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Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out
One of England’s most talented young comic artists offers up a scathingly funny and carefully researched exploration of climate change, presenting it to readers through the eyes of an idealistic adolescent, a fat cat businessman, and a mad scientist. The book explains the science behind global warming, shows how it is progressing, and says what is being and not being done to stop the problem. Detailed references, suggestions for further reading, and lists of climate change organizations and websites open up possibilities for future exploration by readers, while the comic book format piques the interest of even the most reluctant.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published November 9, 2006
138 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 27, 2017
If the planet dies soon, you won’t be able to blame the Brit Kate Evens, who is an environmental (and in other ways activist cartoonist; she also wrote Red Rosa and Threads, two activist feminist historical comics) whose book Weird Weather Greta brought to my attention. It came out in 2006 and it is, as of this writing, just about 2018 and. . . the weather has been getting weirder and scarier as the CO2-induced planet-warming has only marched closer to Doomsday, with 45 leading the Ignorant Chargen(Clean Coal! Make America Great Idiots as Usual!). Okay, stop the political rant, Dave, and just say what you thought of the book!
This book is not the very important book Six Degrees by Mark Lynas,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
but it is still informed by a boatload of research. The urgency of her message is reflected in the (too) dense panels, chock-full of Necessary Information that we have been ignoring on a daily basis. And it manages to be (darkly) funny throughout. I am going to buy this book and use it in my teaching and my own environmental activism.
Thanks for the rec, Greta!
This book is not the very important book Six Degrees by Mark Lynas,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
but it is still informed by a boatload of research. The urgency of her message is reflected in the (too) dense panels, chock-full of Necessary Information that we have been ignoring on a daily basis. And it manages to be (darkly) funny throughout. I am going to buy this book and use it in my teaching and my own environmental activism.
Thanks for the rec, Greta!
June 22, 2020
So yes, reading Kate Evans' 2006 young adult (but in fact equally suitable for adult readers, actually for anyone from about the age of thirteen or so onwards) graphic novel Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out online as a one hour borrowing on Open Library has been very hard on and painful for my ageing eyes, has been rather exhausting and frustrating with regard to reading ease, and this first and foremost because in my humble opinion and for a graphic novel Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out simply features and contains far too many words (and with them all presented in an extremely minuscule font size at that), making Kate Evans' narrative feel much too tediously textbook like for a graphic novel, and indeed, with the tiny font size of the text thus and equally causing me not only eyestrain but also at times even some trouble trying to figure out what exactly the author is trying to say (and not to mention that I have also on a personal aesthetic level not really all that much enjoyed Kate Evans' black and white artwork for Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out, finding her illustrations too exaggerated and in particular her human figures too caricature like for my visual tastes).
Now I do, my above mentioned issues with the general set-up of Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out and how the text and illustrations present themselves on paper notwithstanding, very much appreciate Kate Evans' presented and featured information on climate change (and also do tend to very much and strongly agree with the author's viewpoints regarding what is causing today's global warming, namely that it is primarily being created by us, by human pollution, materialism and over-consumption). However, if I do look at Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out with a both academic and a more critical eye, yes I for one also think and realise that I do have to majorly take Ms. Evans to task for being not only incredibly one-sided with her philosophies but also that in Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out, Kate Evans' uncompromising stances and assertions actually often do at least tone of narrative voice wise feel and sound quite as all-or-nothing, quite as extreme and as one-sided as the ridiculous attitudes promoted and feted by some of the most ignorant climate change deniers (and in my opinion, this should of course be avoided and also avoided at all costs).
Furthermore and importantly, climate change and global warming are also NOT something that are primarily (or only) caused by the rich and that the poor are somehow and supposedly totally and utterly blameless, since (and at least from where I am standing) over-consumption and materialism are global diseases and ones that have infected everyone both rich and poor. And for Kate Evans in Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out to try to claim otherwise, well, this is both silly in and of itself and it also truly (in my opinion) tends to very much lessen the importance, the significance and the impact of what Evans has to say about climate change as an issue, since it does feel too emotionally charged, unscientific and also really quite willfully nasty.
