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Carbon Diaries #1
The Carbon Diaries 2015
It's January 1st, 2015, and the UK is the first nation to introduce carbon dioxide rationing, in a drastic bid to combat climate change. As her family spirals out of control, Laura Brown chronicles the first year of rationing with scathing abandon. Will her mother become one with her inner wolf? Will her sister give up her weekends in Ibiza? Does her father love the pig more than her? Can her band the dirty angels make it big? And will Ravi Datta ever notice her? In these dark days, Laura deals with the issues that really love, floods and pigs. The Carbon Diaries 2015 is one girl's drastic bid to stay sane in a world unravelling at the seams.
379 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2008
69 people are currently reading
2569 people want to read
About the author
Saci Lloyd
10 books33 followersSaci Lloyd was born in Manchester, but raised in Anglesey where she spent a lot of time lost in nature or down by the shore.
Saci returned to Manchester as an undergraduate, but soon quit University for a life of glamour. At various points in the glitz she has worked as a very bad cartoonist, toured the States in a straightedge band, run an interactive media team at an advertising agency, co-founded a film company and finally wound up as head of media at NewVIc. She’s now stepped down from that post, but continues her association with the college.
Her first novels, The Carbon Diaries series came out September 2010 to critical acclaim and have been optioned by Company Pictures. They have been translated into fifteen languages.
Her new book, Momentum was released on June 2nd and is already doing really well. Everything Starts Right Here, Right Now!
Saci has just finished her latest book, Quantum Drop, a thriller set against the backdrop of the financial crash, which will be released in February of next year.
Saci returned to Manchester as an undergraduate, but soon quit University for a life of glamour. At various points in the glitz she has worked as a very bad cartoonist, toured the States in a straightedge band, run an interactive media team at an advertising agency, co-founded a film company and finally wound up as head of media at NewVIc. She’s now stepped down from that post, but continues her association with the college.
Her first novels, The Carbon Diaries series came out September 2010 to critical acclaim and have been optioned by Company Pictures. They have been translated into fifteen languages.
Her new book, Momentum was released on June 2nd and is already doing really well. Everything Starts Right Here, Right Now!
Saci has just finished her latest book, Quantum Drop, a thriller set against the backdrop of the financial crash, which will be released in February of next year.
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August 8, 2017[3.5] It takes a lot to get me reading YA ... like the only realistic fictionalisation (that I know of) of a Second World War-style rationing scheme implemented to curb environmental damage and climate change - a dream policy of plenty of hardcore greens. As I've often thought when reading posts by Marxists on GR over the past couple of years, as well as with this, it's so easy, when imagining big policy shifts you like the idea of, to ignore the fact even if a government was able to implement these ideas that aren't on any electorally relevant parties' manifestos, that there would be plenty of people who would find the transition difficult, or who plain wouldn't like it, and how that might play out in practice (and if you're anything like me, you make exceptions in your head for people you like who'd find whatever-it-is difficult...)
Published in 2008, the book is - as you might just have guessed - set in 2015: really a bit too soon for climate-change fuelled weather extremes, and policy and public opinion shifts, described here - but it does mean that the author doesn't have to invent lots of new technologies and youth subcultures wholesale, simply working from what was available in the late 00s, and this gives something of the sense of realism I really wanted from a novel about this scenario.
I enjoyed this rather a lot, and appreciated a bit more about why adults might read YA - easy to relax with and fast to read - but I'm surprised more don't get tired of teenage experiences and voices after reading several in a row.
I was never expecting Great Literature, but I was disappointed by instances which showed the superficiality of the author's research, things which, these days at least, a few months of reading environmental blogs and news sites, would inform someone about. Obviously, the most likely country to be the first in the world to implement carbon rationing would probably be a Nordic one, or the Netherlands or Germany - but I'm happy to ignore that as an author has to write something of what they know, and I really appreciated seeing this stuff in a relatively familiar environment. (The kind of London estate seen in Zadie Smith novels or Attack the Block, where multicultures live side by side in a way that would baffle a lot of Americans, and long-term council residents mix with middle-class creative families who couldn't afford to buy a house in a traditionally posh area.)
Among the things that niggled most were: Characters living in the London Borough of Greenwich start keeping a pig in an urban garden - current regs about foot and mouth would forbid this. But perhaps they might be lifted if the country's policy orientation was different? Some dishwashers and washing machines can use less water than doing the same chores by hand. A couple of characters who are starting a business are into unlimited abundance, The Secret-style money and success self-help books: politicised teenagers like the narrator's friends would be thinking of those as a signficant part of the culture behind the evil, capitalist, resource-overshooting culture that caused climate change, but no criticism or sneering is made at all. Laura, the narrator, is the bassist in a sixth-form punk band, and her bandmates are more heavily into a subculture of enviro-punks, an offshoot of straight edge, than she is: but given the seriousness of the subculture's attitudes and involvement in protest, and the rationing going on, I can't believe its music is still based around electric instruments... I haven't personally worked out how you'd get a punk type attitude and sound out of acoustic instruments, given how they're currently seen, but I think there would have to be something like that. (And would you still dye your hair blue? Or perhaps natural colour without any dyes would be a statement in itself? ... If you were still growing out dye, it would show you weren't that serious, maybe? Would your piercings have to be recycled metal?... Heck I think I want to edit/rewrite this...)
As a YA story it zips along but can be a little disappointing at times: Laura's parents trajectory, especially her mum's, owe rather too much to that original teenage diarist of 25 years earlier, Adrian Mole. There are strange lacunae, like the way Laura's bandmates have boyfriends and girlfriends, but it's literally months before they're even mentioned. Laura is 16, not 17, through most of the book, although she was doing her AS levels and her birthday is in October. The family next door have Hindu names, but they're from Hyderabad. I was frustrated with Laura's relatively low general knowledge, though not as badly as I would have been when I was a teenager and despaired of meeting anyone who was really interested in the same stuff; I sort of expected more of the character as her mum works in publishing, as I did of George in Ali Smith's How to Be Both - but Laura's subject choices and exam results show she's not that academic, so it makes a lot more sense from her.
