Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and Activists Have Fueled a Climate Crisis -- And What We Can Do to Avert Disaster

by Ross Gelbspan

In Boiling Point, Ross Gelbspan argues that, unchecked, climate change will swamp every other issue facing us today. Indeed, what began as an initial response of many institutions--denial and delay--has now grown into a crime against humanity. The fossil fuel industry is directing the Bush administration's energy and climate policies-payback for helping Bush get elected. But they're not the only ones to blame: the media and environmental activists are unwittingly worsening the crisis.In his new introduction, Gelbspan reveals that the outlook isn't getting better. The climate continues to change with increasing acceleration: hurricanes devastated Florida; rainfall patterns left two million people starving in Kenya; 2004 was the fourth hottest year on record. At the same time, the coal industry was planning to sabotage an effort in the Senate to begin to regulate carbon dioxide. Officials of Switzerland, France, and Canada said last year that, when the Kyoto Protocol takes effect, they intend to take the United States to court under the World Trade Organization, reasoning that the U.S.'s refusal to lower their carbon emissions amounts to an illegal subsidy-a "carbon subsidy"-on its exports. With the reelection of George W. Bush and a Republican-controlled congress, Boiling Point is more imperative than ever. Both a passionate call-to-arms and a thoughtful roadmap for change, Gelbspan reveals what's at stake for our fragile planet.

Genres: Environment, Nonfiction, Climate Change, Politics

286 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2004

Reviews

[Eric Gesualdo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty solid analysis of the issue. This book was written 20 years ago so it was interesting reading with current perspectives. Offers some pretty “pie-in-the-sky” solutions. Idealist book for sure, but an important and sobering read nonetheless.

[Alex Furst · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Boiling Point” by Ross Gelbspan is an interesting read about climate change. Though this book is from 2004, I think that it is still relevant today - something that is kinda sad because this scientific consensus has now been denied for more than 15 years.

Though Ross does put forth the evidence that we have in the current climate such as crazy weather, melting ice caps and other related info, I don’t actually think that this is the strongest part of the book. Anyone who does not believe in human-caused climate change at this point can find a plethora of evidence online, so obviously more of this data is not going to convince anyone else. From my view, Ross’s view about the below is completely spot on:

"Seen in its full dimensions, the challenge of global climate change seems truly overwhelming. In the absence of a compelling and obvious solution, the most natural human tendency is simply not to want to know about it."

I think the stronger evidence for climate change in this book is actually related to the obscurantism and outright disinformation campaigns by the oil and coal companies and even our government. Below are some great excerpts related to this:

"Another area of the climate issue that has been ignored by the press involves the ferocious battles on a number of fronts in which those in the fossil fuel lobby are deploying huge resources to secure the survival of their industry - even at the expense of their children's futures."
"The official line of the new Bush presidency was expressed in a November 2002 memo from political consultant Frank Luntz to the Republican Party. In a section titled, 'Winning the Global Warming Debate,' Luntz wrote that many voters believe there is a lack of consensus about global warming among scientists. 'Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly,' he wrote. 'Therefore you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue.'"
"By 2001, ExxonMobil had replaced the coal industry as the major funder of the most prominent and visible 'greenhouse skeptics.' By 2003, ExxonMobil was giving more than $1 million a year to an array of ideological, right-wing organizations opposing action on climate change..."
"One campaign, which sent three of these 'skeptics' around the country to do media interviews, was crafted, according to its strategy papers, 'to reposition global warming as theory rather than fact' and, more specifically, was designed to target 'older, less-educated men...and young low-income women' in districts that get their electricity from coal and preferably have a member on the House Energy Committee, according to the strategy papers for the campaign."
"What is especially telling about the industry-funded 'greenhouse skeptics' is their lack of standing in the scientific community. In a review of Michael's work, Tom M.L. Wigley, a preeminent climate modeler at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, concluded it was so flawed that not only would it fail to pass the scrutiny of qualified climate scientists, it would not even be accepted for peer review."
"One proof of the success of that campaign is reflected by two polls done by Newsweek magazine. Back in 1991, 35 percent of people surveyed by Newsweek said they thought global warming was a serious problem. By 1996 - even though the science had become far more robust and the IPCC had declared that humans are, indeed, changing the climate - that 35 percent had shrunk to 22 percent, largely as a result of the fossil fuel lobby's deceptive public relations campaign."
"In August 2003, the attorneys of Maine and Connecticut made an extraordinary discovery. Through a Freedom of Information request, they unearthed e-mails indicating that the White House had secretly requested the private, right-wing CEI to sue it - the White House - in order to have the national assessment [“a meticulous document that was thoroughly peer-reviewed” on the consequences of climate change] withdrawn."

While all of this is very powerful, the other great thing about this book is Ross puts forth a plan to combat climate change. This plan would obviously include a lot of global cooperation and would only begin to occur once all of humanity can decide that this is actually worth our time to fix...something that needs to be decided as soon as possible as we are running out of time to avoid catastrophe. Below is Ross’s plan, which you can read more about in the book:

"The plan involves three interacting strategies:
a change of energy subsidy policies in industrial countries
the creation of a large fund to transfer renewable energy technologies to developing countries
the subordination within a Kyoto-type framework of the mechanism of international emissions trading to a new model, a progressively more stringent Fossil Fuel Efficiency Standard, which rises by 5 percent per year"

Finally, I love Ross’s stated goal, which brings up the amazing opporuntity we all have right in the midst of the climate crisis to make this world a much better place:

"But the driving motivation behind this book is to change the way we regard this threat - to make our responses far less fearful and defensive and to recast this moment in human history as an unprecedented opportunity to use the climate crisis as the foundation for a historically unprecedented common global project that would create the basis for a far wealthier, more equitable, and ultimately, much more peaceful world. A real solution to the climate crisis could, if properly structured, provide a liftoff toward a far more promising human future."

[Missy Stults · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book that attempts to make the case for why the media and politicians are convuiuting the story around climate change. Not overly scientific but still a good read.

[Frumenty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a book about climate change disinformation and this, written 15 years ago, was the only one I could get my hands on in a hurry. Predictably, it left me dissatisfied.

Gelbspan is a journalist with a mission and this is a polemical book. Much of it is concerned with making the case that climate change is a matter that calls for urgent action, so with readers like me he’s preaching to the choir about that.

He tells the story of early international efforts to mobilise against disaster quite well, especially the obstructive role of United States governments, but matters have moved on since 2004. He marshals a range of information from published sources, such as UN and government reports, press articles, and scientific papers, but this is not really investigative journalism. The book I am looking for will name names, follow the money, and expose the links between climate change denying “experts” and those who bankroll most of them (some do it for nothing). Is that too much to ask?

To be fair to Gelbspan, he was an early starter on this subject and for that he deserves credit.

[Rajiv Chopra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ross Gelbspan has written an excellent book. I want him to update the book, or write another one. Since he wrote the book, the world has witnessed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. People have cheered it. The Paris Agreement does not set binding deadlines on governments. It does not ask anyone to commit to dates.
 
There is no urgency.
 
Ross Gelbspan wrote his book over ten years ago. He made a strong case to show the nexus between dirty fuel companies and governments. It should make us sit up in alarm.
 
The book should make us act.
 
I found passion in the book, mixed with anger. The anger did not prevent Mr Gelbspan from making his arguments forcefully and lucidly.
 
While the book may seem outdated to a casual reader, I think it is essential reading for all of us.
 
The book will wake us up.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fine, and probably adequate to its time when it was published in 2004, but it has increasingly limited value to the present day reader.

I read Gelbspan's earlier book on global climate change (The Heat is On) from 1997 and was impressed by the quality of his analysis. By the time this one came along, it feels more like a compilation of articles you might have read in Salon/Slate/Common Dreams or whatever other early aughts lefty websites or blogs you may have frequented.

There's nothing wrong with it exactly, except that it feels like a book that wasn't meant to stand the test of time. Well, time has moved forward and this book can be left behind.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm quite embarrassed and annoyed with myself that I didn't read this book earlier -- at least half a decade earlier. It's about as good a brief guide to the imminent climate catastrophe as you're likely to find, written in a highly readable journalese style and full of excellent information that I'd not come across elsewhere. I checked quite a few of the sources and found the information is indeed kosher; in so doing, I also discovered that Gelbspan has a very extensive wbsite collecting articles on climate-related issues (http://www.heatisonline.org); again I'm embarrassed that I did not know this before. I thought the weakest part of an extremely strong text came in the final sections, as Gelbspan outlined a proposed scheme for averting the disaster: not only did it seem idealistic, in that it expected people to behave rationally rather than with puerile greed and selfishness, but of course -- because of the passage of years -- the kind of emissions reductions it seeks are already known to be far too small. My only other quibble was with the system used for citations; endnotes are a complete pain in the as however you organize them, but the system adopted by Gelbspan is one of my least favourite. This book is due for a new edition, I'd have said; in the meantime, the 2004 version is extremely deserving of your attention.

[Tomek · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are going to read one book on the political and economic factors behind and ramifications of climate change, read Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything. Gelbspan does a decent job of briefly summarizing the science and is excellent when critiquing the media's treatment of climate change, but his political and economic analysis falls short, if only because it is myopic (only focused on Bush-era policy). He comes to many of the same conclusions that Klein does: that we need to integrate different social, economic, and environmental movements to achieve meaningful change on this issue, that we are being presented with an opportunity to improve our society, and that if we are going to change, we had better do it quick. I disagree with some of his statements about the science, probably because he lacks a scientific background, but these are largely pedantic arguments about the presentation rather than the facts themselves.

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, fairly short summary of the problem of global warming and the reasons it has become so much more of a political issue rather than the scientific issue that it really is. A little short on the science (and even a little inaccurate in a couple of places), but really good on summarizing the social, economic, and political obstacles that stymie all attempts to do anything significant to solve the problem. It would be a good book for people who think it's all a scam. Of course, such people would never read a book like this.

[Gabe Van Pelt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative book behind the global warming scene. This book does a fantastic job describing the stubborness and ignorance of the Bush administration and the corruption of big business (oil industry) that continues to destory our environment. Gelbspan explains that problems facing our current situation but also presents possible solutions.

[John Atkeison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the essential book for learning the "political economy" of how we got n such a tight corner with climate change from Global Warming.
Ross Gelbspan is a retired journalist and Pulitzer-winning editor who knows how to write about the science and the politics as well as the skulduggery in a way that regular folks can appreiate.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really opens your eyes to our political system and our urgency for change (might even make you very angry at times). I took away many strong points from this book, including that climate change is a problem/crisis of civilization. We need people to understand the severity of this issue and more importantly we need to stand up to our lawmakers and politicians.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is FAR superior to "An Inconvenient Truth." Gelbspan offers real solutions to the climate crisis, not Gore's ridiculous, trifling tidbits like "Ride a bike to the store instead of driving."

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's see this book is about climate change and how so many facets of our society have tried to hide the truth. So, I liked it.

[AJ Ostrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll save you the reading time: We need to reduce emissions by 70%. Now go and vote green

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good climate change book. If you want only want to read one book on the subject read The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery.

[Randall Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of those books that makes you mad

[Kidough711 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good commentary on the climate change issue we face, very informative, well written.
205 pages