Rigorous, passionate and totally surprising, this book could change the world.
We know that climate change is happening. We know it could, if the worst predictions come true, destroy the conditions which make human life possible. Only one question is now worth asking: can it be stopped?
In Heat, George Monbiot shows that it can. It is now clear that we need a 90% cut in our emissions by 2030 to prevent runaway climate change from ravaging the planet. For the first time, this book explains how the cut could be achieved without bringing industrial civilisation to an end. Combining his unique knowledge of political campaigning and environmental science, Monbiot analyses the potential of energy efficiency, renewable resources, carbon burial, nuclear power and new transport and building systems to discover what works, what doesn?t, what costs the least and what needs to be done to make change happen.
He is not afraid to attack anyone ? friend or foe ? whose claims are false or whose figures have been fudged. His original, sometimes shocking programme shows that we can reconcile our demands for comfort and security with the survival of the biosphere. Heat also contains a new and astonishing exposure of the climate change denial industry. It turns out to have been founded not by the oil companies but by an entirely different enterprise.
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We publish that book and I just wanted to add these great tips to your article (if you’d like to publish them):
How You Can Stop the Planet From Burning
Ten Tips by George Monbiot
Author of Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning
1. Cut your flights. Nothing else you do causes so much climate change in so short a time.
2. Think hard before you pick up your car keys. On average, 40% of the journeys made by car could be made by other means – on foot, by bicycle or on public transport.
3. Organise a “walking bus” to take the children to school.
4. Ask your boss to devise a “workplace travel plan” which rewards people for leaving their cars at home.
5. Switch over to a supplier of renewable electricity. You don’t have to erect your own wind turbine, but you can buy your power from someone who has.
6. Ask a builder to give you an estimate for bringing your home up to R2000 standards.
7. Ditch your air conditioner.
8. Turn down your thermostat: 18 degrees is as warm as your house ever needs to be. You just have to get used to it.
9. Make sure every bulb in your house is a compact fluorescent or LED.
10. Do NOT buy a plasma TV: they use 5 times as much energy as other models.
For more information about Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, visit RandomHouse.ca (http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385662215).
Thanks so much for the great review!