What I found perhaps most interesting - although it could have been developed further - was the sense of young radicals both pleased and angry with a government and a prevailing political mood: the general direction is right, but lots of the details are being done wrong, as they see it: somethings going too far, others not far enough for them. It's not something I've ever experienced first hand, and it was slightly disorientating, but I figure it might have felt like this at times in countries like Greece, Spain and Iceland which have had parties further to the left than most of Europe in power, or close to it at times. Having Laura on the edges of this stuff, her friends more interested than she is, she having doubts and wavering back and forth without always feeling the need to explain herself, felt authentic for a somewhat politicised but not terribly academic teenager.
I'd love to be able to sit down and talk through details of policies like this with others - but unlike those GR Marxists doing their daydreaming that's (IMO) equally unlikely to be implemented, I don't know other people sufficiently into this stuff to bounce ideas off, and this book was the closest I've got yet. Even though there were lots of points that were missing, it was very welcome. The policy was implemented very suddenly with no run-up and no time for people to retrain out of industries that were no longer viable - but then that happened during the Miners Strike in the 1980s too... What about people who commuted long distances to jobs that were still viable, and whose commutes would use most of their carbon allocation? Were companies to move? Workers? What would happen to dormitory towns? Something that surely needs to be controlled more is manufacturing of unnecessary goods - there's nothing here about second hand stuff - whereas the author concentrates a lot more on individual energy use... (Quotas for businesses are hardly even mentioned. The estate setting would have been perfect to show whether or not there are different quotas for people with disabilities who need specialist equipment like electric wheelchairs... and also rather than simply saying no nut allergies now, no asthma inhalers, no overprotective mummies; these kids are fully survival-of-the-fittest animals... well, maybe that's because some of those ones weren't physically able to survive?) The low amounts of energy that use of items like already-existing phones and computers takes up means their use wouldn't need to be as controlled as it is here - I think the author's got that mixed up with low usage of such things as an aesthetic preference of some environmentalists. (And I'm sure a lot of people would walk and cycle everywhere so they could use their computers more.) On the plus side, she clearly has picked up on the need and respect for manual trade and tech repair skills - and has responded to the rather male-dominated collapsitarian dialogue (or peak oil as it must have been when she did her research) by making perhaps the most proactive and capable character a woman (albeit one featuring traces of old-fashioned derogatory cliche about lesbians.) Making the weather into all-over-the-place "global weirding" rather than just global warming was another of the better features. Was also glad that - inevitably - an elderly person who remembered WWII rationing was a signficant character. And that normal life, or a version of it, was shown going on against these events (as old Arthur said they did then too); a few of the GR reviewers apparently find it annoying that it does - but I bet a few of them enjoy dramas set during WWII that aren't all about battles and bombs!
As ever, there are correspondences with other books I've read recently: and having one character be a rather cliched gay hairdresser, who is going up in the world by starting a dating site, managed to fuse the Julian Clary novels I'd read in the last couple of months with the books on climate change... I do think there needs to be more outright camp in dystopias, to offset them - or maybe I wish I could write one - this wasn't quite it, but nice try, still.
I'm not sure Carbon Diaries necessarily deserves a place on a list called "Five of the best climate-change novels" (where I heard about it) - some would argue that its appearance is a symptom of the relative shortage of quality fiction on the subject, as highlighted by Amitav Ghosh in The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable - but I was very glad of the UK setting, with plenty of everyday details, what with so much dystopian fiction being American, and of its attempts, albeit imperfect, to dramatise a policy idea. If it happens that you want to read an environmental book but everything seems too demanding a read, and you'd rather have something trashy, not sure how it would be possible to combine these inclinations, this may fit the bill.
Published in 2008, the book is - as you might just have guessed - set in 2015: really a bit too soon for climate-change fuelled weather extremes, and policy and public opinion shifts, described here - but it does mean that the author doesn't have to invent lots of new technologies and youth subcultures wholesale, simply working from what was available in the late 00s, and this gives something of the sense of realism I really wanted from a novel about this scenario.
I enjoyed this rather a lot, and appreciated a bit more about why adults might read YA - easy to relax with and fast to read - but I'm surprised more don't get tired of teenage experiences and voices after reading several in a row.
I was never expecting Great Literature, but I was disappointed by instances which showed the superficiality of the author's research, things which, these days at least, a few months of reading environmental blogs and news sites, would inform someone about. Obviously, the most likely country to be the first in the world to implement carbon rationing would probably be a Nordic one, or the Netherlands or Germany - but I'm happy to ignore that as an author has to write something of what they know, and I really appreciated seeing this stuff in a relatively familiar environment. (The kind of London estate seen in Zadie Smith novels or Attack the Block, where multicultures live side by side in a way that would baffle a lot of Americans, and long-term council residents mix with middle-class creative families who couldn't afford to buy a house in a traditionally posh area.)
Among the things that niggled most were: Characters living in the London Borough of Greenwich start keeping a pig in an urban garden - current regs about foot and mouth would forbid this. But perhaps they might be lifted if the country's policy orientation was different? Some dishwashers and washing machines can use less water than doing the same chores by hand. A couple of characters who are starting a business are into unlimited abundance, The Secret-style money and success self-help books: politicised teenagers like the narrator's friends would be thinking of those as a signficant part of the culture behind the evil, capitalist, resource-overshooting culture that caused climate change, but no criticism or sneering is made at all. Laura, the narrator, is the bassist in a sixth-form punk band, and her bandmates are more heavily into a subculture of enviro-punks, an offshoot of straight edge, than she is: but given the seriousness of the subculture's attitudes and involvement in protest, and the rationing going on, I can't believe its music is still based around electric instruments... I haven't personally worked out how you'd get a punk type attitude and sound out of acoustic instruments, given how they're currently seen, but I think there would have to be something like that. (And would you still dye your hair blue? Or perhaps natural colour without any dyes would be a statement in itself? ... If you were still growing out dye, it would show you weren't that serious, maybe? Would your piercings have to be recycled metal?... Heck I think I want to edit/rewrite this...)
