Customer Reviews

Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and Activists Have Fueled a Climate Crisis -- And What We Can Do to Avert Disaster

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When Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, she was widely attacked for advocating the elimination of DDT. But Carson had done her homework well. Her book was meticulously documented and it withstood the inevitable assaults from those who believed that behind her opposition to DDT lay some sort of covert left-wing agenda.

I predict that Ross Gelbspan too will survive such assaults. Like Carson, he is a journalist who writes with passion but also with full documentation.

Even today, there are scientists who deny that DDT poses environmental problems. The same will likely be true of global warming: there will always be deniers. But reviewers like "Chaxford" mischaracterize the nature of the debate within the scientific community. For example, the Harvard-Smithsonian study, which he cites as an example of mainstream science undermining the human-driven global warming hypothesis, does nothing of the sort. That study merely documents that non-human global warming has occurred before -- hardly a surprising fact! (...)Or Google on the title: "Reconstructing Climatic and Environmental Changes of the Past 1000 Years: A Reappraisal."

Those interested in the true nature of the debate should also read another source mentioned by "Claxford," NASA's James Hansen (note: not Hanson), rather than accepting at face value Claxford's characterization of Hansen. Hansen does suggest a somewhat different approach than Gelbspan -- and yes, he has been criticized by "political types." But Hansen is hardly in the camp of the deniers. (...)
Or Google on the title of the article: "Can We Defuse the Global Warming Time Bomb?"

The closing paragraph of Hansen's article actually provides as good a defense of Ross Gelbspan's work (and refutation of critics like "Claxford") as any. Hansen writes: "The bottom line. How can I be optimistic if, as I have argued, climate is now in the hands of humans and it is closer to the level of "dangerous anthropogenic interference" than has been realized? If we compare the situation today to that 10-15 years ago, we realize that the main elements required to halt climate change, as summarized above, have come into being with remarkable rapidity. I realize that it will not be easy to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, but I am optimistic because I expect empirical evidence for climate change and its impacts to continue to accumulate, and that this will influence the public, public interest groups, industry,and governments at various levels. The question is: will we act soon enough. It is a matter of time."

You may have noticed climate changes in your cubby hole area. They should have warned you through 'normal channels' but they seemed to have all been wiped out. They used to say the crisis of the environment was only a matter of time, now the time has come and this book should be essential reading for anyone glued to standard sources of (dis)information. You know the time has come when Bush starts hemming and hawing on this issue. It's not a prearranged signal, but it's alarmingly indicative. In another decade they may change their story. Meanwhile, all the important measures are starting to spike and major lifestyle changes are on the table.
Very important reading.

The world has known about global warming for years, but it's time to wake up and do something about it. This well-written, revealing book should add much to the effort. We cannot afford the rabid political diatribe of global warming naysayers that don't have any facts to stand on. There are no more legitimate papers refuting global warming then there are good papers in support of Creationism. The world must awaken.

One can turn to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the scientific facts on climate change. This fine book will, on the other hand, bring you a clear discussion of the paid political hacks who attempt to confuse the public on what may be the most critical issue facing the world's people. Gelbspan, a leading investigative reporter, shows how badly science can be distorted by the agents of big oil and big coal -- and what might be done about it.

"Boiling Point" is well-worth reading. It will help you understand how the American oil and coal industries have consistently tried (and succeeded) to pull the wool over the eyes of Americans. Unlike the reviewers who lamely attack the book, open-minded readers will comprehend and appreciate the author's salient points, none of which are addressed by his attackers:

1. Why would the American oil and coal industries overwhelmingly finance the minority of climatologists who hold the "contrarian" view that mankind's contribution to global warming is negligible? If they are truly concerned about the objectivity of their science, why don't they equally finance those climatologists who represent the majority view? Why aren't Americans taking the oil and coal industries to task for their socially irresponsible lack of objectivity.

2. Yes, read the scientific literature, as "Boiling Point"s handful of critics say. That is exactly what the author recommends! Reasonable people will probably reach the same conclusion that the author has: If the majority of climatologists believe that manmade emissions are contributing significantly to global warming, then why would America's political leaders bury their collective heads in the sand and pray that the contrarians are right and the majority wrong? Wouldn't prudence suggest that we should play it safe and do what we can to reduce potentially harmful manmade emissions?

There are thirty pages of notes at the end of the book for anyone interested in the scientific literature that underpins the author's points. Don't fall into the mindless, do-nothing trap of the nay-sayers, and use as an excuse "Well, there is always scientific controversy, and the majority is not always right." That is the refuge of buffoons. We cannot afford to gamble that perhaps the minority view is correct.

With BOILING POINT Ross Gelbspan has written a book which will be sure to intrigue those of us who, like I, only heard about this danger by watching the recent Hollywood blockbuster, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Shameful, I guess, but what can you do? In the movie, Ian Holm mans a Scottish weather station in the days after warming reaches boiling point and results, paradoxically, in a new Ice Age approximately 2.5 times worse than the original one that formed the icebergs and firmed up the glaciers. What Gelbspan does is to show us that this very catastrophe is not far off, indeed he says that it (or something akin to this scenario) is almost 100% likely to happen, and much sooner than we think, due to the way the oil and coal industries are forcing the government to legislate unfair laws. The government of Bush, he states flatly, is in the pocket of these multinational corporations.

Other countries have fought back against global warming and the depredations of the oil companies. But not America. This book asks one question: why not? It's a long book, filled with dense explanation, but despite everything it must be read for the sake of our children and of all life on this fragile planet.

