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The Uninhabitable Earth
The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming | David Wallace-Wells
"The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending Armageddon."--Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible. In California, wildfires now rage year-round, destroying thousands of homes. Across the US, "500-year" storms pummel communities month after month, and floods displace tens of millions annually. This is only a preview of the changes to come. And they are coming fast. Without a revolution in how billions of humans conduct their lives, parts of the Earth could become close to uninhabitable, and other parts horrifically inhospitable, as soon as the end of this century. In his travelogue of our near future, David Wallace-Wells brings into stark relief the climate troubles that await--food shortages, refugee emergencies, and other crises that will reshape the globe. But the world will be remade by warming in more profound ways as well, transforming our politics, our culture, our relationship to technology, and our sense of history. It will be all-encompassing, shaping and distorting nearly every aspect of human life as it is lived today. Like An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring before it, The Uninhabitable Earth is both a meditation on the devastation we have brought upon ourselves and an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation.
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JenniferEgnor
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Seems like a good time to talk about this book again. This is my neighborhood this morning, and surrounding areas have seen historic flooding. This is just a little from Hurricane Debbie‘s rain bands. Yesterday morning: massive earthquake in Japan. 6 Tornadoes occurred in this area this week, and are happening in NY too. Call it a hoax all you want. A dying planet stops for no one. Remember: project 2025 calls to end all climate change⬇️

JenniferEgnor awareness, preparation. It calls for NOAA to be abolished, on page 664. These people are blinded by hate and greed. What we‘ve been seeing isn‘t even the icing on the cake for what‘s coming. There is no stopping it, fossil fuel industry be damned. Project 2025 Page 750: eliminate aid for families and businesses to rebuild after storms. (edited) 3mo
Cuilin I‘m sorry about your neighborhood but applaud bringing awareness to Project 2025 and the effects it will have on people and the planet. Yep hate and greed. 🤬 (edited) 3mo
dabbe So sorry your neighborhood was sorely hit. Like @Cuilin said, the more awareness of the #wtf Project 2025 the better. Stay safe! 🩶🖤🩶 3mo
14 likes3 comments
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Cazxxx
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#alphabetgame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

🌎 This is the best but also the most terrifying book I have read on climate change 🌎

AllDebooks I haven't read this yet. I'll bump it up my list. I find it so hard reading about the damage we've done, makes me so angry 2y
Cazxxx @AllDebooks It‘s very good but I do also find this subject hard to read about as it‘s very emotional 2y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thank you for playing 📚 2y
29 likes4 comments
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Cazxxx
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sarahlandis
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Pickpick

I liked this book! At times it just seemed like a million terrifying statistics just being thrown at me. Very dooms-day vibes. The author constantly reminds the reader he isn‘t/wasn‘t an environmentalist, which makes the whole read a little confusing. However, the information is imperative and he outlines a clear future of what will happen in our current trajectory and what could happen if we change.

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Smrloomis
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Pickpick

I don‘t know how this author had a child while writing this book. That‘s how terrifying it is. If you‘re looking for something to scare the pants off of you, this is it. I‘m glad I finished it and thanks to @RamsFan1963 for the recommendation. Now on to something else on this subject.

TheRiehlDeal I‘d recommend Fevered by Linda Marsa if you‘re looking for another book on climate change. 3y
Smrloomis @TheRiehlDeal Thank you! I will add it to my list. 3y
53 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Smrloomis
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“If you have made it this far, you are a brave reader...”

DrexEdit I find books like this terrifying! 3y
Smrloomis @DrexEdit yeah I completely understand. I do too!! 3y
59 likes2 comments
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Smrloomis
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I‘m not sure there are enough words to adequately describe how terrifying this is.

