Climate change influences many aspects of society and environment. Food security, water supplies, insulation against cold and heat, coastal and estuary erosion, and saltwater penetration of agricultural land, low-lying settlements, and transport infrastructure are some examples which should be of major concern to governments. Despite 89% of the global population wanting climate action, the accumulating evidence has not led to any sizable shift in government policy.
Four recent books offer reasons for these problems to be addressed.
Bill McGuire – The Fate of the World: A History and Future of the Climate Crisis
Human activity has added about 2.5 trillion tonnes of CO2 into our atmosphere and, without decreases in temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions in the immediate future, there will be serious consequences. Even the next ice age, due 11,000 years from now, could be delayed indefinitely. This observation is based on the risk of a long warming period that we will struggle to prevent without rapid government action.
Bill McGuire notes that the average global temperature in 2023 was around 15°C but has recently jumped briefly to over 17°C. We are not stopping climate-changing emissions or temperature increases. If we fail to reverse temperature increases, we might end up with a largely ice-free planet, with sea levels rising by about 65 metres. This would not simply change coastlines and estuaries; it would mean the inundation of farmland and the penetration of saltwater further inland, with implications for water supplies. Many of the world’s largest cities are on coastlines and estuaries. The displacement of people within their own countries and migration across borders could increase beyond the tens of millions into unprecedented and highly problematic levels.
McGuire notes that the collapse or weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which circulates heat, moisture, and nutrients throughout the ocean, has been associated with periods of abrupt climate change in the distant past. Research shows slowing of the circulation, which could lead to a collapse in the future.
His overall conclusion, reinforced by other scientists, is that our current phase of global warming will lead to planetary heating of over 3°C.
Friederike Otto – Climate Injustice: Why We Need to Fight Global Inequality to Combat Climate Change
Friederike Otto and her colleagues research attribution science, investigating how much a given extreme weather event can be reasonably attributed to human-induced climate change. Attribution science is also about other factors which have added to climate change effects and who is bearing the burden of these events. As Otto emphasises, both inequality and injustice make matters worse for vulnerable groups, and notably for women who often work outside in extreme environments.
The 2003 heatwave took over 70,000 lives. We have yet to hear how many have been taken in Europe’s 2026 heatwave, at the time of writing. But vulnerability varies. Otto notes that susceptible groups include the elderly, young children, those rendered vulnerable by medical problems, the socially isolated, those without housing or of limited means, and those dependent upon working outdoors. She is careful to point out that ageing societies will have enlarging vulnerable groups.
Otto stresses that “tipping points”, which refer to changes in the overall climate, may be referred to without considering social aspects. The great injustice of those most vulnerable being hit by tipping points is their severely curtailed options for resisting consequent impacts.
Genevieve Guenther – The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil-Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It
‘We’ are not causing climate change. After all, about 4.2 billion people, or roughly half the global population, are living on less than $6.85 per day. Those who campaign for a better global climate and secure ecosystems for all species are not causing climate change either. ‘We’ are not responsible for the governments and vested interests maintaining highly damaging global trends. Both the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have said new oil and gas fields cannot be opened, and that such existing infrastructure must be retired earlier than its intended design life.
The ‘we’ that causes climate change are fossil fuel corporations, compliant and complicit governments, and closely allied energy, agricultural, and transport sectors which maintain climate and environment-destroying activities. Since, without rapid action, the planet is heading towards global warming that may easily exceed 3°C rather than the current 1.6°C, arguments and language sustaining this trajectory could be compared to warfare, with deaths, injuries, and large impacts on all species.
Genevieve Guenther notes the legitimate concern amongst climate scientists that the risks of climate change may “drown out” the importance of solutions. However, even warming in the 1.5°C to 2°C range could – in the view of other researchers – move humanity beyond tipping points.
Mark Z. Jacobson – Still No Miracles Needed: How Today’s Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air
We are not dealing with global warming despite having the technology to do so. Progress in renewable energy has been remarkable in recent years but so have the efforts of some industries to maintain their own existence and favour inadequate technological initiatives. Mark Z. Jacobson lists several forms of “reinvention”. These include:
- carbon capture;
- synthetic direct air carbon capture;
- blue hydrogen (using fossil fuels to create hydrogen, as opposed to ‘green hydrogen’ which can be produced using renewable energy sources);
- non-hydrogen electro fuels (synthetic fuels which may be produced using fossil fuels after capture of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, or hydrogen); and
- agricultural preferences for bioenergy, solid biomass use, liquid biofuels, and gaseous biogas.
The advocates of new nuclear power stations at exceptional expense also remain in business.
Jacobson asserts that none of these initiatives are necessary. Wind, water, and solar power, and storage of electricity offer superior alternatives. Specifically, they do not require water or electricity for cooling, do not add to air pollution, and are likely to use far less land.
His book outlines how we can address the related human-created disasters of air pollution and climate change, using available technologies. We do not need to keep fossil fuel industries operating or create new income streams for agriculture, especially as reducing the use of animals can be achieved with attendant land, pollution, and health benefits.
Conclusions
These books illustrate the scale of what has been neglected since 1988, when James Hansen took a leading role in making the public aware of the threat of human-induced climate change. In the UK, only the closure of coal mines on political grounds by the Conservatives made a large impact on this country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Transport remains the largest source of the UK’s emissions with the Government committed to airport expansions. Adequate responses to greenhouse gas emissions have, like big changes to shipping, yet to really start.
So, a key responsibility for any government is to make the best use of the climate emergency, and related ecological emergencies, to create useful employment and a just transition whilst phasing out the most climate and environment damaging forms of work. We might all wish that this is more in evidence than at present. We cannot afford delays or excuses.
With thanks to Hazel Dawe for revisions.
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