(B4) THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH: LIFE AFTER WARMING

I intended this to be a short brief so, I will not read the entire book before the set deadline, however, I may read it (for personal use) alongside other briefs and change the design if it does not work. I will be looking at the key topics explored in the boo to gather an overall idea of the narrative. 

BLINKLIST'S BREAKDOWN AND SYNOPSIS OF THE BOOK

This website broke down the book into nine key points:

• The Paris climate agreement's goals are optimistic. 
• The destructive effects of climate change act as chain reactions, triggering further warming. 
• Severe weather conditions are becoming the new normal. 
• Rising sea levels will flood entire cities and countries.
• Runaway warming will cause mass hunger and malnourishment. 
• The warmer it gets, the more disease there will be.
• Plummeting air quality is suffocating us. 
• Freshwater is becoming an ever-more scarce resource.
• Human conflict increases on a hotter, dirtier globe. 
• New technologies give us ways of softening these disasters, but they are currently impractical.

The Uninhabitable Earth (2019) is a terrifying rundown of the horrors which await in an ever-warming world. With poetic brilliance, Wallace-Wells draws from the latest research in climate science to give us an elegant final warning. Runaway wildfires, submerged cities, polluted air and global pandemics – these and other climate-induced catastrophes not only await in the very near future but in some cases have already arrived.

(^^ Taken directly from the website)

REFERENCE: 

Blinklist (2021) The Key Ideas from The Uninhabitable Earth. Blinklist. Available at: https://www.blinkist.com/en/books/the-uninhabitable-earth-en/preview?utm_source=gsn&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=8151157110&utm_content=89632582052&utm_term=the%20uninhabitable%20earth%20book%20summary_e_406999038652_c_kwd-826333684950_Cj0KCQiApsiBBhCKARIsAN8o_4iNRDhz0ybyiYxZhOuvpcizJDP9mCcwHx0bynGBIM8FQa5mZ-7YqkcaAmQSEALw_wcB&gclid=Cj0KCQiApsiBBhCKARIsAN8o_4iNRDhz0ybyiYxZhOuvpcizJDP9mCcwHx0bynGBIM8FQa5mZ-7YqkcaAmQSEALw_wcB Date Accessed: 16/02/2021

FOUR MINUTE BOOKS BREAKDOWN OF THE BOOK 

This website summarises the book into four main lessons using three of the points made above by Blinklist. 

Lesson 1: The Paris climate agreement goals are hopelessly optimistic and too little, too late.

Expands a little on the Paris climate agreement and how it is far too optimistic based on the current ways of the world. It does not have a realistic target and even if that was met, the world would still hit a disaster zone. The objective set was to maintain a global average temperature below 2 degrees Celcius higher than pre-industrial levels. This number was chosen because it is the estimated temperature threshold before disaster begins. However, it has already been calculated that even if these dramatic changes were made set out in the Paris agreement, the global temperature will still fluctuate to 3.2 degrees before it gets better. In that time disaster will have begun and will be almost impossible to reverse. Resulting in the ice caps melting which will skyrocket sea levels causing many major cities underwater. 

Lesson 2: Atlantis might not be such a myth for long with major cities underwater as a consequence of climate change.

The myth of Atlantis no longer sounding so far fetched. Based on the current emissions output it is estimated that the sea will rice between 1.2 and 2.4 metres in the next century. However, the book puts this into perspective, the impact of this rise will cause cities like Bangladesh with a population of over 150 million people, being completely submerged. When put like that, it is easier to understand the immediate devastation that is merely around the corner. 

Lesson 3: We might be on the verge of a global health crisis as old diseases are revived and current ones rejuvenated.

The book also explores another impact of the artic sheets melting that is never spoken about. The majority of people across the globe know that the melting of the sheets will result in rising sea levels, its merely common sense (even though it is highly ignored). However, this is something I personally have never heard of before and is in fact, terrifying. The artic ice sheets provide a safe haven for ancient bacteria and diseases, frozen in time, some of which have been around way before the human race, meaning we will have no immunity over them. It is suggested that it could go one of two ways, "old diseases revived or current ones rejuvenated". This book was published in 2019 before Coronavirus was truly acknowledged, it is horrifying to think something like this could happen again due to the ice sheets melting. (Covid-19 did not come from the ice sheets, well not as far as we know) however, it puts into perspective what just one major virus can do and the chaos it can cause. But, also it speaks about the rise in temperature causing the tropics to expand where diseases such as malaria thrive. 

(Summarised mostly in my own words, quotation marks where necessary) 

REFERENCE:

Farina, J (2019) The Uninhabitable Earth Summary. Four Minute Books. Available at: https://fourminutebooks.com/the-uninhabitable-earth-summary/#:~:text=What%20is%20it%20about%20humanity's,caps%20become%20all%20too%20real. Date accessed: 16/02/2021