's one of those books that I want to push on everyone and tell them to read it, right now. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything you want to know on the global warming issue.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A discussion on global warming that covers an assortment of aspects, and presents an absolutely convincing argument that global warming is both real and far along. Topics covered included the earth’s climate history, the mechanisms of global warming, the effects present and future, Kyoto and other efforts to halt human harm of the atmosphere, and what Flannery sees as the solution. As a summary, the human-friendly earth is desperate for us to act now on global warning, not next year. And there are answers. One observation he makes really struck me: historically all cost estimates to reduce industrial pollution are largely overstated, often by more then twice the real cost. Whereas all cost estimates to clean up after pollution are enormously understated, often by an order of magnitude.Flannery is not an alarmist. He writes in an accessible manner, does a good job of putting various facts together to make his point. There is a lot to be learned here, and you don’t need to be a scientist to follow along and understand.Climate HistoryThe most interesting sections for me were on the mechanism causing global warming and the earth’s climate history. The later underlining the former. How interesting that Homo sapiens have existed for 150,000 years, and yet almost all technological advancement occurred within the last 10,000 years? What happened during those 1st 140,000 years? Flannery argues that climate happened. The ice ages and other naturally phenomena hindered humanity, driving it to the brink of extinction at least once. Then, over the last 10,000 years we’ve had one long summer of stable climate. Global Warming MechanismsAs for the mechanism, Flannery begins by giving a nice clear explanation. He tries to cover the latest research through 2005, and includes many critical findings that only date to within a couple years before the book was published. Global warming has been discussed for a long time, but we are still trying to understand the mechanisms. And some of the most critical and convincing research is very recent. The problem is that the climate is very complex, with many features offsetting others. Sometimes a feature that would seem the drive the climate one way actually is critical to driving it the other. The key features are the positive feedbacks. This is where warming triggers an event which then causes more warming. For example warming melts ice caps. The ice, which reflects large amounts of the suns energy, is them replaced by sea water or something else that reflects a great deal less of it. Unfortunately it seemed to me that this explanation stopped a little too early, leaving some unanswered questions. At least I was still confused and ready for more clarification. Alas it didn’t come. The Effects Present and FutureI want to say that these sections were horrifying. But there are so many examples that my eyes glaze over after awhile. I get the point, global warming is doing bad things, species are going extinct as a tremendous rate, places like Australia are losing critical rainfall. Yes, OK…no no no, please not another example. But, what is fascinating here are the two climate windows we’ve passed through recently that are well documented: 1976 & 1998. Global climates shifted dramatically these two years, and did not return. Some threshold was passed beginning positive feedback loops towards a warmer climate. This should be enough to get our attention that climate is changing for the warmer and will continue to do so if we don’t reduce emissions. Kyoto and Other Efforts to Halt Human Harm of the AtmosphereIt’s a sad reality that industry is successfully confusing the picture, and undermining popular understanding of globally warming. I don’t recall any stunning details here, Flannery just points out the obvious as he tries to explain why the United States and Australia haven’t ratified Kyoto – an underwhelming and partial answer to global warming. To quote: “It is of paramount importance to understand that the Kyoto Protocol is the only international treaty in existence created to combat climate change. For those who urge abandonment or who criticize Kyoto, there are two questions: What do you propose to replace Kyoto with, and how do you propose to secure international agreement for your alternatives? ”The SolutionSign Kyoto. Begin taxing carbon emission and investing in all alternatives to coal and oil. As we invest, the costs of alternatives will come down. There are several, including wind, solar and nuclear energy, and all need to be used at some level. And once emissions are taxed, better ways will be found to replace coal and oil. Flannery seems most interested in the solution and the actions we can take. His makes a good point that there is a lot we can do now - and the costs of doing them probably aren't all that high. Acting now would make a huge difference.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Inconvenient truth in expanded detail is an apt description for this book. The book format can include a lot more information than a movie so if you want to know more about global warming than what is in Al Gore's movie, this is a good place to start. The author is from Australia so that country gets more coverage than one would otherwise expect. Nevertheless, the subject of global warming is well covered. The book was first published in 2001 and updated in 2006 so it may becoming a bit date...more Inconvenient truth in expanded detail is an apt description for this book. The book format can include a lot more information than a movie so if you want to know more about global warming than what is in Al Gore's movie, this is a good place to start. The author is from Australia so that country gets more coverage than one would otherwise expect. Nevertheless, the subject of global warming is well covered. The book was first published in 2001 and updated in 2006 so it may becoming a bit dated in a quickly expanding subject area. Read in April, 2008
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flannery makes a very convincing case for global warming and looming climate change. The book is well written with a lot of science explained behind the terms we came to use every day and the politics that governs how we go about our environment. The scienceis very well explained and detailed; just detailed enough and not too detailed to bog one down.