As a YA story it zips along but can be a little disappointing at times: Laura's parents trajectory, especially her mum's, owe rather too much to that original teenage diarist of 25 years earlier, Adrian Mole. There are strange lacunae, like the way Laura's bandmates have boyfriends and girlfriends, but it's literally months before they're even mentioned. Laura is 16, not 17, through most of the book, although she was doing her AS levels and her birthday is in October. The family next door have Hindu names, but they're from Hyderabad. I was frustrated with Laura's relatively low general knowledge, though not as badly as I would have been when I was a teenager and despaired of meeting anyone who was really interested in the same stuff; I sort of expected more of the character as her mum works in publishing, as I did of George in Ali Smith's How to Be Both - but Laura's subject choices and exam results show she's not that academic, so it makes a lot more sense from her.
What I found perhaps most interesting - although it could have been developed further - was the sense of young radicals both pleased and angry with a government and a prevailing political mood: the general direction is right, but lots of the details are being done wrong, as they see it: somethings going too far, others not far enough for them. It's not something I've ever experienced first hand, and it was slightly disorientating, but I figure it might have felt like this at times in countries like Greece, Spain and Iceland which have had parties further to the left than most of Europe in power, or close to it at times. Having Laura on the edges of this stuff, her friends more interested than she is, she having doubts and wavering back and forth without always feeling the need to explain herself, felt authentic for a somewhat politicised but not terribly academic teenager.
I'd love to be able to sit down and talk through details of policies like this with others - but unlike those GR Marxists doing their daydreaming that's (IMO) equally unlikely to be implemented, I don't know other people sufficiently into this stuff to bounce ideas off, and this book was the closest I've got yet. Even though there were lots of points that were missing, it was very welcome. The policy was implemented very suddenly with no run-up and no time for people to retrain out of industries that were no longer viable - but then that happened during the Miners Strike in the 1980s too... What about people who commuted long distances to jobs that were still viable, and whose commutes would use most of their carbon allocation? Were companies to move? Workers? What would happen to dormitory towns? Something that surely needs to be controlled more is manufacturing of unnecessary goods - there's nothing here about second hand stuff - whereas the author concentrates a lot more on individual energy use... (Quotas for businesses are hardly even mentioned. The estate setting would have been perfect to show whether or not there are different quotas for people with disabilities who need specialist equipment like electric wheelchairs... and also rather than simply saying no nut allergies now, no asthma inhalers, no overprotective mummies; these kids are fully survival-of-the-fittest animals... well, maybe that's because some of those ones weren't physically able to survive?) The low amounts of energy that use of items like already-existing phones and computers takes up means their use wouldn't need to be as controlled as it is here - I think the author's got that mixed up with low usage of such things as an aesthetic preference of some environmentalists. (And I'm sure a lot of people would walk and cycle everywhere so they could use their computers more.) On the plus side, she clearly has picked up on the need and respect for manual trade and tech repair skills - and has responded to the rather male-dominated collapsitarian dialogue (or peak oil as it must have been when she did her research) by making perhaps the most proactive and capable character a woman (albeit one featuring traces of old-fashioned derogatory cliche about lesbians.) Making the weather into all-over-the-place "global weirding" rather than just global warming was another of the better features. Was also glad that - inevitably - an elderly person who remembered WWII rationing was a signficant character. And that normal life, or a version of it, was shown going on against these events (as old Arthur said they did then too); a few of the GR reviewers apparently find it annoying that it does - but I bet a few of them enjoy dramas set during WWII that aren't all about battles and bombs!
As ever, there are correspondences with other books I've read recently: and having one character be a rather cliched gay hairdresser, who is going up in the world by starting a dating site, managed to fuse the Julian Clary novels I'd read in the last couple of months with the books on climate change... I do think there needs to be more outright camp in dystopias, to offset them - or maybe I wish I could write one - this wasn't quite it, but nice try, still.
I'm not sure Carbon Diaries necessarily deserves a place on a list called "Five of the best climate-change novels" (where I heard about it) - some would argue that its appearance is a symptom of the relative shortage of quality fiction on the subject, as highlighted by Amitav Ghosh in The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable - but I was very glad of the UK setting, with plenty of everyday details, what with so much dystopian fiction being American, and of its attempts, albeit imperfect, to dramatise a policy idea. If it happens that you want to read an environmental book but everything seems too demanding a read, and you'd rather have something trashy, not sure how it would be possible to combine these inclinations, this may fit the bill.
January 9, 2010
Have you heard about global warming? Come on, you can admit it! You know you have. There'll be heat waves, water shortages, big storms, all kinds of scary things happening, and civilization will struggle to survive under the strain. But teenagers will still be teenagers, never fear!
Laura is a sixteen-year-old Londoner who plays bass in the band dirty angels, whose sister is determined to make everyone pay for her not getting her year abroad, and who has parents who could not BE more embarrassing.
Laura also has a crush on the cute boy next door, but experienced readers will soon realize that he is not the guy for her. Sure, she's worried about power shortages, and carbon rationing, but those won't last, will they?
I liked the combination of regular teenage interests mixed with a steadily worsening yet not soul-crushing depiction of what the world could be like in a global-warming scenario. There's awful things happening, yes, but there's also cooperation and resourcefulness, and hope for civilization, and a sequel!
It's a little too educational for pure enjoyment, but it's still pretty good. Includes a list of websites on how to live green in the back, along with a glossary of Britishisms. Gee, too bad I didn't know about those until I was already finished with the book.
Laura is a sixteen-year-old Londoner who plays bass in the band dirty angels, whose sister is determined to make everyone pay for her not getting her year abroad, and who has parents who could not BE more embarrassing.
Laura also has a crush on the cute boy next door, but experienced readers will soon realize that he is not the guy for her. Sure, she's worried about power shortages, and carbon rationing, but those won't last, will they?