Take a good look around you. The signs are numerous and unmistakable. The Arctic glaciers are melting at an alarming rate. Entire island nations in the South Pacific are being permanently evacuated and tropical diseases are spreading as birds and insects migrate farther and farther north. Hardly a week goes by without another bizaare weather event dominating the headlines. It is against this backdrop that Ross Gelbspan brings us "Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and Activists Have Fueled a Climate Crisis--And What We Can Do to Avert Disaster". This is the author's clarion call for the peoples of the world to take their heads out of the sand, set aside their differences and work together to solve a problem that threatens the world as we know it.

According to Gelbspan, an overwhelming majority of scientists around the world agree that the world must reduce carbon emissions by some 70%! And we have less than two decades to get the job done. Obviously, there are major obstacles everywhere, not the least of which is the Bush administration who is clearly in the hip pocket of the oil and coal industry. In fact, less than two months after his inauguration, the President broke a campaign promise and stated that he would no longer seek to regulate power plant emissions. And throughout the remainder of his first term the President fought any kind of regulation on the energy industry tooth and nail. The author quotes longtime Bush supporter Robert Luft, President of Entergy Corp who flatly states "Still, I cannot express my frustration with his performance in this area...Make no mistake. If today's leaders of government and business don't start understanding the need to take emissions reductions seriously, we will leave a grim, grim legacy for a children and our grandchildren."

After reviewing what divides us, Ross Gelbspan proposes a challenging three point plan that would help to bring about the dramatic changes that are needed to help avoid an environmental calamity. And while I will not enumerate his proposal here it is safe to say that all of us as individuals and all of the nations of the world must put aside our many and deep differences and work for the common good. The author is cautiously optimistic that given the right set of circumstances that this could actually happen. Let's hope and pray that it can. As another reviewer so aptly put it, "Boiling Point" is a must read for the responsible citizen. Highly recommended.

The beauty of this amazing book is that it cogently addresses one of the world's most awesome issues and forcefully demonstrates why it must be dealt with immediately. Gelbspan even presents a plausible plan to deal with global climate change. Formulated in 1998 at Harvard, The World Energy Modernization Plan details a systematic process for making the required 70% cuts in oil and coal usage in order to stem the permanency of global warming. It involves jettisoning the Kyoto provisions in favor of the more stringent Fossil Fuel Efficiency Standard, while shifting the fossil fuel industry's billions of dollars in subsidies to programs that develop clean energy.

Those laughingstocks of the scientific community, the "greenhouse skeptics" (the folks the rightwing propaganda machine loves to quote and bounce around their GOP echo chamber ad nauseum), are touched on by Gelbspan and shown to be nothing more than clever shills for one of the most powerful and richest industries on earth.

The fossil fuel lobby keeps the "skeptics" in their back pockets always ready to shuffle out on cue to confuse the public with their disinformation campaign aimed at proving the global warming phenomenon's a hoax. Their mercurial goal being to inculcate in the public consciousness the notion global climate change is only "theory" rather than what it truly is: a well proven scientific fact.

The fossil fuel industry espouses their nonsense even though the fact of human induced global warming has been firmly substantiated in the most rigorously peer-reviewed scientific study in history. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, NOAA and National Academy of Science all concur that if CO2 emissions are not drastically cut, environmental harm may result. Gelbspan further points out that "Science" magazine is advocating, with Manhattan Project urgency, the development of wind, solar and hydrogen fuel.

Boiling Point is at its best when broaching the mainstream media (of course corporate owned) role in perpetuating public ignorance. The concept of journalistic balance leads to warped and biased coverage of global climate change. Providing "skeptics" equal time with the scientific community is akin to granting equal time to crackpots who believe 2+2=3. Gelbspan astutely notes that when questions of fact are at issue journalistic balance is absurd.

At a time when George Bush (the dry drunk, Jesus freak, draft dodging, warmongering, dithering dolt president of the United States) stakes out a position on global warming that alienates and flies in the face of the international community and the scientific method; Gelbspan has delivered a terrifying yet essential work that's a direct call to arms for anyone who values environmental protection ahead of the profit margins of ExxonMobil, the Peabody Group and BP Amoco.

Gelbspan has done an excellent job of examining a wide range of aspects of global warming - the science, politics, potential soulutions, etc - and brought them together in this one single volume. I noticed a couple of reviewers had faulted him for misstating the work of Hansen. I assume they mean Dr. James Hansen who heads the Goddard Institute of Space Studies. I have read in detail Dr. Hansen's Scientific American article and then his more detailed download. I find that Gelbspan has accurately represented his work. There may be some details that I missed but the essence is accurate. The planet is warming up due to our influence and it is more than likely that the consequences will be disruptive and sometimes deadly to the population of the earth.

Boiling point is non stop fact after fact account concerning both the poitics of the environment and the natural effects of Global warming. It spells out in lucid detail what is now occuring and what is yet to come due to the absolute neglect by the population as a whole and especially the American nation of the earth that we inhabit. A glaring light is shed upon the US government Republican and Democratic alike who have absolutely refused to enact any policies to reduce global warming causing emissions. It spells out in detail how every other developing country on this earth has prioritzed global warming in their political and social agendas. Yet we as Americans willingly remain burried in a closed casket of denial. This book is a must read for all of us latent environmentalists who are screaming as to how we become unburried before we suffocate with in this grave of national inaction. It is a must read for the active environmentalists who need documented fact after fact to attempt to wake up the ignorant and the silent. It is also a must read for the rest who choose to die in the darkness of denial.