Librariana I went back to look at your earlier post about diving into this title. How are you holding up with what you've learned? I think I'd be terrified, too! 😳😰😱 4y
Smrloomis @Librariana hmm, so far it‘s a very frightening read. However I‘m committed to getting through as much as I can 😕 4y
Smrloomis @Librariana oh and balancing it with Jo Koy‘s Mixed Plate 4y
JenniferEgnor Read this last year. Everyone should read it. We have all the solutions to change the course of the future. But we have to actually DO something, now! Check this book out, it is art for the Green New Deal—just ideas of what that world might look like! It‘s exciting! Posters for a Green New Deal: 50 Removable Posters to Inspire Change https://www.amazon.com/dp/152351146X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_36CS03AFNP4S5D7... 4y
Smrloomis @JenniferEgnor Thanks for the posters link! I will have a look at that too. 4y
57 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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Smrloomis
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I‘m going in!

Addison_Reads I want to read this, but I'm not sure I'm ready for it yet. I look forward to seeing what you think. 4y
SamAnne I got the brink and the did t read it . But might. I work in fisheries conservation and deal with climate change daily. Sometimes it is too much to come home and read about it in my free time. 4y
Smrloomis @Addison_Reads I want to read it too but was hesitant to start. 4y
Smrloomis @SamAnne completely understandable! I am not sure if I will finish it but am going to try. 4y
60 likes4 comments
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RamsFan1963
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1. My mother chose my name because it means handsome from an Irish origin. My middle name is named after my uncle.
2. I'm thankful that I was off work for most of this week. I needed a vacation. Too bad its over.
#ThankfulThursday @Cosmos_Moon

@audraelizabeth @Buechersuechtling @ReadingIsMyHobby @Onceuponatime @TheBookDream @Daisey @Bookishlie @Sharpeipup @Cuilin @ReadingFeedsTheSoul @Lucy_Anywhere @Onepageatatime88

Cosmos_Moon_River Interesting # 1! I understand needing a break. Here, too! 4y
34 likes1 stack add1 comment
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RamsFan1963
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I don't do horror, so I picked something else that scared me.

1. I don't believe in ghosts or the supernatural/paranormal.
My friend says I'm "psychically blind" to the phenomenon.
2. I'm grateful for the beautiful day, and I'm grateful to discover I can wear a size 38 waist jean, 9 months after being a size 48.
#ThankfulThursday @Cosmos_Moon

@audraelizabeth @Buechersuechtling @ReadingIsMyHobby @Onceuponatime @TheBookDream @Daisey

ItsAnotherJen Congratulations! That takes a lot of hard work. Go you! 💪🤸‍♀️ 4y
Cosmos_Moon_River Wow! Way to go! That is a big loss! I don‘t really read horror either, and I tagged a very frightening political type fictional drama. That is the scariest to me. I kind of agree with # 1... I‘m a scientist, so my logical brain disagrees, but I just feel different, like maybe there are sciencey ways to explain that I saw my grandpa and his brother as kids after they died... like in the Twilight Zone or Outer Limits 😜 (edited) 4y
Onceuponatime Impressive! 👏🏼 4y
Reggie Congrats on #2!!! 4y
BiblioLitten Congrats on #2. That must have been some hard work and self-control👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 4y
36 likes5 comments
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Blaire
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Pickpick

Stark and quite dire - captures the urgency and inevitability of climate change. It focuses on how each effect, ocean rise, wildfires, etc will have on life as we currently know it, including refugee crises, health impacts, etc... I almost wanted to put it down but do not want to have my head in the sand about what it is happening and the need to have acted decades ago and to act dramatically now.