I liked the combination of regular teenage interests mixed with a steadily worsening yet not soul-crushing depiction of what the world could be like in a global-warming scenario. There's awful things happening, yes, but there's also cooperation and resourcefulness, and hope for civilization, and a sequel!
It's a little too educational for pure enjoyment, but it's still pretty good. Includes a list of websites on how to live green in the back, along with a glossary of Britishisms. Gee, too bad I didn't know about those until I was already finished with the book.
April 17, 2021
En helt okej bok! Men fuck vilken ångest, levde mig in i världen för mkt! Också bara vetskapen att det absolut är en dystopisk framtidsskildring men också typ exakt det vi är på väg mot iihhhgghavsvblflfn
June 10, 2010
I have to admit that I rolled my eyes more than once through the opening pages of this book. The immaturity of teenaged Laura seemed over the top. While the rest of the country is worrying about pollution and carbon rationing and the crazy weather, Laura is worrying about a boy she likes and about all the things she can do to try and still be "normal." But then I realized, this is exactly what a teenager WOULD be doing during this type of situation. After that, reading this book went a little smoother for me. There are times when you have to read between the lines a little, and of course there will still be those eye-rolling moments (especially with the love interest) but overall this is an interesting book that seemed realistic enough.
Some things bordered more on fantasy than science fiction. For instance, the carbon meters that were required in people's houses. At one point it talked about these being installed in just a few week's time. Supposedly these meters had the ability to shut off toasters or other appliances if they were using too much power. Something this complex would be very expensive, require a great leap ahead in scientific research (given the fact that this book takes place just 5 years from now), and take much longer to install in millions of homes. This is not something that could be implemented as easily as the author implied.
So, there were some annoyances along those lines, but I enjoyed reading about Laura's family and how they grew (both apart and together) and there were some brilliant statements and one-liners that I enjoyed, which is why I'm giving this book a higher rating than I might have. I will definitely read the sequel.
Some things bordered more on fantasy than science fiction. For instance, the carbon meters that were required in people's houses. At one point it talked about these being installed in just a few week's time. Supposedly these meters had the ability to shut off toasters or other appliances if they were using too much power. Something this complex would be very expensive, require a great leap ahead in scientific research (given the fact that this book takes place just 5 years from now), and take much longer to install in millions of homes. This is not something that could be implemented as easily as the author implied.
So, there were some annoyances along those lines, but I enjoyed reading about Laura's family and how they grew (both apart and together) and there were some brilliant statements and one-liners that I enjoyed, which is why I'm giving this book a higher rating than I might have. I will definitely read the sequel.
July 10, 2012
I read the blurb of this book and instantly wanted to read it. I am a big fan of dystopian teenage novels so I thought I would really like this book but sadly that was not the case. What I thought would be a well written and intelligent book turned out to be a book full of grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and scientific inaccuracies that really annoyed me.
The book is set is 2015 and the UK, due to Global Warming, had been placed on Co2 rationing. I really did think that the plot would be really good and strong but Saci Lloyd's poor writing really really bugged me. Her use of 'street' speak became so annoying in the end that I found it made reading the book so difficult. The word through is NOT spelt as 'thru' and it was very annoying to see this written down over and over again. None of the characters really speak correctly and the grammar errors were blazingly obvious.
The characters themselves are all very annoying and I am so glad I did not waste my money buying this book, instead I simply borrowed it from the library. A few people have suggested more of Lloyd's books to me but I am very sceptical of reading them if they are anything like this book.
The book is set is 2015 and the UK, due to Global Warming, had been placed on Co2 rationing. I really did think that the plot would be really good and strong but Saci Lloyd's poor writing really really bugged me. Her use of 'street' speak became so annoying in the end that I found it made reading the book so difficult. The word through is NOT spelt as 'thru' and it was very annoying to see this written down over and over again. None of the characters really speak correctly and the grammar errors were blazingly obvious.
The characters themselves are all very annoying and I am so glad I did not waste my money buying this book, instead I simply borrowed it from the library. A few people have suggested more of Lloyd's books to me but I am very sceptical of reading them if they are anything like this book.
September 15, 2009
"You never think it's gonna happen to you, but all that pollution and dirty fumes and flights and factories and shit we don't need and suddenly there you are, a stupid girl sitting alone on some steps, waiting to see if your family is ever coming back." (pg. 298)
This one started slow for me. It's in a diary format, with an entry of at least a few words for virtually every day in the year 2015 for a teen in London. It's fascinating as a prediction of how things could really play out if global warming continues to escalate. In this telling, there's a great storm in 2010, and world-wide government is forced to confront the realities of global warming. Great Britain is the first nation to implement carbon rationing.
In concept, it's all very impressive and fascinating. But what I really liked about this is that it's a VERY personal tale of one teen's experience in the midst of this crisis. She has family drama, boy drama, school drama, band drama (her band's called the dirty angels), and when things get really desperate she very realistically puts some of the drama aside to focus on survival. As I said before, there's no real sense of suspense until things start getting really crazy (November or so), but it's really interesting to watch the minute consequences of such major cultural change, as well as the various ways Laura's family members cope with the dramatic effects on their lives. An important book.
This one started slow for me. It's in a diary format, with an entry of at least a few words for virtually every day in the year 2015 for a teen in London. It's fascinating as a prediction of how things could really play out if global warming continues to escalate. In this telling, there's a great storm in 2010, and world-wide government is forced to confront the realities of global warming. Great Britain is the first nation to implement carbon rationing.
In concept, it's all very impressive and fascinating. But what I really liked about this is that it's a VERY personal tale of one teen's experience in the midst of this crisis. She has family drama, boy drama, school drama, band drama (her band's called the dirty angels), and when things get really desperate she very realistically puts some of the drama aside to focus on survival. As I said before, there's no real sense of suspense until things start getting really crazy (November or so), but it's really interesting to watch the minute consequences of such major cultural change, as well as the various ways Laura's family members cope with the dramatic effects on their lives. An important book.