And yes, albeit that I do think Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out includes and shows a welcome plethora of necessary details and information on and about climate change and global warming, on and about the weather related fiascos we contemporary humans have often caused and are still continuously causing with our entitled lifestyles and tendencies towards materialism and considering the earth as our proverbial private oyster to be exploited at will (and that I do very much like how Kate Evans has included not only suggestions for further reading but also advice on how to become more active with regard to fighting climate change, including changing one's own lifestyle, reducing one's personal carbon footprint), the combination in Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out of too much text for a graphic novel and Kate Evans' rather frustrating tendency to be too one-sided and too my way or the proverbial highway with regard to her personal stance on climate change, this has made Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out both not as scientifically sound as I was hoping for, as I would like, and also as such rather personally disappointing.
Now I do, my above mentioned issues with the general set-up of Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out and how the text and illustrations present themselves on paper notwithstanding, very much appreciate Kate Evans' presented and featured information on climate change (and also do tend to very much and strongly agree with the author's viewpoints regarding what is causing today's global warming, namely that it is primarily being created by us, by human pollution, materialism and over-consumption). However, if I do look at Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out with a both academic and a more critical eye, yes I for one also think and realise that I do have to majorly take Ms. Evans to task for being not only incredibly one-sided with her philosophies but also that in Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out, Kate Evans' uncompromising stances and assertions actually often do at least tone of narrative voice wise feel and sound quite as all-or-nothing, quite as extreme and as one-sided as the ridiculous attitudes promoted and feted by some of the most ignorant climate change deniers (and in my opinion, this should of course be avoided and also avoided at all costs).
Furthermore and importantly, climate change and global warming are also NOT something that are primarily (or only) caused by the rich and that the poor are somehow and supposedly totally and utterly blameless, since (and at least from where I am standing) over-consumption and materialism are global diseases and ones that have infected everyone both rich and poor. And for Kate Evans in Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out to try to claim otherwise, well, this is both silly in and of itself and it also truly (in my opinion) tends to very much lessen the importance, the significance and the impact of what Evans has to say about climate change as an issue, since it does feel too emotionally charged, unscientific and also really quite willfully nasty.
And yes, albeit that I do think Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out includes and shows a welcome plethora of necessary details and information on and about climate change and global warming, on and about the weather related fiascos we contemporary humans have often caused and are still continuously causing with our entitled lifestyles and tendencies towards materialism and considering the earth as our proverbial private oyster to be exploited at will (and that I do very much like how Kate Evans has included not only suggestions for further reading but also advice on how to become more active with regard to fighting climate change, including changing one's own lifestyle, reducing one's personal carbon footprint), the combination in Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out of too much text for a graphic novel and Kate Evans' rather frustrating tendency to be too one-sided and too my way or the proverbial highway with regard to her personal stance on climate change, this has made Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out both not as scientifically sound as I was hoping for, as I would like, and also as such rather personally disappointing.
March 12, 2018
I quite like the premise of this book - using cartoons and a graphic format to describe some of the complexities of global warming and climate change. It makes the subject accessible and allows us to follow from one point to another through the story of a warmer planet. It is a little thin on the consequences of a warmer climate, other than those consequences not being at all attractive to us as a species.
What I didn't much like was the characterisation of the actors in the story as heroes who could do no wrong and villains who could do no good. It paints a picture of a black and white world in which the rich villains conspire to consume the planetary resources at a cost that is borne by the virtuous poor. The actual story is a lot more nuanced than that.
Global warming and climate change is the result of over-consumption. That is over-consumption by rich and poor alike. We are all wedded to our resource rich lifestyles, and we are not at all keen to give them up. Those who don't have resource rich lifestyles aspire to them, and, given the chance, would accept them. The past 30 years have seen millions of people lifted out of poverty (which is a good thing), that has added to the degree of over-consumption of resources (which is a bad thing).
