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A Climate of Crisis: America in the Age of Environmentalism
A provocative history of the environmental movement in America, showing how this rise to political and social prominence produced a culture of alarmism that has often distorted the facts
Few issues today excite more passion or alarm than the specter of climate change. In A Climate of Crisis , historian Patrick Allitt shows that our present climate of crisis is far from exceptional. Indeed, the environmental debates of the last half century are defined by exaggeration and fearmongering from all sides, often at the expense of the facts.
In a real sense, Allitt shows us, collective anxiety about widespread environmental danger began with the atomic bomb. As postwar suburbanization transformed the American landscape, more research and better tools for measurement began to reveal the consequences of economic success. A climate of anxiety became a climate of alarm, often at odds with reality. The sixties generation transformed environmentalism from a set of special interests into a mass movement. By the first Earth Day in 1970, journalists and politicians alike were urging major initiatives to remedy environmental harm. In fact, the work of the new Environmental Protection Agency and a series of clean air and water acts from a responsive Congress inaugurated a largely successful cleanup.
Political polarization around environmental questions after 1980 had consequences that we still feel today. Since then, the general polarization of American politics has mirrored that of environmental politics, as pro-environmentalists and their critics attribute to one another the worst possible motives. Environmentalists see their critics as greedy special interest groups that show no conscience as they plunder the earth while skeptics see their adversaries as enemies of economic growth whose plans stifle initiative under an avalanche of bureaucratic regulation.
There may be a germ of truth in both views, but more than a germ of falsehood too. America’s worst environmental problems have proven to be manageable; the regulations and cleanups of the last sixty years have often worked, and science and technology have continued to improve industrial efficiency. Our present situation is serious, argues Allitt, but it is far from hopeless. Sweeping and provocative, A Climate of Crisis challenges our basic assumptions about the environment, no matter where we fall along the spectrum—reminding us that the answers to our most pressing questions are sometimes found in understanding the past.
Few issues today excite more passion or alarm than the specter of climate change. In A Climate of Crisis , historian Patrick Allitt shows that our present climate of crisis is far from exceptional. Indeed, the environmental debates of the last half century are defined by exaggeration and fearmongering from all sides, often at the expense of the facts.
In a real sense, Allitt shows us, collective anxiety about widespread environmental danger began with the atomic bomb. As postwar suburbanization transformed the American landscape, more research and better tools for measurement began to reveal the consequences of economic success. A climate of anxiety became a climate of alarm, often at odds with reality. The sixties generation transformed environmentalism from a set of special interests into a mass movement. By the first Earth Day in 1970, journalists and politicians alike were urging major initiatives to remedy environmental harm. In fact, the work of the new Environmental Protection Agency and a series of clean air and water acts from a responsive Congress inaugurated a largely successful cleanup.
Political polarization around environmental questions after 1980 had consequences that we still feel today. Since then, the general polarization of American politics has mirrored that of environmental politics, as pro-environmentalists and their critics attribute to one another the worst possible motives. Environmentalists see their critics as greedy special interest groups that show no conscience as they plunder the earth while skeptics see their adversaries as enemies of economic growth whose plans stifle initiative under an avalanche of bureaucratic regulation.
There may be a germ of truth in both views, but more than a germ of falsehood too. America’s worst environmental problems have proven to be manageable; the regulations and cleanups of the last sixty years have often worked, and science and technology have continued to improve industrial efficiency. Our present situation is serious, argues Allitt, but it is far from hopeless. Sweeping and provocative, A Climate of Crisis challenges our basic assumptions about the environment, no matter where we fall along the spectrum—reminding us that the answers to our most pressing questions are sometimes found in understanding the past.
400 pages, Paperback
First published March 20, 2014
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177 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 20, 2014
My review for The Associated Press:
... The thing to keep in mind when reading "A Climate of Crisis" is that the author, Patrick Allitt, is not a climatologist or any kind of scientist. Allitt is a historian — one who puts his skeptical bias right in the book's introduction, noting that he's receptive to ideas from "counter-environmentalists." ... Curiously, while Allitt puts the work of environmentalists into the context of their skeptics, he doesn't evaluate that skepticism as evenly. There is a difference between scientific uncertainty and political skepticism, which Allitt doesn't acknowledge.
Read the full review here: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/allitt...
... The thing to keep in mind when reading "A Climate of Crisis" is that the author, Patrick Allitt, is not a climatologist or any kind of scientist. Allitt is a historian — one who puts his skeptical bias right in the book's introduction, noting that he's receptive to ideas from "counter-environmentalists." ... Curiously, while Allitt puts the work of environmentalists into the context of their skeptics, he doesn't evaluate that skepticism as evenly. There is a difference between scientific uncertainty and political skepticism, which Allitt doesn't acknowledge.
Read the full review here: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/allitt...
December 13, 2016
Faith in capital & technology vs. the precautionary principle ... and the author abjures the precautionary principle.
A frustrating read as environmentalism is consistently viewed from the perspective of economics, with a few Lombergian tears for the poor (the same poor these same authors sacrifice to the imperatives of the market).
I had hoped for a more critically objective history of environmentalism - this was not it. At best A Climate of Crisis was an a extended apologetic for the status quo.
A frustrating read as environmentalism is consistently viewed from the perspective of economics, with a few Lombergian tears for the poor (the same poor these same authors sacrifice to the imperatives of the market).
I had hoped for a more critically objective history of environmentalism - this was not it. At best A Climate of Crisis was an a extended apologetic for the status quo.
November 7, 2018
The author sometimes misrepresents modern knowledge and even historical knowledge to fit his view.
One was when he said “the hockey stick” was debunked, but that’s completely untrue.
Other than that, there was indeed good information I found enlightening about history.
https://www.skepticalscience.com/brok...
One was when he said “the hockey stick” was debunked, but that’s completely untrue.
Other than that, there was indeed good information I found enlightening about history.
https://www.skepticalscience.com/brok...
September 27, 2017
I read this for my sustainability book club. Great collection of the historical content of the environmental movement. I enjoyed the perspective and his tone of voice, but it definitely is written more in the style of a textbook.
July 5, 2017
Definitely harder to get through. But it chronicled the issues surrounding the environmental movement in the US well from a mostly unbiased author.
February 18, 2017
The Bet and Climate of Crisis both provide comprehensive histories of US environmental laws and policy. Both authors bend over backwards to be fair and balanced. Allitt leans slightly right and Sabin slightly left, but both make the same fundamental points. Both are excellent reading for people trying to understand why environmental policy issues can be so contentious, and why we aren't making more progress on climate change.
June 12, 2014
I'm feeling generous and giving this book 3 stars...it probably deserves 2 or 2.5...The author is a historian, not a scientist, so there is very little technical description in the book of any kind. It also doesn't really go into depth about any one topic, it's basically a quick summary of "environmentalism" in the U.S. since its inception. I think the author tried to provide insights as to why Americans have the environmental attitudes they have, but really it just comes across as a rather dry history of some of the environmental crises that have occurred.
I would recommend this book if you are more interested in a history and timeline of environmental events and laws than anything. People looking for any amount of science or in-depth analysis should skip it.
I would recommend this book if you are more interested in a history and timeline of environmental events and laws than anything. People looking for any amount of science or in-depth analysis should skip it.
April 27, 2014
Putting current environmental issues into a historical perspective, illuminating the fact that since 1945 there has been problems thought to be huge such as nuclear power, pollution, and pollution. With alarmists and skeptics on both sides, these issues have proven that there are manageable solutions to them. Through all the back and forth, up and down, left and right, and all the progress we made in technological and scientific ingenuity, the current problems like climate change, whether big or small, can be solved.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews