Created by Greta Thunberg and published by Allen Lane /Penguin Books in November 2022.
Greta Thunberg was born in 2003 in Sweden. In 2018 she started a school strike for the climate outside the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm. Since then she has traveled to many places in the world and spoken at many gatherings. She is a person that cares about the planet Earth.
The book is divided into five parts. Greta Thunberg writes an introduction to each part and some comments in between. All her articles are written on blue paper which is to symbolize the blue planet that we live on. In addition there are many experts in various fields to write articles about the science involved in this problem. There is a lot of information in this book which has 446 pages. The main purpose, in my opinion, is to get the reader to think about their own lifestyle, to acquire some knowledge of the problems and perhaps make changes in their own life.
In this first blog I am going to give an overview of what the book covers. In later blogs I will be going into some of the issues that are taken up in this book.
I recommend reading this book, though it can be a bit heavy reading. I am reading it in very small doses and so it is taking several months to get through it. Perhaps it is best this way as then I have time to reflect on the different topics as they are taken up.
Part One How Climate Works
The science of how our climate works is explained in this part. The fact that our climate is changing, and that our weather is getting more extreme, is not debatable. But do you understand how it all fits together? This part of the book is to help the reader get a basic understanding of the science behind it all.
Greta Thunberg has written three articles for this part:
- To solve this problem, we need to understand it
- The science is as solid as it gets
- This is the biggest story in the world
In addition there are six articles:
- The Deep History of Carbon Dioxide by Peter Brannen
- Our Evolutionary Impact by Beth Shapiro
- Civilization and Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
- The Discovery of Climate Change by Michael Oppenheimer
- Why Didn’t They Act? by Naomi Oreskes
- Tipping Points and Feedback Loops by Johan Rockström
Part Two How our Planet is Changing
The science behind the changing climate has been known for a long time. I live in a place where most people think that it is fine if the weather was a bit warmer. But warming is not the problem everywhere. More extreme weather which causes storms and floods, rising sea levels and air pollution are all part of the problem. I found these articles interesting as they explain problems that other parts of the world are experiencing.
Greta Thunberg has written three articles for this part:
- The weather seems to be on steroids
- The snowball has been set in motion
- It is much closer to home than we think
There are 21 articles in this part, most of them are quite short, about two pages, though some are longer. These are experts in their fields giving information on what is actually happening.
- Heat, by Katharine Hayhoe
- Methane and Other Gases by Zeke Hausfather
- Air Pollution and Aerosols by Bjørn H. Samset
- Clouds by Paulo Coppi
- Arctic Warming and the Jet Stream by Jennifer Francis
- Dangerous Weather by Friederike Otto
- Drought and Floods by Kare Marvel
- Ice Sheets, Shelves and Glaciers by Ricarda Winkelmann
- Warming Oceans and Rising Seas by Stefan Rahmstorf
- Acidification and Marine Ecosystems by Hans-Otto Pörtner
- Microplastics by Karin Kvale
- Fresh Water by Peter H. Gleick
- Wildfires by Joëlle Gergis
- The Amazon by Carlos Nobre, Julia Arieira and Nathália Nascimento
- Boreal and Temperate Forests by Beverly Law
- Terrestrial Biodiversity by Andy Purvis and Adriana De Palma
- Insects by Dave Goulson
- Nature’s Calendar by Keith W. LArson
- Soil by Jennifer L. Soong
- Permafrost by Ôrjan Gustafsson
- What Happens at 1.5, 2 and 4 degrees C of Warming? by Tamsin Edwards
Part Three How It Affects Us
When the climate changes, it can affect our water and food supplies. It can affect our health. We are not all equally affected but usually the poor are hit hardest. This part helped me better understand how others are being affected, those who live in other parts of the world.