March 22, 2012
I didn't finish this book, so take what you will of my review. Maybe it would have gotten better by the end, but I don't have much hope of it considering that I read all the way to page 104 and still gave up on it. The concept is great -- everyone in England needs to limit the amount of carbon they use, and usage is tightly controlled by the government. Maybe eventually there would have been a cool storm or two that would have killed a few million people. But up to page 104, it was mostly a lot of distanced, whiney, teen-Brit speak and slang (cos instead of because) which may be great for authenticity but does nothing to hold my interest. I'm not sure anything even really happened in all of those pages, other than the main character explains over and over how obsessed she is with her neighbor and how her mom and dad have a deteriorating relationship. The only reason I gave it two stars and not one is I can see how this would have some teen interest and they might not mind the writing style. Other than that, I found it so boring I actually dreaded picking it up during my lunch break.
Not at all like "Life as We Knew It."
Not at all like "Life as We Knew It."
November 30, 2013
this book is the most annoying, bratty and unrealistic book that I have read in ages. It uses impossible situations to support the author's view. The storm surge destroying London is something in which there is a possibility of 1 in 20 within the next 80 years and it would be impossible so close because ice caps aren't melting fast enough. Not to mention the drought in London. This book scares teenagers into succumbing to the author's political view of anarchic communism, and that the English government will soon be run on corruption to the point of a revolutionary fight by book 2. The main character develops little, it gives a terrible message, and her other books are dreadful beyond your imaginaions. Please, children, stay away from this shit
September 28, 2009
Too much teenage angst. Not enought dystopian angst. Although there's plenty of both.
Britain was always good about queuing up, share and share alike, back in the war. WWII, that is. But in 2015, when they begin a program of rationing carbon units, greed rears its ugly head.
I appreciate the tense family dynamic that the author portrays. She ably delineates the "before and after" of rationing, and even slips in some international tensions.
But I just didn't care about Laura's love relationships or her band and their issues. I'm sure teens will like it, though.
Britain was always good about queuing up, share and share alike, back in the war. WWII, that is. But in 2015, when they begin a program of rationing carbon units, greed rears its ugly head.
I appreciate the tense family dynamic that the author portrays. She ably delineates the "before and after" of rationing, and even slips in some international tensions.
But I just didn't care about Laura's love relationships or her band and their issues. I'm sure teens will like it, though.
April 23, 2021
Typ lite tråkig bok som på samma gång provocerade mig och lämnade mig med sjukt mycket ångest. Politiskt förvirrad bok? Speglar en dystopisk framtid där klimatrörelsen i stort misslyckats med att vara tillräckligt antikapitalistisk. Band-plotten och subkulturella 70-tals referenser kändes lite utdragna.
January 11, 2024
My lecturer just mentioned this book, and I remembered I've never logged this here. I've read it in 10th grade, and all I can recall is important topic but awful writing 🤠
June 17, 2025
This is a battle cry of a book. I might start a petition to get it put on the national curriculum. Stand up and take notice people, because if we don't stop our governments ignoring climate change in favour of big businesses maximising profits, this could happen.
I was in Gloucestershire in 2007. We had already had some flooding in June and the fields were still saturated so when we had an absolute deluge in July, there was nowhere for the water to go. The flooding was terrible. The local water treatment facility was flooded and, ironically, given the sheer amount of water about, our water supply was cut off. We were told to bathe with water from water butts. Drinking water we had to collect every day, at first in bottles and then, when they ran out, from bowsers. The lines to get the water were long and squabbles broke out, especially when people tried to take more than their share*. People were panic buying and there were fights in the supermarket over tin cans and anything drinkable. I was lucky because friends of mine who lived closer to the centre of Gloucester ended up being evacuated. My home wasn't flooded. It could've been much worse.
But it does put the events of The Carbon Diaries 2015 into perspective. The thing that really makes me angry, is that if people could just be bothered to cut back, even in fairly small ways... if everyone did it, then maybe we could minimise the effects of climate change.
I'm going to end this review here, before I really get entrenched on my soapbox, but I just want to say this. Get your head out of the sand! Stop pretending it isn't going to happen or it won't affect you. Do something. I've been trying, but I think this book has helped put the wind back in my sails.
*I suspect these are the same people who refuse to so much as change to an energy efficient lightbulb, it being their right to destroy the planet at their convenience.
I was in Gloucestershire in 2007. We had already had some flooding in June and the fields were still saturated so when we had an absolute deluge in July, there was nowhere for the water to go. The flooding was terrible. The local water treatment facility was flooded and, ironically, given the sheer amount of water about, our water supply was cut off. We were told to bathe with water from water butts. Drinking water we had to collect every day, at first in bottles and then, when they ran out, from bowsers. The lines to get the water were long and squabbles broke out, especially when people tried to take more than their share*. People were panic buying and there were fights in the supermarket over tin cans and anything drinkable. I was lucky because friends of mine who lived closer to the centre of Gloucester ended up being evacuated. My home wasn't flooded. It could've been much worse.
But it does put the events of The Carbon Diaries 2015 into perspective. The thing that really makes me angry, is that if people could just be bothered to cut back, even in fairly small ways... if everyone did it, then maybe we could minimise the effects of climate change.
I'm going to end this review here, before I really get entrenched on my soapbox, but I just want to say this. Get your head out of the sand! Stop pretending it isn't going to happen or it won't affect you. Do something. I've been trying, but I think this book has helped put the wind back in my sails.
*I suspect these are the same people who refuse to so much as change to an energy efficient lightbulb, it being their right to destroy the planet at their convenience.
April 10, 2015
"The book isn't a cautionary tale, in my humble opinion. It's much more of a thriller. What's going to happen next and how will the characters survive it? Though Laura comments on the selfishness of others a couple of times and wants very much for the rest of the world to get on board with carbon rationing, this is not a "Let's save the planet!" story. There is no instructive message.
