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2084: Eine Zeitreise durch den Klimawandel
Das Jahr 2019 war das wärmste seit Beginn der Wetteraufzeichnung. Noch nie in der Geschichte der Menschheit sind Klimaschwankungen so rapide abgelaufen. In welcher Welt werden wir in Zukunft leben? Der renommierte Wissenschaftler James Powell nimmt uns mit auf eine Zeitreise durch den Klimawandel: Die Alpen schneefrei, Australien, Spanien und weite Teile der USA verwüstet und verbrannt, westliche Staaten führen neue Kriege um Ressourcen. Eine packende Dystopie, die leider allzu real ist.
Hardcover
First published March 21, 2011
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About the author
James Lawrence Powell
34 books28 followersDr. James L. Powell graduated from Berea College with a degree in Geology. He holds a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and taught Geology at Oberlin College for over 20 years.
He served as Acting President of Oberlin, President of Franklin and Marshall College, President of Reed College, President of the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, and President and Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.
Powell currently serves as Executive Director of the National Physical Science Consortium. Asteroid 1987 SH7 is named for him.
He served as Acting President of Oberlin, President of Franklin and Marshall College, President of Reed College, President of the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, and President and Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.
Powell currently serves as Executive Director of the National Physical Science Consortium. Asteroid 1987 SH7 is named for him.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews
September 7, 2020
Okay, this is 5 stars I have to explain, because the quality of the book as a novel is mediocre at best. Like other reviewers stated before me, most of the voices of the interview partners who tell their tales in the various chapters feel the same, more like a summing up of facts than the voices of real people who had stuff happening to them. I was listening to the audio production and here this feeling is enhanced by rather monotone reading of some of the narrators (not all of them, mind).
But - and this is a big one - the content is so important that I feel it outweighs any shortcomings of the execution. Powell takes the facts of global warming till end of 2019 and based upon them extrapolates the fate of humankind to the 2080ies. He divides his report in thematic parts like drought, sea level rising, climate refugees, fascism etc. and has people from different countries have their say. The interviews are sobering to say the least, downright devastating perhaps describes it better.
This report is a warning call for the decade that still has the possibility to change the future. An important read for anybody, whether you are a science follower or a science denier. The facts are there, the extrapolation feels well researched and the outcomes reported are depressingly believable.
But - and this is a big one - the content is so important that I feel it outweighs any shortcomings of the execution. Powell takes the facts of global warming till end of 2019 and based upon them extrapolates the fate of humankind to the 2080ies. He divides his report in thematic parts like drought, sea level rising, climate refugees, fascism etc. and has people from different countries have their say. The interviews are sobering to say the least, downright devastating perhaps describes it better.
This report is a warning call for the decade that still has the possibility to change the future. An important read for anybody, whether you are a science follower or a science denier. The facts are there, the extrapolation feels well researched and the outcomes reported are depressingly believable.
August 25, 2020
One word sums this book up: terrifying. TERRIFYING.
Written by geologist Dr James Lawrence Powell, this is a book of fiction, but reads as non-fiction. Set in the year 2084, it is an oral history of the devastation wreaked upon our planet by unchecked global warming. The narrator interviews different people in different areas of the world to see why we didn’t do enough to save our planet, what we could have done, and how global warming affected everyone, everywhere. The book is divided into different chapters that deal clearly with areas such as melting ice/rising sea levels, drought, fascism, immigration, war, extinction, and clean energy possibilities.
One could say that this is dystopian fiction, but I think we would be better off categorizing this as a red flag warning: in 2020 we are still not striving to reverse the effects of the damage that our nations are creating to the environment, and every year we are losing the chance to ensure that our children and grandchildren live in a world where they will thrive. This is really our last chance.
Just this August here in California we had a week of sustained temperatures over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s not difficult to imagine this becoming the norm, to imagine losing power constantly, not being able to grow food… And so on. The 2084 Report provides a pretty terrible overview of what our world will look like in 2084, and a lot of it is based on hard scientific facts.
If you are going into this book thinking that you will be reading a novel, you may be a bit thrown off by the content. It reads as an oral history, and therefore as nonfiction. I personally think that this is the best way to deal with this topic: it is very real, and very terrifying, and the only way to make a change in what our next generations will face, is to make it now.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Written by geologist Dr James Lawrence Powell, this is a book of fiction, but reads as non-fiction. Set in the year 2084, it is an oral history of the devastation wreaked upon our planet by unchecked global warming. The narrator interviews different people in different areas of the world to see why we didn’t do enough to save our planet, what we could have done, and how global warming affected everyone, everywhere. The book is divided into different chapters that deal clearly with areas such as melting ice/rising sea levels, drought, fascism, immigration, war, extinction, and clean energy possibilities.
