Customer Reviews

State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World (State of the World)

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This is a great book. It's full of useful information about the science, policy and economic implications of the climate change that's already beginning to unfold around us. It's extremely clear and well-documented about what we need to do to anticipate further change, preventing catastrophe and adapting to the further warming we've already set in motion. And Worldwatch Institute is one of the most respected voices in the field.

The editors at the website Worldchanging (their excellent book Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century is a must read too) say about this book "State of the World 2009 is a research masterpiece, the single most important reference guide to climate change yet published."

If you're looking to really dive in and understand the challenges climate change presents, you can't do better than this book. It may be a bit short on solutions, but understanding the problem is always the first step to solving it, and I understand climate change much more since reading this.

WorldWatch-org may be the top global environmental watchdog, and this another great annual report. It's focused entirely on climate change this time (except for the fascinating annual timeline at the beginning). If you're not sure if you want it, go to their website and look at one of its 6 chapters (in pdf):

Chp 1: The Perfect Storm. The big picture view of climate policy history and policy considerations.
Chp 2: A Safe Landing for the Climate. How to avoid climate tipping points. A little fuzzy on the science here, but basically sound. (They think cooling won't help once a tipping point is passed. It would. But a tipping point is when the warming is self-sustaining and cooling becomes impossible.)
Chp 3: Farming and Land Use to Cool the Planet . Fairly detailed agricultural ideas.
Chp 4: An Enduring Energy Future. Good overview of renewables. Also a bit about carbon pricing.
Chp 5: Building Resilience. How to reduce the vulnerability of individuals, communities, and countries to the threats of climate change.
Chp 6: Sealing the Deal to Save the Climate. "Humanity needs to cap and then start shrinking global emissions." Describes a complex and rather vague system for Greenhouse Development Rights.

Read key facts at node/5988 of the WorldWatch website, or essays from the book at node/5983.

Like most global warming books, this one is weakest on what to do about it. General principles don't get the job done. Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (Substantially Revised) is by a splinter group that is a bit smarter on policy, but it still does not say much. The one recent and accessible book dedicated to explaining real-world policy is Carbonomics: How to Fix the Climate and Charge It to OPEC. It advocates James Hansen's 100%-refunded carbon tax, but it also covers cap-and-trade, Kyoto II, and a lot of other policies being discussed by Congress and the World.

I find this a pretty honest assessment of this books title statement: The State of the World. It follows IPCC 2007 pretty closely. People interested in this book ought to read the Summary for Policymakers at the IPCC site also. People who want to get *really* technical and into this issue ought to read the 2007 IPCC Assessment Reports, also available thru Amazon.

This annual version is of the state of the world in relation to global warming and is a rehash of earlier versions with a little update of some of the information. It does cover alternatives for limiting or even reducing hothouse gases, which are down to earth practical, not pie-in-the-sky theory. A very useful book for people new to the subject.

This was written at the end of 2008/beginning of 2009, when many had hopes that some accord could be reached at Copenhagen. As many know, that was not to be the case. Although this doesn't make such a gloomy prediction, it does lay out the competing principles and reasons why well-developed countries such as the U.S. and EU and rapidly developing countries such as China, India and Brazil would ultimately be at loggerheads at the conference. (They also make mention of the significant role the U.S. Senate played in stalling progress on climate treaties unless the developing countries were held to the fire as well.)

The book gives a detailed overview of where we are with the climate and the effects that extreme weather and overall warming is having on human and non-human systems. It also lays out the urgency to keep temperature rise well below the 2 degrees that has been thrown around- the planet is still habitable at that point, but the losses of other species and human habitats may be insurmountable. My favorite chapters were on agricultural options to better sequested carbon- no more double-digging for me!- and the potential for the usage of renewable technology that is currently out there, although I'm not sure I believe the carbon capture system at the factory level actually exists. The chapter on resilience was not written as well as the others, but I agreed with the overall point: resilience needs to mean more than our ability to bounce back to the status quo; vulnerable populations need to be able to enact positive socioeconomic changes in the midst of the ongoing climate disaster if they want to not only thrive but just survive.

The most frustrating part of the book, not surprisingly, was the one that included a history of the diplomatic and political efforts to fund and define the changes that need to be made and by whom. It's easy to understand why the talks effectively went nowhere (although not excusable). However, the author of that section also points out that while temperatures have continued to rise since diplomacy on the issue first began in the late 80s, they would have risen even more if it hadn't been for those efforts.

One quasi-positive note: at least the science is no longer in question.

We've got some work to do.

Love the book. I got this for my daughter taking an online class. It is ridiculous how expensive books are at the campus book store. This book was in excellent condition and by using one day shipping, we got it right away. No hassles and no huge expense. Thanks so much!!! I highly recommend this product and seller.

the product was in good quality as it says before I bought it. I liked it.