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Losing Earth

a Recent History
May 05, 2019GreenDog2006 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This book made me cry. It's a devastating chronicle of how much bipartisan, public, and even oil and gas company support there was in the 60s and 70s to take strong action to reduce carbon emissions. Everybody understood that the science was clear and the threat was urgent, with serious repercussions expected by the 2010s or sooner. There have been no scientific breakthroughs since then - the data has just gotten stronger and stronger. Countries all over the world were ready to take action, just waiting for the US to lead. What the heck happened? Bureaucracy, competing priorities, political distractions, economic concerns, business as usual. Yes, Carter put solar panels on the White House, but he also poured federal money into developing the process that created fracking and tar sands. By 1989, when the political will vanished with the arrival in Dick Cheney in the White House, the American Petroleum Institute, and especially Exxon-Mobil, got the idea to spend a fortune to change the conversation to the familiar the-science-isn't-settled mantra. Then as Rich puts it in his damning finale, they went even further: "They pushed the even wilder claim: that the FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE (Rich's emphasis), established in the 19th century, ratified by a (huge government study) in 1979 and confirmed by every major study since, WAS ITSELF UNCERTAIN - a rhetorical feint akin to a historian who turns from arguing that slavery was not the primary cause of the Civil War to arguing that slavery did not exist." Yes, they were evil and, as Rich asserts, deserve to be tried for crimes against humanity. The heartbreaking truth of this book is that we were all guilty of dropping the ball - politicians, the media, environmental groups, and every one of us who chose not to think about it.