One could say that this is dystopian fiction, but I think we would be better off categorizing this as a red flag warning: in 2020 we are still not striving to reverse the effects of the damage that our nations are creating to the environment, and every year we are losing the chance to ensure that our children and grandchildren live in a world where they will thrive. This is really our last chance.
Just this August here in California we had a week of sustained temperatures over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s not difficult to imagine this becoming the norm, to imagine losing power constantly, not being able to grow food… And so on. The 2084 Report provides a pretty terrible overview of what our world will look like in 2084, and a lot of it is based on hard scientific facts.
If you are going into this book thinking that you will be reading a novel, you may be a bit thrown off by the content. It reads as an oral history, and therefore as nonfiction. I personally think that this is the best way to deal with this topic: it is very real, and very terrifying, and the only way to make a change in what our next generations will face, is to make it now.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
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September 8, 2020Really scary what-if stories. Think World War Z except the bad guys are us and our refusal to do something to control global warming. Flood, famine, heat, disease and war are all results of the rising temperatures. Everyone should read this. Some of it has already happened.
July 31, 2011
I had a lot of hope for this book, but it was extremely disappointing. It's a fantastic idea, but it was handled poorly. Each "interviewee's" story is exactly the same and told in exactly the same voice. It reads like a collection of essays, not a collection of varied people's stories. Although I am on the same page as the author, I found myself resenting how heavy-handed and obvious the agenda is. This would have been much better to be published as a non-fiction collection of essays illustrating what possible (probable?) outcomes await us in the future.
June 19, 2011
I read this after been drawn to dystopian near-futures by Paol Bacigalupi's The WindUp Girl and this book disappointed.
I rate this book so poorly because it sets out to present itself as an oral history collecting the real words of real people (albeit imagined) in the future, but, it reads instead like an extended essay listing cold facts and sometimes imaginative predictions. The book also suffers because the 'voices' of all the 'characters' are IDENTICAL. EVERY CHAPTER HAS THE SAME VOICE. It doesn't matter if it's a defeated Canadian governor now absorbed into the Union, an inuit refugee, or the former Mexican ambassador to the US –they ALL have the same voice. When the author does make an attempt to differentiate, through a flash of accent or a single-sentence-but-apparently-deeply-personal story, it just comes across as amateurish.
Favorable comparisons to Max Brook's World War Z do not give that excellent title proper respect.
2084 should have just been a speculative essay, dispensing entirely with any sort of story wrapper. Just make the scary predictions, back them up with facts or projections, and let folks make their own conclusions. I think I'm even sympathetic to the point of view of the author, but seriously, for much more visceral connections to the one world we're destroying and the new one we're making, check out Bacigalupi's Pump Six and Other Stories or WindUp Girl. They will affect you more.
You can read this thing in an afternoon, easy-peasy, though I got bored and it took me a few weeks.
One technical note - This entire Kindle eBook version is set in bold face type. ALL of it. Distracting and amateurish.
I rate this book so poorly because it sets out to present itself as an oral history collecting the real words of real people (albeit imagined) in the future, but, it reads instead like an extended essay listing cold facts and sometimes imaginative predictions. The book also suffers because the 'voices' of all the 'characters' are IDENTICAL. EVERY CHAPTER HAS THE SAME VOICE. It doesn't matter if it's a defeated Canadian governor now absorbed into the Union, an inuit refugee, or the former Mexican ambassador to the US –they ALL have the same voice. When the author does make an attempt to differentiate, through a flash of accent or a single-sentence-but-apparently-deeply-personal story, it just comes across as amateurish.
Favorable comparisons to Max Brook's World War Z do not give that excellent title proper respect.
2084 should have just been a speculative essay, dispensing entirely with any sort of story wrapper. Just make the scary predictions, back them up with facts or projections, and let folks make their own conclusions. I think I'm even sympathetic to the point of view of the author, but seriously, for much more visceral connections to the one world we're destroying and the new one we're making, check out Bacigalupi's Pump Six and Other Stories or WindUp Girl. They will affect you more.
You can read this thing in an afternoon, easy-peasy, though I got bored and it took me a few weeks.
One technical note - This entire Kindle eBook version is set in bold face type. ALL of it. Distracting and amateurish.
October 24, 2020
This is probably a 4 or 4.5 star book for me, but I’m rounding it up because I don’t understand why it has such a low rating on Goodreads.
This is a fiction book written like a nonfiction book told through interviews. The author has degrees in geology and geochemistry. You can tell that he has done a lot of research and used his own expertise in crafting this book. In the note at the end he stated that all the data from 2019 and earlier is factual. He has extrapolated on that data to write this novel telling what life could be like in 2084 if world governments don’t start doing something to combat climate change.
