Climate Refugees [Paperback]

Collectif Argos (Author), Jean Jouzel (Preface), Hubert Reeves (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2010

Heartbreaking stories and pictures documenting the phenomenon of populations displaced by climate change--homes, neighborhoods, livelihoods, and cultures lost.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Created in 2001, Collectif Argos brings together ten journalists--photographers and writers--who share a commitment to documenting the changes taking place in the world---ecological, economic, political, and cultural, subtle or spectacular, global or local.

About the Author

Our job is to tell stories we have heard and to bear witness to what we have seen. The science was already there when we started in 2004, but we wanted to emphasize the human dimension, especially for those most vulnerable.--Guy-Pierre Chomette, Collectif ArgosWe have all seen photographs of neighborhoods wrecked and abandoned after a hurricane, of dry, cracked terrain that was once fertile farmland, of islands wiped out by a tsunami. But what happens to the people who live in these areas? According to the United Nations, some 150 million people will become climate refugees by 2050. The journalists and photographers of Collectif Argos have spent four years seeking out the first wave of people displaced by the consequences of climate change. Using the massive 2,500-page report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as their guide, these photographers and writers pinpointed nine locales around the world in which global warming has had a measureable impact. In Climate Refugees, they take us to these places--from the dust bowl that was once Lake Chad to the melting permafrost in Alaska--offering a first-hand look in words and photographs at the devastating effects of rising global temperatures on the daily lives of ordinary people. Climate Refugees shows us damage wrought to homes and livelihoods by rapid warming near the Arctic; rising sea levels that threaten the island nations of Tuvulu, the Maldives, and Halligen; farmers displaced by the desert's advance in Chad and China; floods that wash away life in Bangladesh; and Hurricane Katrina evacuees in shelters far away from their New Orleans neighborhoods. Added to the devastating environmental effect of climate change is the immeasurable and irretrievable loss of ethnic and cultural diversity that occurs when vulnerable local cultures disperse. It is this often forgotten and tragic consequence of global warming that Collectif Argos painstakingly documents.

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; First Edition first Printing edition (April 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262514397
• ISBN-13: 978-0262514392
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #854,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A heads-up read for everyone, June 24, 2010

By 

Judy Jacklich (El Centro, California, US) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Climate Refugees (Paperback)

Climate Refugees presents facts via interviews with key people whose homes are threatened or already compromised by rising water or changing weather. Anecdotes and photos give the reader close up views of nine ground-zero sites under seige by global warming. A must read. I'm passing my copy around.

5.0 out of 5 stars Climate Refugees, September 9, 2011

By 

Barbara H. Warren "Barb" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Climate Refugees (Paperback)

This beautiful book is a painful reminder of the horrendous conditions for many people of our World, victims of war, famine and inevitably many other tragedies related to Climate Change. This is not an issue of far away places. It affects all of us.

4.0 out of 5 stars A sad and beautiful world, July 29, 2011

By 

£+ (atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Climate Refugees (Paperback)

I was expecting facts and figures, charts and graphs. In fact, I was a bit suspicious when I thumbed through this and saw all the gorgeous photos in this book: it seemed too luxurious for such a serious subject. It is also beautifully designed and printed, and the text is often impressionistic. But it really is very moving and worthwhile, and the images help to make sense of the text.
I would recommend this to anyone interested in knowing more about climate change, and also to activists to be reminded of how timely and vital their work is.
It is not a lengthy text and the images make it irresistible reading, even though the translation is sometimes poor. Sadly, we are due for another edition soon.