The three articles by Greta Thunberg are:
- The world has a fever
- We are not all in the same boat
- Enormous challenges are waiting
In addition there are 17 articles:
- Health and Climate by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
- Heat and Illness by Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera
- Air Pollution by Drew Shindell
- Vector-borne Diseases by Felipe J. Colón-González
- Antibiotic Resistance by John Brownstein, Derek MacFadden, Sarah McGough and Maruicio Sentilland
- Food and Nutrition by Samuel S. Myers
- Life at 1.1 degrees C
- Environmental Racism by Jacqueline Patterson
- Climate Refugees by Abrahm Lustfarten
- Sea-level Rise and Small Islands by Michael Taylor
- Rain in the Sahel by Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim
- Winter in Sápmi by Elin Anna Labba
- Fighting for the Forest by Sonia Guajajara
- Warming and Inequality by Solomon Hsiang
- Water Shortages by Taikan Oki
- Climate Conflicts by Marshall Burke
- The True Cost of Climate Change by Eugene Linden
Part Four What We’ve Done About It
It has been quite depressing reading about what has actually been done, as it is so little. Emissions are increasing. Governments and businesses are avoiding the changes that are necessary. Some of these articles are about some of the fancy ideas that are being tried, but aren’t necessarily working.
The five articles by Greta Thunberg are:
- How can we undo our failures if we are unable to admit that we have failed?
- We are not moving in the right direction
- A whole new way of thinking
- They keep saying one thing while doing another
- This is where we draw the line
In addition there are 22 articles:
- The New Denialism by Kevin Anderson
- The Truth about Government Climate Targets by Alexandra Urisman Otto
- The Persistence of Fossil Fuels by Bill McKibben
- The Rise of Renewables by Glen Peters
- How Can Forests Help Us? by Karl-Heinz Erb and Simone Gingrich
- What about Geoengineering? by Niclas Hällström, Jennie C. Stephens and Isak Stoddard
- Drawdown Technologies by Rob Jackson
- Our Imprint on the Land by Alexander Popp
- The Calorie Question by Michael Clark
- Designing New Food Systems by Sonja Vermeulen
- Mapping Emission in an Industrial World by John Barrett and Alice Garvey
- The Technical Hitch by Ketan Joshi
- The Challenge of Transport by Alice Larkin
- Is the Future Electric? by Jillian Anable and Christian Brand
- The Cost of Consumerism by Annie Lowrey
- How (Not) to Buy by Mike Berners-Lee
- Waste around the World by Silpa Kaza
- The Myth of Recycling by Nina Schrank
- Emissions and Growth by Nicholas Stern
- Equity by Sunita Narain
- Degrowth by Jason Hickel
- The Perception Gap by Amitav Ghosh
Part Five What We Must Do Now
If we are to prevent the earth becoming severely affected, we have to do an awful lot more than is being done. There are still too many people in places of power who are not doing what it takes to prevent global warming on a significant scale.
There are four articles by Greta Thunberg:
- The most effective way to get out of this mess is to educate ourselves
- We now have to do the seemingly impossible
- Honesty, solidarity, integrity and climate justice
- Hope is something you have to earn
In addition there are 17 articles:
- Individual Action, Social Transformation by Stuart Capstick and Lorraine Whitmarsh
- Towards 1.5 Degrees C Lifestyles by Kate Raworth
- Overcoming Climate Apathy by Per Espen Stoknes
- Changing Our Diets by Godon Eshel
- Remembering the Ocean by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
- Rewilding by George Monbiot and Rebecca Wrigley
- Practical Utopias by Margaret Atwood
- People Power by Erica Chenoweth
- Changing the Media Narrative by George Monbiot
- Resisting the New Denialism by Michael E. Mann
- A Genuine Emergency Response by Seth Klein
- Lessons from the Pandemic by David Wallace-Wells
- A Just Transition by Naomi Klein
- What Does Equity Mean to You by Nicki Becker, Disha A. Ravi, Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, Laura Verónica Muñoz, Ina Maria Shikongo, Ayisha Siddiqa and Mitzi Jonelle Tan
- Women and the Climate Crisis by Wanjora Mathai
- Decarbonization Requires Redistribution by Lucas Chancel and Thomas Piketty
- Climate Reparations by Olúféemi O. Tálwò
- Mending Our Relationship with the Earth by Robin Wall Kimmerer
I have a paper copy of the book which uses 446 pages to share these articles, some pictures and graphs and an index. There is a web site for looking up where the references come from.
At the moment I am reading Part Four and will share my reactions and more detailed comments about each part of the book in future blogs. I am enjoying the book and it is making me think about the conditions in the world. We are all very quick to criticize what others do, but I want to work out what I can do in my life. I cannot change other people, but I can change the way I live and what I do.
I hope you will also read this book and work out ways that you too can be part of the solution and not just part of the problem.