It took me over a month to read this 225 page book because I could only take a little bit at a time. I needed to stop and think about what the author was saying and to sometimes do my own research on the side. There were parts of this book that made me angry and parts that gave me chills. I would only recommend this to people who believe in science and want to know more about climate change.
This is a fiction book written like a nonfiction book told through interviews. The author has degrees in geology and geochemistry. You can tell that he has done a lot of research and used his own expertise in crafting this book. In the note at the end he stated that all the data from 2019 and earlier is factual. He has extrapolated on that data to write this novel telling what life could be like in 2084 if world governments don’t start doing something to combat climate change.
It took me over a month to read this 225 page book because I could only take a little bit at a time. I needed to stop and think about what the author was saying and to sometimes do my own research on the side. There were parts of this book that made me angry and parts that gave me chills. I would only recommend this to people who believe in science and want to know more about climate change.
May 19, 2021
Az Év Legnyomasztóbb Könyve. Vagy az évszázadé is akár...
Szájbarágós, manipulatív, vállaltan frusztráló kötet ez, egy olyan fiction, amit non-fiction-nek kell olvasni és lehetőleg rettenetesen kiakadni, hogy mik történnek a világban. Akarom mondani, mik fognak történni. Illetve nem, mégis: mik nem történnek a világban, és emiatt mik fognak történni. A lényeg, hogy mind meghalunk, nem szépen, vállalhatatlan ostobaságunk következtében, szóval meg is értünk a pusztulásra :/
De azért örülök, hogy nyílt egy csomagolásmentes bolt a közelben, hogy nincs autóm és nem is lesz, hogy rengeteg dolgot újrahasznosítunk a háztartásban, hogy próbálunk valahogy leszédelegni erről a mindent behálózó fogyasztói hullámvasútról...
Na de visszakanyarodva magához a könyvhöz, az alapötlet elég klassz, a képzelt riportok a jövőben. A tematikus fejezetek elrendezése is jól működik, talán csak a stílus száraz egy kicsit és a számadatok fullasztóak - ebben a formában nem nagyon lehet folyamatosan olvasni a kötetet, nem ad olyan élményt, mint egy regény, vagy akár egy hosszabb esszé. Én is többször szünetet tartottam, igaz, a kollektív bűntudatba merüléshez se éreztem minden nap elég erőt magamban.
Szájbarágós, manipulatív, vállaltan frusztráló kötet ez, egy olyan fiction, amit non-fiction-nek kell olvasni és lehetőleg rettenetesen kiakadni, hogy mik történnek a világban. Akarom mondani, mik fognak történni. Illetve nem, mégis: mik nem történnek a világban, és emiatt mik fognak történni. A lényeg, hogy mind meghalunk, nem szépen, vállalhatatlan ostobaságunk következtében, szóval meg is értünk a pusztulásra :/
De azért örülök, hogy nyílt egy csomagolásmentes bolt a közelben, hogy nincs autóm és nem is lesz, hogy rengeteg dolgot újrahasznosítunk a háztartásban, hogy próbálunk valahogy leszédelegni erről a mindent behálózó fogyasztói hullámvasútról...
Na de visszakanyarodva magához a könyvhöz, az alapötlet elég klassz, a képzelt riportok a jövőben. A tematikus fejezetek elrendezése is jól működik, talán csak a stílus száraz egy kicsit és a számadatok fullasztóak - ebben a formában nem nagyon lehet folyamatosan olvasni a kötetet, nem ad olyan élményt, mint egy regény, vagy akár egy hosszabb esszé. Én is többször szünetet tartottam, igaz, a kollektív bűntudatba merüléshez se éreztem minden nap elég erőt magamban.
July 11, 2019
A nice idea perhaps but not so well executed. It is supposed to be a future oral history of a severely changed climate world. Many different people are giving an oral history. The problem is that they all have the same sounding narrative voice.
July 24, 2024
Yikes, what a terrifying little book... O_o
What is now labeled as a fictional novel, might as well be categorized as non-fictional history in just a few short decades, if humanity continues to turn a blind eye to climate change...
What is now labeled as a fictional novel, might as well be categorized as non-fictional history in just a few short decades, if humanity continues to turn a blind eye to climate change...
October 2, 2020
3.5 stars
Fast forward to 2084. Global Warming has made a serious impact on life on Earth. In this work of fiction, we hear from numerous people from around the world to form an oral history of how climate change has effected things. Topics range from health impact, wars, lack of resources, species extinction and more. All of it is scary stuff yet not entirely unimaginable. The oral history tells of America become rule by a fascist "America First" party who works to remove all illegal aliens from the US in an effort to save American resources & jobs for Americans. We hear of cities submerged by rising seawater...ocean front homes lost to the tides...mass migrations as people move to higher ground or more temperate zones.