Blaire Photo credit for for photo of mountaintop removal to Appalachian Voices. 4y
rockpools Wow - that photo 😧 4y
Blaire @RachelO yes the aerial photos show how devastating and literal mountain top removal mining is. 4y
rockpools @Blaire Scary - and vast! 4y
58 likes4 comments
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TheSpineView
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Eggs 👏🏻📚💗🌎💗 5y
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Becker
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Pickpick

Probably a poor choice of book for these dark times we are in but the content in this book is so catastrophic that it actually took my mind off Coronavirus. This is a very factually dense book but still manages to be very readable. I feel it is a book everyone should read... even if it is just select chapters (which are clearly named for the theme discussed). We are in a mess people. 🌎

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DocBrown
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Pickpick

Like John in exile, this author‘s extended meditation on the cataclysm of climate change reads like an apocalyptic vision of the future. The haunting beauty of his lyrical description belies the horror of what fossil-fueled growth has already put in motion. Relentlessly bleak, the true takeaway is that we can‘t shop or consume our way to a better world; our only hope is through political action. A must-read for all global citizens. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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DocBrown
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That part in Batman Begins where Bruce and Rachel survey the ruins of Wayne Manor. He says he will rebuild it just the way it was, brick by brick. Alfred suggests improving the foundations. Meanwhile, from The Uninhabitable Earth: ‘It took New York City 45 years to build 3 new stops on a single subway line; the threat of catastrophic climate change means we need to entirely rebuild the world‘s infrastructure in considerably less time.‘

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DocBrown
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‘What that means is that we have not, at all, arrived at a new equilibrium. It is more like we‘ve taken one step out on the plank off a pirate ship....The last few years of climate disasters may look like about as much as the planet can take. In fact, we are only just entering our brave new world, one that collapses below us as soon as we set foot on it.‘

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DocBrown
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‘Climate change is a “hyper object” — a conceptual fact so large and complex that it can never be properly comprehended. But time is perhaps the most mind-bending feature, the worst outcomes arriving so long from now that we reflexively discount their reality.‘ It‘s a calamity that we confront such a problem at the very moment in history when our attention spans have never been shorter.

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valeriegeary
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Happy Friday, Littens! This week I added a bunch of new words to my manuscript. I'd love to finish this draft by the end of the month 🤞🤞🤞.

I've slowly been reading this book. It's emotionally exhausting & heartbreaking but necessary. I'm learning a lot but struggling to find hope. There is so much work to be done, on such a large scale, & it feels so impossible but it doesn't mean we should just give up. Anyway, this is #requiredreading

readordierachel Good luck with your manuscript! 5y
Suet624 Best wishes on getting this words out. 5y
JennyM Keep getting those words out....can‘t wait to read them😊 5y
valeriegeary @JennyM @readordierachel @Suet624 thank you! You all are so nice! ❤️❤️ 5y
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JenniferEgnor
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Pickpick

Everyone on the planet should stop what they are doing immediately and read this book. The only thing sadder than this book is the selfishness of humans...there are people who laugh at this in mockery.

JenniferEgnor @Mavey THIS one….. 3y
mavey Thanks will check this out too!🥰💕💕 3y
5 likes2 comments
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JenniferEgnor
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The earth has experienced five mass extinctions before the one we are living through now, each so compete a wiping of fossil record that it functioned as an evolutionary reset. Unless you are a teenager, you probably read in your high school textbooks that these extinctions were the result of asteroids. In fact, all but the one that killed the dinosaurs involved climate change produced by greenhouse gas.

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JenniferEgnor
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In New England, dead moose calves have been found suckling as many as 90,000 engorged ticks...those that survive are far from robust, many having scratched so incessantly at their own hides to clear it of ticks that they completely eliminated their own hair, leaving behind a spooky gray skin that has earned them the name “ghost moose”

🥺😫

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JenniferEgnor
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As far back as 1960, the polymath physicist Freeman Dyson proposed that we may be unable to find alien life in our telescopes because advanced civilizations may have literally closed themselves off from the rest of space—encasing whole solar systems in megastructures designed to capture the energy of a central star, a system so efficient that from elsewhere in the universe it would not appear to glow.

WHOAH.

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JenniferEgnor
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The natural lifespan of a civilization may only be several thousand years long, and the lifespan of an industrial civilization conceivably only several hundred. In a universe that is many billions of years old, with star systems separated as much by time as by space, civilizations might emerge and develop and then burn themselves up simply too fast to ever find one another.

