Unfortunately it's difficult not to come away with a sense of futility after listening to Field Notes. The hope must be that this book and other sources of knowledge about the issue will eventually provoke the public to spur governments into action. But there is no simple solution to reducing the levels of greenhouse gases, even if the political will existed. She profiles the town of Burlington, Vermont, which enacted several successful strategies but has still seen its levels of carbon dioxide emissions rise - though more slowly than they otherwise would have. She presents information by various scientists about the complex, multiple ways the problem must be addressed. She demonstrates that without the United States' and China's cooperation, the rest of the world has little hope of making much of a dent.
Still, Kobler brings the voice of science to a broader audience, who at least can be armed with facts against some of the political spin surrounding the issue, and at best can be motivated to act.
Field Notes From a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change is available unabridged on five compact discs, including one enhanced CD with supplementary illustrations in an 8MB PDF, or as an eAudio download from Simon and Schuster's audiobook website, SimonSays, where you can also hear a clip and listen to a podcast about the book.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
And interesting figures on the peer-reviewed journals!