Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning

This is a book for people who need practical solutions and aren't afraid to look reality in the face and make hard decisions. It was really an eye-opener. I didn't always agree with Monbiot in every detail, but he certainly inspired me to think about how we can effectively tackle global warming. After reading Heat, I understand much better the challenges which we face and what must be done on a day to day level. Some of his policy prescriptions are grim, such as largely eliminating the use of airplanes, but Monbiot has inspired me to hope again. What he proposes is entirely possible and practical and he focused my attention on what we really should be doing rather than the silliness of what we are currently doing. After you read Heat, you will find most politicians and the solutions they proffer to be utterly idiotic and useless. Nonetheless, you will also become convinced that people in the developed world can cut their emissions by 90% and life might even be better if we do. I look forward to living in the world that Monbiot envisions and hope that we can achieve it as a species. I am not an expert so it is hard for me to analyze whether Monbiot is right in every field where he proffers solutions, but I am convinced that Monbiot is pointing to dozens of possible solutions which we should be actively discussing and planning. Every year that passes I get more pessimistic that the human race will act, but at least I now have a road map of where we should be heading, whereas before reading Monbiot, I just had a nebulous sense of insoluble doom. He gives me hope and points me in the right direction for where to focus my energies. I just wish that more people would read the book and start having practical discussions about carbon rationing systems, passive houses, conversion of Portland cement factories, HVDC electricity, and all the other topics covered in the book.

Monbiot accepts the reality of global warming and looks closely at the measures at hand we can use to prevent the worst possibilities. I am impressed with the thoroughness with which he has researched the problems for our homes, our power and transport systems and the possible solutions. He is optimistic if we make maximal effort soon but somewhat pessimistic about the political will to do so. He is convinced that we will largely have to do with technology that already exists, although often not yet developed, rather than hoping for major scientific breakthroughs because of the typically long delay in implementing new energy technology. I would urge you to read this book if you want to understand the trade offs that will be required to meet the global warming threat. Since writing this review I have come across another very important book on energy policy -A Question of Balance: Weighing the Options on Global Warming Policies by the Yale economist, William Nordhaus. This book looks at the trade-offs of various approaches to ameliorating global warming using computer modeling to forecast the cost and results. A gradually increasing carbon tax, maximal participation by all nations and industries and support for alternative energy research come out best. The Gore approach (which is similar to Monbiot's) of stringent carbon restriction from the start ends up costing much more to reach the same results which surprised me.

I have yet to find a more illuminating write up on the subject of Global Warming. Monbiot is convincing and challenging at the same time; this book flat out asks the reader to either pay attention or go out and find a better examination on the issue. Precise and without fanfare, Monbiot brings a most burning problem close to every home and incites discussion and interest. Buy one for yourself and three to give to the most important persons in your life.

I found this an excellent, comprehensive, up-to-date review of the risks of global warming and technology options to prevent it. I confess to thinking this was a controversial topic before picking up this book. Monbiot wastes no time in forcefully demonstrating that the only controversy about this issue is how best to combat it. He makes the case that that any perceived controversy over the seriousness of global warming is due to deliberate misinformation by oil lobbies. There is even a surprising link to the tobacco industry in its common desire to thwart governmental regulation of pollution. The bulk of the book pursues his self-appointed task of formulating a way to reduce our carbon emissions by 90%. This agenda provides structure to the book, as he reviews selected areas of energy consumption, but at times the writing seems forced. Without any apparent irony, he suggests covering half the world's desert areas with solar panels (no mention of ecologic effects here), and adorning our homes with fuel cells, wind turbines AND solar panels in the desperate pursuit of "practical" means to meet his goal. Nevertheless, he does a good job of comprehensively exploring available carbon-sparing technologies, with fastidious referencing. My only quibble is his admitted tendency to "sit on (his) backside and tell other people what to do" in terms of energy resource management and regulation. The approach taken in the sections on land travel and retail stores was more engaging: giving examples of how present-day changes in consumer behavior and public policy can make a difference. As individuals, we can only choose how we spend and vote. For concisely informing these choices, Heat rates five stars.

With many politicians and scientists asserting that the Kyoto Protocol emissions levels cannot be met, should we abandon it for an "alternative solution". George Monbiot says that's the wrong question. The proper query is: "Have we really tried?" Monbiot thinks not and lists numerous cases of inattention, indifference and downright dishonesty in why our society continues to pour greenhouse gases into the air we breathe. However, unlike so many viewing our climate situation with alarm, Monbiot is neither a "calamity howler" nor a hand-wringing commentator waiting for somebody else to set a good example. Instead, this book is a catalogue of solutions to the problem. None of the correctives proposed here are beyond us, either as individuals or nations. Monbiot, with admirable clarity and understanding of how to accomplish them, lines out easily implemented steps we can take and/or propose to our neighbours. After introductory comments on various "alternate" energy options, Monbiot discusses how we reached the energy consumption levels we enjoy. He deems our situation a "Faustian Pact" and heads each chapter with a quote from Christopher Marlowe's play "Doctor Faustus". Like Faust, we have made a deal, but it's with Nature, not with a devil. For Monbiot, Mephistopheles is fossil fuel and our use of it has advanced. The time for settling up on the bargain is now. After a massive research effort, Monbiot is able to describe the problem in graphic detail and targets the means of continuing our existence. He quickly dismisses the "envirosceptics" as people who are as out of touch as those who believe in magic. There are some imposing numbers involved. The UK uses 400 terawatt hours per year. A terawatt is a one with twelve zeros trailing after it. Why, for a society of that size, is the number so big? The author examines closely and clearly the circumstances he lives in and how those are threatening the future. Housing and other buildings must be built or retrofitted to exacting standards. Most importantly, those standards must be enforced. Roads that expand capacity which is quickly filled is exactly the wrong policy. The same is true for airports, which encourage more carbon dioxide-producing flights. His chapter on transportation is even more arresting than the one on housing and buildings. He's particularly scathing on the Bush administration's encouragement of "biofuels" to replace petrol. The lands taken up to produce ethanol will reduce even existing croplands and could instead be turned over to reforestation projects. The types of crops that would provide petrol replacement are hugely thirsty, adding to the depletion of an already overtaxed water supply. Air travel is a conundrum even this perceptive observer cannot resolve. Transatlantic flights, the transport of "exotic" foods to our mega-grocers to entice our palates, and the long-distance vacations generate an astonishing amount of pollutants. How many "business" flights can be replaced by