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JenniferEgnor
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Arctic ice that formed over millions of years will be unleashed as water, literally changing the face of the planet and remodeling shipping routes responsible for the very idea of globalization. And mass migrations will sever communities numbering in the millions—even tens of millions—from their ancestral homelands, which will disappear forever.

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JenniferEgnor
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One researcher found 225 pieces of plastic in the stomach of a single three-month-old chick, weighing 10 percent of its body mass—the equivalent of an average human carrying about ten to twenty pounds of plastic in a distended belly. Imagine having to take your first flight out to sea with all that in your stomach.

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JenniferEgnor
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No matter how out-of-control the climate system seems—with its roiling typhoons, unprecedented famines and heat waves, refugee crises and climate conflicts—we are all its authors. And still writing.

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alisiakae
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I've been pondering what to choose for #Booked2020 #LiveandLearn, and seem to have settled on a book about climate change. I plan on going in-depth into this topic next year. The Climate Reality Project has an excellent list on their blog, I plan on reading all 5 of these next year!

https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/book-club-five-must-read-books-about-...

Also works for the Climate Change prompt for #nonfiction2020!
#NFNov

Riveted_Reader_Melissa That will definitely work. I‘ll have to check it out! 5y
alisiakae @Riveted_Reader_Melissa So, I've actually downloaded the syllabus for the Cambridge Environmental Management curriculum and I am using that as the basis for my own Self-Study. I feel like I talk about climate change all the time, but I only have a surface level knowledge. I want to dig deep into the science. 😃 5y
Emilymdxn The overstory is one of my favourite novels ever written! It‘s a long one but so rewarding. The uninhabitable earth is really good too! Hope you don‘t mind a million comments but I‘ll tag a couple of books I‘ve learned a lot from here as I did a deep dive into climate reading this year! This one is my favourite from a political perspective 5y
See All 14 Comments
Emilymdxn This book on sea level rise and flooding specifically is probably the book I quote from most in conversations about climate change 5y
Emilymdxn And this one was a great history that helped me understand how the western world got to the place it‘s at at the moment from the 70s to now 5y
alisiakae Stacked, stacked and stacked!! I'd love any resources or recommendations you want to throw my way. 5y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa I‘ll just add more, this one is excellent, I was thinking aboit rereading it this next year. (edited) 5y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Adjacent, but also good was this one I read this year. 5y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Sounds like a great plan. Share your syllabus when you‘re ready. That sounds like it make a great NF Buddy/Group read. 5y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa By they way, did you get my email address yesterday while I had it posted....it took it down late last night, I wasn‘t sure if it was a good idea to leave it posted indefinitely. 5y
alisiakae @Riveted_Reader_Melissa oops, I don't think I did. Sorry, I've been kind of all over the place this weekend. I'm having some serious ADHD moments lately. 😂 5y
alisiakae @Riveted_Reader_Melissa The 6th Extinction is high on my list! It was actually on the wish list I gave my parents, but then I realized that my climate change denying family probably would not buy it for me. 🙄So I will probably be buying it myself sometime before the New Year. 5y
alisiakae @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Got it, and sending you an email now, so you can delete your email. 😁 5y
71 likes14 comments
review
Billypar
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Pickpick

Thanks to @Emilymdxn for recommending this one. Wallace-Wells makes a perfect case for why it's not enough to believe in climate change, vote appropriately, and make individual green choices. He writes eloquently about why we need unprecedented global action to reduce carbon emissions, even if it won't prevent much of what is in store in a 'best case' scenario. Not easy to hear what's coming, but crucial that we all develop a sense of urgency.

Emilymdxn I‘m so glad you liked this one too! 5y
34 likes1 comment
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nofutureparttwo
Pickpick

The most important book I‘ve read this year; likely one of the most important books of my lifetime. Written with a righteous clarity that is uncompromising in both its outrage and its ultimate insistence on hope, Wallace-Wells sets fire to the comforting neoliberal fantasies of salvation through markets and technology that serve only to keep us from acknowledging our role in our own annihilation—and our agency over that fate. Essential reading.

