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Title: The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century
Author: James Howard Kunstler
Publisher: Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1843544539
For more information click here
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OK OK, I’ll admit it, possibly not the best choice of reading material for the Christmas period, but thought-provoking nonetheless. Although squarely aimed at a US audience, James Howard Kuntsler’s “The Long Emergency” paints a possible picture of the future, should the plethora of 21st century challenges converge, which is equally relevant to modern Britain. Described as a middle-of-the-road scenario, that is, neither utopian nor apocalyptic, it makes truly disturbing reading.
Focussing primarily on the issues of fossil fuel depletion, the lack of suitable alternative energy sources and the growing impacts of climate change, the author makes a compelling case for the unsustainable nature of modern suburban life and presents a clear call for urgent change. The changes viewed as inevitable include a return to local food and goods production as well as the revitalisation of local communities, with the current situation variously described as “hallucinated” and “running on fumes”.
Now, depending upon your point of view and your agenda, be you “on the make“, “on the take” or just plain stupid, you may not agree with everything that the author predicts, but this book certainly draws all the relevant subjects into one place for consideration. We’ve had the hollywood drama and limitations of “The Day After Tomorrow” and the misrepresentation of Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear“, maybe it is time some brave film studio took up the plot described in this book? After all, drama’s such as “Threads” and “The War Game” did a good job of blowing apart government lies about the impacts of nuclear war in the 70’s and 80’s, why couldn’t the same be done to higlight potential outcomes of today’s challenges?
book reviews
climate change
environment
fossil fuels
gas
hubberts peak
james howard kunstler
oil
This entry was posted
on Sunday, January 1st, 2006 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Book Reviews, Environment.
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|
Title: The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century
Author: James Howard Kunstler
Publisher: Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1843544539
For more information click here
|
OK OK, I’ll admit it, possibly not the best choice of reading material for the Christmas period, but thought-provoking nonetheless. Although squarely aimed at a US audience, James Howard Kuntsler’s “The Long Emergency” paints a possible picture of the future, should the plethora of 21st century challenges converge, which is equally relevant to modern Britain. Described as a middle-of-the-road scenario, that is, neither utopian nor apocalyptic, it makes truly disturbing reading.
Focussing primarily on the issues of fossil fuel depletion, the lack of suitable alternative energy sources and the growing impacts of climate change, the author makes a compelling case for the unsustainable nature of modern suburban life and presents a clear call for urgent change. The changes viewed as inevitable include a return to local food and goods production as well as the revitalisation of local communities, with the current situation variously described as “hallucinated” and “running on fumes”.
Now, depending upon your point of view and your agenda, be you “on the make“, “on the take” or just plain stupid, you may not agree with everything that the author predicts, but this book certainly draws all the relevant subjects into one place for consideration. We’ve had the hollywood drama and limitations of “The Day After Tomorrow” and the misrepresentation of Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear“, maybe it is time some brave film studio took up the plot described in this book? After all, drama’s such as “Threads” and “The War Game” did a good job of blowing apart government lies about the impacts of nuclear war in the 70’s and 80’s, why couldn’t the same be done to higlight potential outcomes of today’s challenges?
book reviews
climate change
environment
fossil fuels
gas
hubberts peak
james howard kunstler
oil
This entry was posted
on Sunday, January 1st, 2006 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Book Reviews, Environment.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, trackback from your own site or EMail This Post.
January 1st, 2006 at 7:25 pm
I agree that Hollywood and the fiction industry in general have done a ppor job of portraying the real world of energy supplies. As a longtime nuclear power worker, I’ve never read or seen anything in fiction (or non-fiction for that matter) that captures how an American nuke plant really works and how an accident would be handled.
So I wrote my own account, a techno-thriller novel called “Rad Decision”. It is available at no cost at http://RadDecision.blogspot.com . It took years to piece this story together in a way that would be fun, readable and informative, but if the comments at my website are any guide, I seem to have done a good job. Take a look, you might enjoy it. (And if you do, please pass the word.)
“I’d like to see Rad Decision widely read.” - Stewart Brand, futurist and founder of The Whole Earth Catalog.