Customer Reviews

Clean Energy Common Sense: An American Call to Action on Global Climate Change

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This lively, well-written primer is a must for anyone who wants to understand the facts about climate change. As up-to-date as this morning's headlines, it pulls together all the current research so that readers can make up their own minds. If an informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny (as somebody said, or should have), then the $9.95 invested in this book will be a lot more efficient than the Pentagon budget.

Stefania

This is easily the best book I have read on the topic of climate change. The narrative is compelling and reads easily, but the concepts presented are some of the most important and complex of our time. Beinecke provides a clear and concise presentation of facts that will affect not just our children's and their children's world, but the world we live in today. Bravo!

Clean Energy Common Sense is fantastic. It distills the latest science, the best informed analysis, and the most thoughtful predictions into a brisk essay that actually leaves one feeling hopeful about the future and inspired to act. Beinecke and Deans don't pull punches about the grim prospects that await us if we continue to dither. But they layout a clear roadmap that we can use to navigate toward a clean energy future if, collectively, we can only summon the political will. And this book should go a long way toward creating that political will. I highly recommend Clean Energy Common Sense to anyone who wants to participate in solving the great challenge of our generation.

Frances Beinecke hits a home run with this book!! At a time of great confusion over climate change, Beinecke states the facts in a "cut n' dry" manner! She gets right to the point and speaks in a way that any, who are interested in their world, can easily understand. I can't imagine a more important or more timely book! A concerning, wonderful and positive read! The book does not sling mud at or paint any political base with the usual arrogant paint brushes we're used to. A huge plus! It's a call to action for all of us...no matter who we are. Thanks, Ms. Beinecke!

Great book with alot of common sense and something that is very pertinant to this day and age. Gives alot of information without being one-sided. Easy to read and understand. Great way to understand the current global warming situation.

The book is awesome, makes you think about the damage WE are doing to the environment but leaves you with an inkling of what WE can do to make a difference.

I echo the other reviews. This is a must read for everyone. The clarity of the writing makes concepts easy to understand. It is extremely well-researched and nonpartisan, citing facts from governmental (Pentagon, Forest Service, etc etc) and "mainstream" sources as well as climate change studies. Answers the "objections" of those opposing climate change legislation. Please read this and then contact your legislators. I am planning to give copies to my Senators and Congressman.

It is small and short book. I read it in two hours. I'm not a fast reader.

Pitched as a statement selling the irrefutable anthropomorphic global warming position, anyone who is weakly familiar with the issue can find value in reading the book. A critically minded reading, though, would provide little help to someone who is familiar with the facts and logic on this issue, and less to those who don't share the same point of view. She denigrates any refutation of the AGW position as weak and solely motivated by economic loss by those who would be impacted by the changing regulatory and economic incentive programs of government.

I saw her on BookTV and was persuaded that I would find something greater than what actually is the content of the book. Anyone wanting to know the various positions other than the one in the book, and the factual and logical support for those positions, should not think about just stopping here. Beinecke seems weakly familiar with the other data and arguments and leaves one with the impression that her partisanship has limited her range of knowledge to what is stated in the book. Many others are not so limited in the scope of their knowledge and thus won't be so in awe of her writing.

This is a well-researched, factual and concise summary of the situation that the planet faces. It is a must-read for those who want to be well-prepared to discuss climate change issues around the water cooler!

This book is an impassioned call for halting climate change. It is well written and it gets the facts straight. The case Ms. Beinecke is making is well researched, well argued, and it hopefully will convince individuals in a shrinking constituency of doubters and deniers that climate change is real, is highly destructive, and must be dealt with soon. Time is of the essence.
The second half of the book introduces her recommendations for a solution to the expertly defined problem. And this second half is where the book falls short and disappoints.
Ms. Beinecke fervently supports the House Bill passed in June of 2009, which is commonly called the Waxman-Markey Clean Energy Bill. Ms. Beinecke believes that this legislation will "reduce the impact of climate change by doing three things; by reducing global warming pollution, by promoting alternatives to fossil fuels, and by helping our country making the smooth transition to the clean energy future we need".
Implementation of these three ambitious tasks she leaves to the power of free markets. This is somewhat ironic because the electric energy market is controlled by a Byzantine web of utility regulations. Energy consumers do not have any influence in setting energy prices at their meters. Consumers of gasoline and diesel fuel have absolutely no influence in setting prices at the pump. To assume that energy markets are going to respond to consumer expectations is to deny reality.
Ms. Beinecke comments on President Kennedy's challenge to send a man to the moon. She does not take the next step and does not draw the obvious conclusion that a similar but much more substantial effort is needed to rescue the world from quickly escalating climate threats that are unparalleled in human history.
Two countermeasures for halting climate change offer themselves. All carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion must be halted and excessive, accumulated carbon dioxide must be retrieved from the atmosphere. These two policies are the only viable countermeasures for halting climate changes. Ms. Beinecke does not make that call.
Implementing these policies will critically depend on new, transformational energy technologies. The world needs leaders, who are willing to respond to this historic challenge.