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Yellowpigeon
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Realized I was reading too many depressing books so I went to the book store to pick up some lighter reading. Husband handed me this book. Sigh

Tamra 🤨 5y
23 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Erin01
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cariashley
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Pickpick

This a stop everything, must read right now kind of book. It‘s terrifying, yes, but the alternative is sticking your head in the sand.

MrBook 😮 5y
RamsFan1963 I agree. It's devastating but must read material. 5y
55 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Erin01
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I would call my self an environmentalist & nature person (who loves a big city & great transit system), so this stance intially surprised me a bit, but then got me even more interesting in reading this because for people to realize the importance of taking climate change & the impact of warming seriously it might need to come from this perspective

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Erin01
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got myself a snack, & taking a quick break from my fiction reading to get a few more pages of this in 📖
#reversereadathon #readathon

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MEGR
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Teaching my kids how to dry laundry on a rack outside on hot days...

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cariashley
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Switching to this audiobook for the car ride out to the beach so my husband can unwittingly participate in the readathon too. I read Wallace-Wells‘s article on climate change in NY magazine but this full length version is pure terror. And this chapter is just a bit too on the nose for this weekend‘s heat wave in NY. #24in48

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SkeletonKey
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I couldn‘t sleep the other night and started to listen to this book. Definitely not the cure for sleeplessness. Holy crap.

#climatechange #globalwarming #wtfpeople

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Twocougs
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Pickpick

Important and terrifying book. Extremely readable but scary as the most horror filled story. Everyone e should be required to read this!

41 likes3 stack adds
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SamAnne
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This is will be a good read but a hard one.

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katinkaslife
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1 like1 stack add
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Floresj
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Pickpick

Absolutely terrifying. The book interlaces multiple effects of climate change with data to indicate the threats based on a 2-8 C degree increase of global temperature. I learned a ton and even more petrified than I was before. Highly recommend and we need to VOTE more than any recycling we do😁.

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mreads
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Pickpick

As a call to action, the author proposes that the 3% climate warming is a best case scenario and presents what the world will look like with a more likely 5 to possibly 8% increase in global temperatures.

Emilymdxn I loved this book, it makes me feel so good to see other people reading and loving it too. Depressing in some ways but empowering in others, so glad you liked it 6y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Looks like one I should read....stacked! 6y
See All 6 Comments
mreads @Emilymdxn One of the reviews I read also mentioned this book, have you read it? I've requested it from my library. Sounds like it has real world solutions. 6y
Emilymdxn @mreads I hadn‘t heard of it before but I just stacked it! Looks amazing. Not available in my library unfortunately so it‘ll have to wait till payday but it‘s on my Definitely Read Soon list 5y
45 likes3 stack adds6 comments
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candority
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Panpan

This book has 5-star material, but a 1-star execution. As a self-proclaimed environmentalist, I had such high hopes for this book, but I was disappointed. The information is vitally important and necessary, and is scarier than any horror novel, but I wish it was presented differently. The writing was so dry and repetitive, I hated Wallace-Wells‘ condescending tone, and the information was overly panic-inducing without offering concrete solutions.

RamsFan1963 Interesting. I had the exact opposite reaction. I found it very chilling but enlightening. I didn't find it dry or repetitive. Different strokes for different folks I guess. 6y
candority @RamsFan1963 It seems like the vast majority of people love it - which is fantastic because it does have such an important message! I‘m glad you enjoyed it 😊 6y
MrBook Great review! (edited) 6y
candority Thank you @MrBook! 6y
76 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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RamsFan1963
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Pickpick

Truly a chilling, terrifying look at climate change/global warming. This scared me more than any "horror" novel I have ever read because it's real, it's happening today (despite what politicians say) and we have passed the point of reversing the problem. Our only option is to try to survive as best we can. 5 ????? out of 5. Highly recommended.

candority I‘m on the waitlist for this one at my library! I‘m both looking forward to and dreading reading it. I‘m glad you enjoyed it (if that‘s the right word for it). 6y
RamsFan1963 @candority Enjoyed might not be the right word, but enlightened is definitely true. 6y
62 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Emilymdxn
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Pickpick

Absolutely essential book. I was shocked by how inspiring and empowering this was, yes it‘s giving us bad news, but I feel like I understand the science and politics behind climate change so much more now and this isn‘t written in a depressing way. I think everyone who wants to agitate for climate justice should read this. I‘m very grateful I read this.

Leftcoastzen Stacked! Nice review! 6y
Emilymdxn @Leftcoastzen amazing! This is such an important book I‘m so glad so many people are thinking of reading it 6y
67 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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Emilymdxn
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Why am I starting a very depressing book on my birthday? Maybe I‘m an idiot, but I always think on birthdays about the kind of person I want to be and what I want growing up to be like. I recently joined Extinction Rebellion and I know that climate change is likely to be the biggest issue for me for the rest of my life. I think becoming w more mature well informed person about it will improve my anxiety in the long run even if it‘s worse now.

Leniverse Happy birthday! 6y
Tamra Happy Birthday! 6y
silentrequiem Happy birthday! 6y
See All 15 Comments
zsuzsanna_reads Happy birthday! 6y
SoManyBooksNotEnoughTime Happy Birthday 🎉📚 6y
DivineDiana Wishing you a wonderful year! Knowledge is power! 🎂📚🎈 6y
AmyG Happy Birthday! 🎊🎂🎈🎁 6y
Jas16 Happy Birthday 🎉🎂🎁🎈 6y
rwmg Happy birthday. Hope you have a great day 🎂🥂 6y
JessClark78 Happy Birthday! 🎊🎂🎉 6y
M.V Gratulerer med dagen! 🎈 6y
Weaponxgirl Climate change and biodiversity loss has been on my mind a lot too recently. It‘s so linked with social justice for people as well and I know what you mean about wanting to read more on it. 6y
Emilymdxn Thank you to everyone for the wonderful birthday messages! 6y
Emilymdxn @Weaponxgirl it‘s really come to the fore in my head recently. I‘ve been increasingly finding climate change the biggest social justice presence in my head, cause I want there to be a habitable world in which we can live after dismantling patriarchy and white supremacy. I‘m so scared of there being nothing left here when we‘re done working on other things 6y
Weaponxgirl @Emilymdxn I think it‘s all related when we look at it. Countries and poor people who have had to deal with colonialism are going to be some of the worst hit with the effects of climate change. I‘m trying to go towards a more zero waste lifestyle but it‘s super hard in our society atm. So many of these issues are interconnected such a sweat shops with human rights abuses and the environmental damage of fast fashion in the west. 6y
58 likes1 stack add15 comments
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andytbarnes
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Just some light Friday night reading.

Samplergal 😢 6y
26 likes1 comment
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thricerenewed
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Got a little over excited at the library! Probably most looking forward to The Uninhabitable Earth from today‘s #libraryhaul

Chelleo Nice haul! Welcome to Litsy! Hope these #Litsytips by @RaimeyGallant http://bit.ly/litsytips and #LitsyHowTo videos: goo.gl/UrCpoU are helpful. There‘s so many fun things to do: book exchanges, buddy reads, photo challenges and more! #LitsyWelcomeWagon 6y
RaimeyGallant Welcome! 6y
AlwaysForeverReading Welcome to Litsy!!! :) 6y
See All 7 Comments
Eggs Welcome to Litsy 🤗 6y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Welcome to Litsy!! 6y
StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Welcome to Litsy 📖💖 6y
CoffeeNBooks Welcome to Litsy! 📚 6y
9 likes7 comments