I'm sure many reviewers probably write about The Carbon Diaries' environmental themes. I always have trouble determining what an environmental theme would be. I've seen some writers calls The Carbon Diaries' theme "climate change." That seems more like a subject to me. I would say the theme of The Carbon Diaries involves a teenager struggling to find her place as an older person in her family and her place in society, one that is dramatically changing. Those are traditional YA themes, not environmental ones. It's the environmental setting that makes those traditional YA themes interesting and makes this book environmental."
Excerpt from Original Content.
I'm sure many reviewers probably write about The Carbon Diaries' environmental themes. I always have trouble determining what an environmental theme would be. I've seen some writers calls The Carbon Diaries' theme "climate change." That seems more like a subject to me. I would say the theme of The Carbon Diaries involves a teenager struggling to find her place as an older person in her family and her place in society, one that is dramatically changing. Those are traditional YA themes, not environmental ones. It's the environmental setting that makes those traditional YA themes interesting and makes this book environmental."
Excerpt from Original Content.
May 4, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it had a really interesting premise, what if the government imposed carbon rationing on an unready British population.
Add in bizarre global weirding weather and political unrest, it makes for a really interesting story when seen through the eyes of a teenage London girl.
What was slightly disturbing was the timing of the flooding part of the story. After all, we had out very own catastrophic flooding in December 2015 after continuous rain for 6 weeks beforehand. Its already happening here.....
Add in bizarre global weirding weather and political unrest, it makes for a really interesting story when seen through the eyes of a teenage London girl.
What was slightly disturbing was the timing of the flooding part of the story. After all, we had out very own catastrophic flooding in December 2015 after continuous rain for 6 weeks beforehand. Its already happening here.....
July 3, 2025
Idees originals des d’una narradora punyent, real i humana, acompanyat d’un format molt adient i coherent amb el relat d’una adolescent. Manté el ritme equilibrat entre els esdeveniments de la crisi climàtics i les repercusions en la vida de la protagonista, però hi ha un canvi narratiu incomprensible al tram final que no encaixa amb la resta de la novel·la.
May 13, 2021
In manchen Ansichten und Äußerungen schreit das Buch förmlich 2008, während es andererseits eine bedrohliche Aktualität mit sich bringt. Hätte ich es vor Corona gelesen, hätte ich gesagt, das Verhalten der Menschen sei unrealistisch. Jetzt kommt es mir erschreckend realistisch vor.
January 31, 2024
Maybe more like 2.5?
November 1, 2019
Man muss Bedenken das dieses Buch eher für Teenager gedacht ist. Aber abgesehen von der Teenagerin Laura, könnte dieser Roman von 2015 auch perfekt in dieses Jahr passen. Es geht um die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels. Rationierungen von Wasser und Energie, Überflutungen, Stürme, etc. Und das scheint mittlerweile schon sehr realistisch.
June 3, 2018
Jag planerar att skriva en cli-fi-bokserie så nu är det dags att läsa in mig på genren! Den här boken är befolkad av lite galna människor. Men så är det ju också galet, det som vi gör med planeten, så det passar väl bra.
August 27, 2022
4.5 ⭐
One of the best books I've read this year. It scared everything out of me. So realistic. It waited on my shelf for so long, but it was worth it.
Laura's life was so understandable from the beginning to the end. I was barely reading the last 30 pages. It was like I was part of all of it.
I'm not sure I'll read the next book in series. I'm not ready for it. But I've learned so much about this world, just from this 300+ pages.
One of the best books I've read this year. It scared everything out of me. So realistic. It waited on my shelf for so long, but it was worth it.
Laura's life was so understandable from the beginning to the end. I was barely reading the last 30 pages. It was like I was part of all of it.
I'm not sure I'll read the next book in series. I'm not ready for it. But I've learned so much about this world, just from this 300+ pages.
April 29, 2011
Two emotions invoked by this book?
Fear and guilt.
Look, we all know who's destroying this planet. You (yes, you) and me and everybody else. Though most of us aren't in a panic about the negative effects of airplane and car fumes and litter and leaving your t.v. on for 72 hours straight. Because the damaged we're doing to Earth isn't devastating yet. No real serious consequences for us to be truly concerned, right?
Well...maybe we should be.
Yes, the carbon diaries is set in the future and would be thought of as speculative fiction. But I'd like to think of it as being more practical than that. Because while reading it, you always have that sense of doubt in the back of your mind and that ringing question over and over: Could this be our future? Is this where the Earth is headed if we don't get off our asses and clean up our act and stop sucking the planet dry...
Okay, okay I'm not preaching. Trust me, I'm just as bad, I drive a freakin' 8 cylinder gas guzzler.
According to Laura's diary in which the format of the book is written, the effects of global warming have become devastating. In short, mega environmental disaster. And it's only getting worse. So to calm down the greenhouse gases and try to get global warming under control, the government imposes a "carbon rationing" system. And the first lab rats up for the experiment is the United Kingdom. Every household has a smart meter and everyone is given carbon debit cards that can be used month-by-month for bus rides, internet, flights, gas, heat, etc. If you go over your limit, "carbon police" come to your house with warnings. There's even a black market for buying more blocks for your card.
After the start of carbon rationing, Laura watches her family and neighbors crack up, struggling to survive as England falls apart from a corrupted environment and a even more corrupted government. The concept of the story was excellent. It reminded me a lot of Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pffefer. You couldn't read this without feeling some type of pain and sorrow for what the UK was being subjected to. I also liked Laura's character a lot. She tries so hard to remain the normal one as her parents become more and more dysfunctional. I don't know why people choose to have a mid-life crisis during world catastrophes. And I loved the song lyrics she wrote for her band. She's a little tomboyish but she had her love interest to balance it out. The writing in this book was a little awkward for me, mainly because there was a lot of British lingo and abbreviations and ecology words I didn't understand (thank you, Saci, for the translations in the back). There were illustrations of Laura's memorabilia but they weren't that good. The text on the news clippings were small and hard to read and the pictures were kind of corny. Also, I feel like this book should have take place further in the future than 2015. Maybe somewhere around 2025 or 2045.