To a certain extent, the changing climate is the result of our success in finding prosperity for the greater number of humanity. We can see this in the response to the global financial crisis. Prosperity evaporated in some areas, which took the pressure off the consumption of resources. However, people weren't at all happy with that outcome, and now inequality has become the cause of concern.
The book does pick up this point. As we are all part of the cause of climate change, we all need to be part of its solution. And yet there is no evidence of a trend towards a less resource intense lifestyle. According to the book, that would suggest that we are on a trajectory towards the unknown territory of runaway warming. We don't quite know what that means, other than it will force us to address the issue. But only when it is too late to prevent disruption, only to find ways of living with its consequences.
I see this book as one of those which warn us about a future that we really ought to want to avoid. We probably all agree that we ought to avoid this future. However, taking action in the present to change this uncertain future is beyond our capacity to act. We will simply have to accept the consequences, even if we don't quite know what they will be, other than unpleasant. The warning is in this book. It is up to us whether or not we will heed it.
What I didn't much like was the characterisation of the actors in the story as heroes who could do no wrong and villains who could do no good. It paints a picture of a black and white world in which the rich villains conspire to consume the planetary resources at a cost that is borne by the virtuous poor. The actual story is a lot more nuanced than that.
Global warming and climate change is the result of over-consumption. That is over-consumption by rich and poor alike. We are all wedded to our resource rich lifestyles, and we are not at all keen to give them up. Those who don't have resource rich lifestyles aspire to them, and, given the chance, would accept them. The past 30 years have seen millions of people lifted out of poverty (which is a good thing), that has added to the degree of over-consumption of resources (which is a bad thing).
To a certain extent, the changing climate is the result of our success in finding prosperity for the greater number of humanity. We can see this in the response to the global financial crisis. Prosperity evaporated in some areas, which took the pressure off the consumption of resources. However, people weren't at all happy with that outcome, and now inequality has become the cause of concern.
The book does pick up this point. As we are all part of the cause of climate change, we all need to be part of its solution. And yet there is no evidence of a trend towards a less resource intense lifestyle. According to the book, that would suggest that we are on a trajectory towards the unknown territory of runaway warming. We don't quite know what that means, other than it will force us to address the issue. But only when it is too late to prevent disruption, only to find ways of living with its consequences.
I see this book as one of those which warn us about a future that we really ought to want to avoid. We probably all agree that we ought to avoid this future. However, taking action in the present to change this uncertain future is beyond our capacity to act. We will simply have to accept the consequences, even if we don't quite know what they will be, other than unpleasant. The warning is in this book. It is up to us whether or not we will heed it.
December 13, 2020
Can you tell I'm on a last ditch attempt to a) up my reading total and b) mop up some reading women challenges 😅 A bit out of date now, 14 years old but horrifyingly nothing has changed except she would be even madder writing it now. Lots of info I hadn't realised and the graphic novel format made it really readable and concise.
August 2, 2011
Yay for a book that explains all those Environmental issues without making me feel stupid. You know it has happened to you- Greenhouse, Ozone, Renewable Energy, Deforestation, Extinction, Carbon Dioxide Deficiency, Methane, etc. We hear these terms and can vaguely interpret their meaning, but we have trouble making sense of environmental problems as a whole. This book explains everything you would want to know about the topic and does so in an entertaining, graphic novel style! “Weird Weather” is a short VOYA book that will be sure to leave you well-informed and wanting to change your own carbon footprint. It would be a fantastic Science classroom reference resource. It would also be great in the English classroom because it is a non-fiction graphic novel which you don’t see much of!
February 23, 2020
A lively comic strip explaining the science, politics and consequences of climate change, offering some plausible solutions. Sometimes the text is very dense but the pictures have a compassionate sense of humour.
September 2, 2023
Climate change 101. Written in 2006, but still relevant.
December 15, 2013
Acik Radyo'nun cevirisinden okudum bu eglenceli kitabi. Heryas insan icin kuresel isinmayi cok iyi anlatiyor
January 10, 2013
A quick read with some interesting facts.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews