After the Introduction of the 'Six Drivers of Global Change" (pages xiii-xxxi) there are six chapters, one for each 'Driver' and a 14-page Conclusion (pages 361-374).
This is a book that should be in every college, high school, or public library, because every person who has or hopes to have children and grandchildren needs to read it. It is about as densely packed with valuable information as a book can be and still be highly readable.
A very brief sampling of each chapter:
Chapter 1: EARTH INC. "We are living with, and in, Earth Inc.: . . . our new hyper-connected, tightly integrated, highly interactive, and technologically revolutionized economy." The two major changes Mr. Gore writes most about are outsourcing (exporting jobs) and robosourcing (workers being replaced by robots and computers) These, Mr. Gore argues, are creating a permanent and continuing decline in work for humans, which will result in reduced demand for goods (because of lack of income), resulting in still more decline in employment . . . a vicious circle. Something will need to be done about it, but what?
Chapter 2: THE GLOBAL MIND "the global Internet and the billions of intelligent devices and machines connected to it--the Global Mind--represent what is arguably far and away the most powerful tool that human beings have ever used, . . . ." Will the global mind become able to outthink even the smartest human? (in some limited ways, it already does) Will the internet continue to be a resource for everyone, or will Earth, Inc. gain full control of it and put an end to net neutrality? Will authoritarian governments continue to be able to stop dissidents from using the internet? Myanmar (Burma) did so only by completely blacking out internet access within its borders.
Chapter 3: POWER IN THE BALANCE "the balance of power among nations is changing dramatically."
In this chapter is the most forthright and acurate statement I have yet seen of what has gone wrong in the United States and in the world:
"until recently--most of the world has looked primarily to the United States of America for leadership . . . ." BUT "The subordination of reason-based analysis to the influence of wealth and power in U.S. decision making has led to catastrophically bad policy choices, sclerotic decision making, and a significant weakening of U.S. influence in the world." Gore makes it clear that this applies regardless of the party in the White House. "American democracy has been hacked. The United States Congress, the avatar of the democratically-elected legislatures in the modern world, is now incapable of passing laws without permission from the corporate lobbies and other special interests that control their campaign finances."
Chapter 4: OUTGROWTH "On every continent," [including Antarctica?] "the population and economy are placing new demands for more food, freshwater, energy, commodities of all kinds, and manufactured products. And worryingly, over the past ten years, multiple indicators have been showing that real physical limits are being reached." On page 149 Gore lists thirteen "threats confronting the ability of the world to expand food supplies."
On page 176: "In 2010, the United Nations reported that the world's migrant population had reached almost 214 million . . . . In the last year for which statistics are available (2009), 740 million internal migrants moved from one region to another inside countries." Let's see, now:
214 million total migrants - 740 million internal migrants leaves: -526 million external migrants . . Wonder what a crowd of -526 million migrants would look like?
Actually, I reckon the U.N. was counting only the external migrants, so the total was 954 million, and it was perfectly clear to Al Gore what he meant, but I just couldn't resist kidding him a bit.
Chapter 5: THE REINVENTION OF LIFE AND DEATH The other chapters are fact-filed and well worth reading, and Gore says a great deal that needs to be said, but they are often depressing. This chapter is almost pure joy to read; it tells about the wonderful advances in human knowledge in recent years. For example: "Some doctors are using neural implants to serve as pacemakers for the brains of people who have Parkinson's disease--and provide deep brain stimulation to alleviate their symptoms." My father died of Parkinson's disease--how I wish he could have received that neural implant! And on page 241, Gore tells about using a 3D printer to make a new lower jaw for an elderly woman! Page 214 mentions "teams of synthetic biologists," but before you get too excited about synthesizing mathematicians or economists or other kinds of scientists, the synthetic biologists are ordinary humans born of women who are specialists in the new field of 'synthetic biology,' which is actually exciting enough.
Chapter 6: THE EDGE "The good news is that we do have the capacity to begin solving the climate crisis--if we awaken to the reality of our circumstances and decide that the future of human civilization is a priority. . . . It means abandoning the illusion that there may be some clever technological quick fix for a planetary emergency that requires a multipronged global strategy . . . ."
Gore cites several encouraging signs, but It also means that we MUST NOT permit the 'business as usual' climate change deniers get away with holding up action until it is too late. Dr. James Hansen has now produced PROOF of global warming that does not depend on any theories or climate models. He has examined the actual RECORDS of temperatures all over the world between 1951 and 2010 (which is a LOT of records) and produced IRREFUTABLE PROOF of significant worldwide warming in 1981-2010 compared to 1951-1980. Al Gore mentions (page 289) that "The warm season is longer; spring is arriving about a week earlier (and fall about a week later) in both the northern and southern hemispheres."
If we don't pass the necessary laws and take the necessary steps to halt global warming, it will probably mean the end of life on Earth, not within the lifetimes of those now living, but within less than 500 years. (see
Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity
, by James Hansen. John Barnes'
Mother of Storms
is an excellent fictional companion volume to Hansen.
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