The Carbon Diaries is an important book to keep in mind for the future. It will be one you'll remember long after you're done with it. Because the ideas Saci Lloyd introduces aren't that irrational. Could something like that happen here? Honestly, I think so. What would you do if watching tv, running appliances and how much water you use had to be carefully monitored? All the time? And the idea of traveling and taking vacations was phased out? It's scary to think that's a road we might be heading down...anyways, go green!
Fear and guilt.
Look, we all know who's destroying this planet. You (yes, you) and me and everybody else. Though most of us aren't in a panic about the negative effects of airplane and car fumes and litter and leaving your t.v. on for 72 hours straight. Because the damaged we're doing to Earth isn't devastating yet. No real serious consequences for us to be truly concerned, right?
Well...maybe we should be.
Yes, the carbon diaries is set in the future and would be thought of as speculative fiction. But I'd like to think of it as being more practical than that. Because while reading it, you always have that sense of doubt in the back of your mind and that ringing question over and over: Could this be our future? Is this where the Earth is headed if we don't get off our asses and clean up our act and stop sucking the planet dry...
Okay, okay I'm not preaching. Trust me, I'm just as bad, I drive a freakin' 8 cylinder gas guzzler.
According to Laura's diary in which the format of the book is written, the effects of global warming have become devastating. In short, mega environmental disaster. And it's only getting worse. So to calm down the greenhouse gases and try to get global warming under control, the government imposes a "carbon rationing" system. And the first lab rats up for the experiment is the United Kingdom. Every household has a smart meter and everyone is given carbon debit cards that can be used month-by-month for bus rides, internet, flights, gas, heat, etc. If you go over your limit, "carbon police" come to your house with warnings. There's even a black market for buying more blocks for your card.
After the start of carbon rationing, Laura watches her family and neighbors crack up, struggling to survive as England falls apart from a corrupted environment and a even more corrupted government. The concept of the story was excellent. It reminded me a lot of Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pffefer. You couldn't read this without feeling some type of pain and sorrow for what the UK was being subjected to. I also liked Laura's character a lot. She tries so hard to remain the normal one as her parents become more and more dysfunctional. I don't know why people choose to have a mid-life crisis during world catastrophes. And I loved the song lyrics she wrote for her band. She's a little tomboyish but she had her love interest to balance it out. The writing in this book was a little awkward for me, mainly because there was a lot of British lingo and abbreviations and ecology words I didn't understand (thank you, Saci, for the translations in the back). There were illustrations of Laura's memorabilia but they weren't that good. The text on the news clippings were small and hard to read and the pictures were kind of corny. Also, I feel like this book should have take place further in the future than 2015. Maybe somewhere around 2025 or 2045.
The Carbon Diaries is an important book to keep in mind for the future. It will be one you'll remember long after you're done with it. Because the ideas Saci Lloyd introduces aren't that irrational. Could something like that happen here? Honestly, I think so. What would you do if watching tv, running appliances and how much water you use had to be carefully monitored? All the time? And the idea of traveling and taking vacations was phased out? It's scary to think that's a road we might be heading down...anyways, go green!
July 14, 2012
Geez, this book scared me. And enthralled me.
First of all, you'll probably only enjoy this book if you accept the reality of global warming. Climate change denialists will likely have a hard time with the premise of the story. So know that before reading. If you're not sure how you feel about global warming, this is definitely a good way to, ahem, light a fire under you to do some more research.
I was worried that this book would be more propaganda than literature, but I didn't think that was the case. It's clear that there IS a bit of an agenda, but I also cared about the characters and thought the author did justice to the complexity of the issue.
The book isn't just "oh no my life is hard because everything is hotter." Global warming is actually a lot more complex, and reducing carbon emissions means an ENTIRE lifestyle change. The possible societal effects of something that big are fascinating. For example, in this world, carbon rationing leads to a minor "back to the land" movement, with people starting to grow their own food, deliver goods via horse and buggy, and start community livestock raising. But the return of this lifestyle also means that, almost immediately, men attempt to reinstate the patriarchal system of men doing the outdoor work and women doing the domestic work. Which, of course, the women immediately fight. It's like the 60s and 70s all over again...ultra-feminists, organic farmer hippies, etc.
The carbon rationing also leads to a carbon black market, a major economic recession, the reorganization of school systems to focus on subjects that are more financially viable, extreme environmentalist radicals (sort of environmental anarchists, which is totally weird), power outages that lead to mobs and looting, and massive protests.
And, as a final thought, the book takes place in London, and it's delightfully British.
First of all, you'll probably only enjoy this book if you accept the reality of global warming. Climate change denialists will likely have a hard time with the premise of the story. So know that before reading. If you're not sure how you feel about global warming, this is definitely a good way to, ahem, light a fire under you to do some more research.
I was worried that this book would be more propaganda than literature, but I didn't think that was the case. It's clear that there IS a bit of an agenda, but I also cared about the characters and thought the author did justice to the complexity of the issue.
The book isn't just "oh no my life is hard because everything is hotter." Global warming is actually a lot more complex, and reducing carbon emissions means an ENTIRE lifestyle change. The possible societal effects of something that big are fascinating. For example, in this world, carbon rationing leads to a minor "back to the land" movement, with people starting to grow their own food, deliver goods via horse and buggy, and start community livestock raising. But the return of this lifestyle also means that, almost immediately, men attempt to reinstate the patriarchal system of men doing the outdoor work and women doing the domestic work. Which, of course, the women immediately fight. It's like the 60s and 70s all over again...ultra-feminists, organic farmer hippies, etc.
The carbon rationing also leads to a carbon black market, a major economic recession, the reorganization of school systems to focus on subjects that are more financially viable, extreme environmentalist radicals (sort of environmental anarchists, which is totally weird), power outages that lead to mobs and looting, and massive protests.
And, as a final thought, the book takes place in London, and it's delightfully British.
July 27, 2010
I picked this up because I loved Life As We Knew It and I thought this would be similar. Although I still liked Carbon Diaries 2015, I must admit I was rather disappointed by it. While bad things certainly happened to Laura and I liked her as a character, the book wasn't very dark. It didn't provoke much emotion in me at all, other than wondering what I would do if I was Laura. Perhaps it was just me, but I really felt like I was merely reading her story rather than getting emotionally involved with it and the characters. At times I admit that I was a little bored and my attention kept drifting.
However, this is not to say I didn't enjoy the book. Laura's voice sounded like an authentic teenager (I don't know many British schoolgirls so I can't say whether or not she's authentically British), and I appreciate that her diary entries did actually sound like entries and not an excuse to narrate through a different format. I liked that she remained strong throughout all the bad stuff that was happening, and the romance could be really sweet at times.
To be honest, though, the main reason I like the book is the concept. It's definitely worth a read if only for the ideas introduced regarding what may happen to use in the dismayingly near future if we don't shape us soon. 3 stars out of five.
However, this is not to say I didn't enjoy the book. Laura's voice sounded like an authentic teenager (I don't know many British schoolgirls so I can't say whether or not she's authentically British), and I appreciate that her diary entries did actually sound like entries and not an excuse to narrate through a different format. I liked that she remained strong throughout all the bad stuff that was happening, and the romance could be really sweet at times.
To be honest, though, the main reason I like the book is the concept. It's definitely worth a read if only for the ideas introduced regarding what may happen to use in the dismayingly near future if we don't shape us soon. 3 stars out of five.
July 22, 2014
I picked up this book, like many of the readers who reviewed, believing it maybe a little more interesting than other fiction books I've read; however, I was disappointed.
As I read on I kept needing to remind myself that these were 'journal' entries not random twitter updates given the ridiculous use of slang and misspelled words. Maybe the author of this book tried to reach out to a much younger audience, probably much younger than the protagonist herself who seemed more like an angsty 7th grader than a college student to me.
Environmentalism has a been a long time subject of interest to me yet this book failed to stir any emotion in me and thus leaving me to toss it away with little remorse and hope that things might pick up somewhere in the middle.
I noticed there are others here who enjoyed the book more than I did. Which is no problem just as long as it gives them an idea on the seriousness of the issues of Global Warming and it's destructive aftermath.
As I read on I kept needing to remind myself that these were 'journal' entries not random twitter updates given the ridiculous use of slang and misspelled words. Maybe the author of this book tried to reach out to a much younger audience, probably much younger than the protagonist herself who seemed more like an angsty 7th grader than a college student to me.
Environmentalism has a been a long time subject of interest to me yet this book failed to stir any emotion in me and thus leaving me to toss it away with little remorse and hope that things might pick up somewhere in the middle.
I noticed there are others here who enjoyed the book more than I did. Which is no problem just as long as it gives them an idea on the seriousness of the issues of Global Warming and it's destructive aftermath.
November 28, 2009
Just finished this one. Hooked from the beginning. My kind of book, with environmental worries, teenage angst, what's happening to the world I used to know and what's happening to the world now? Laura, the main character, is in a heavy metal(?) band, the older sister Kim, marches to her own drummer (with an amazing attitude for everyone), and surrounding them all is global warming, storms, carbon rationing, and more. The government in Britain decided that Britain will be the guinea pig with the carbon rationing program. Great read, appropriately teen for language. Anxiously awaiting Carbon Diaries 2017.
December 29, 2009
This novel has a tremendous premise. CARBON DIARIES shows what global warming could look and feel like in just a short time if stronger steps aren't taken in personal and societal life changes. Lloyd illustrates the scientific possibilities through one 16-year-old's perspective, and the illustrations throughout the book add to its sense of realism.
Unfortunately, I never connected with the main character, who was angry, annoying and self-centered for most of the book. Her dysfunctional family were also not good company, so I had to keep forcing myself to read. The book's premise and my own commitment to work toward a carbon neutral world were the only reasons I kept going back to read.
Unfortunately, I never connected with the main character, who was angry, annoying and self-centered for most of the book. Her dysfunctional family were also not good company, so I had to keep forcing myself to read. The book's premise and my own commitment to work toward a carbon neutral world were the only reasons I kept going back to read.
January 14, 2015
I had high hopes for this book, the premise was interesting what with the very real problem of carbon emissions, global warming, the energy crisis ect. and what governments might do to keep it from it getting worse and whether it'll infringe on the public's civil rights ect.
But this book did none of that, it started out alright, but gradually the story telling drifted away from the main (and more interesting plot of a national and global crisis) and more and more to do with teenage drama ect. Maybe it was the formatting but I really couldn't get into this book, I had to leave it unfinished because I just wasn't enjoying it.
But this book did none of that, it started out alright, but gradually the story telling drifted away from the main (and more interesting plot of a national and global crisis) and more and more to do with teenage drama ect. Maybe it was the formatting but I really couldn't get into this book, I had to leave it unfinished because I just wasn't enjoying it.
December 23, 2012
The contrasting image between Europe and the U.S. resonates with more accuracy than makes me comfortable. Aimz, (nickname for Amy), embodies the stereotype of Americans and our cluelessness with regard to global warming, our consumption of fossil fuels and our collective obliviousness about the consequences of our current luxury.
Given the fact that the fictional consequences that bombard England already exist in places like Bangladesh, (a place where I currently live), it would have been nice for the author to address this current reality in her text.
Given the fact that the fictional consequences that bombard England already exist in places like Bangladesh, (a place where I currently live), it would have been nice for the author to address this current reality in her text.
September 23, 2009
Another book about environmental disaster. This one was not quite as harrowing as Life As We Knew It of The Dead and the Gone by Susan Pfeffer, or because it ended with a little hope for the future. It's also written in diary form (like those others), but this one takes place in London. And I liked the side story about the narrator (Laura) playing bass in a punk band called the dirty angels (in lowercase letters).
March 13, 2009
Pretty good environmental sci fi for the YA (young to mid teen) crowd. Imagines a near future England where carbon emissions have been cut by 60% and a world in which the weather has gone nuts, creating havoc around the globe, all while a teenaged girl tries to keep her life normal. A cut above a lot of the "message" sci fi I've read.
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