I loved he concept of this and feel that all of the science and projections are sound and realistic. However, the storytelling wasn't quite there for me. This was supposed to be an oral history told from many different view points but the voice in all of the different accounts sounded the same.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
Fast forward to 2084. Global Warming has made a serious impact on life on Earth. In this work of fiction, we hear from numerous people from around the world to form an oral history of how climate change has effected things. Topics range from health impact, wars, lack of resources, species extinction and more. All of it is scary stuff yet not entirely unimaginable. The oral history tells of America become rule by a fascist "America First" party who works to remove all illegal aliens from the US in an effort to save American resources & jobs for Americans. We hear of cities submerged by rising seawater...ocean front homes lost to the tides...mass migrations as people move to higher ground or more temperate zones.
I loved he concept of this and feel that all of the science and projections are sound and realistic. However, the storytelling wasn't quite there for me. This was supposed to be an oral history told from many different view points but the voice in all of the different accounts sounded the same.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
April 6, 2021
Not-so-science fiction to make your blood run cold and turn your heart heavy. Powell has created a terrifying treatise of global warming, collected clinically but underpinned with the wistful yearnings of what-ifs. The concluding chapter on nuclear power was an eye-opening explainer.
November 18, 2021
Eigentlich ist das Buch gut, bis es am Ende Atomkraft als die Lösung aller Probleme darstellt.
November 8, 2020
Dieses Buch ist Dystopie und Sachbuch in einem. Und you know what, wer so ein Buch schreiben kann, bei dem müssen alle Alarmglocken läuten. Es ist gruselig, es macht einem Angst, weil die Zukunft, die im Buch geschildert wird, die eigene werden kann. Das heißt, das Buch hat den absoluten Bonus, an der Realität gebaut zu sein und somit automatisch viel ansprechender, als eine normale Dystopie, zu sein. Dieses Buch handelt, wie schon bekannt, von dem vorherrschenden Problem der Menschheit, seit mehreren Jahrhunderten: den Klimawandel. James Powell möchte augenscheinlich mit der drohenden Krise über die Fehler der Menschen aufklären und umweltbewussteres Handeln bei jedem einzelnen Menschen erzielen, damit die Dystopie nicht zur Realität wird. Das Buch spielt also im Jahre 2084, in dem der Erzähler mehrere Menschen (meist Wissenschaftler) interviewt. Die Fragen beziehen sich auf die Vergangenheit, unsere Gegenwart (also das Jahr 2020) und die erzählerische Gegenwart (also unsere Zukunft). Inhaltlich liegen die Fragen ausnahmslos im Bereich der Klimaveränderung. Dabei werden die Bereiche Physik, Ethik, Biologie und einige mehr angesprochen und besprochen. Sprich, die Wissenschaftler erzählen sachlich über Informationen, die 2020 vorlagen und aus denen sich nichts gemacht wurde, weshalb es Jahre später immer weiter steigende Katastrophenzahlen gab. Das Buch hat eine sehr wichtige Position heutzutage. Es müsste Menschen wachrütteln, die sich auf Regierungsbeschlüssen ausruhen und nicht daran denken, wenn sie nicht beherrscht werden, selbst Dinge in die Hand zu nehmen, um ein Problem der Zukunft (und zwar ein großes) zu verhindern. Menschen sind passiv.
So gesehen finde ich das Buch von der Idee her wirklich genial und würde auch darum werben, weil eine solche Idee die Welt auch verändern kann. Wenn jemand (in dem Fall der Autor) einen Schritt macht und die Öffentlichkeit auf die Sache aufmerksam machen will, dann ist er als einer von wenigen aktiv dabei das Problem zu bewältigen. Ich will aber nicht um das Buch werben, weil die Idee gut, die Umsetzung es jedoch nicht ist. Man muss sich bei einem solchen Schritt an die Öffentlichkeit zu gehen, die Zielgruppe bewusst machen, die man erreichen will. Sind es die Wissenschaftler und Intellektuellen, die viel wissen (eben auch über das Thema) und sich alltäglich damit auseinandersetzen? Nein. Aber für genau die ist das Buch geschrieben. Die eigentliche Zielgruppe sollte aber die jüngere Gesellschaft sein. Die jenigen, die wirklich etwas verändern könnten, weil sie a) noch länger leben werden und b) am wenigsten als Gesamtheit auf die Klimaveränderung achten und am meisten konsumieren.
Ich habe ein Problem mit der Sprache. Das Buch ist in Fachsprachen und Hochdeutsch geschrieben. Zwar soweit, dass es die meisten verstehen werden, doch die wenigsten Spaß am lesen haben werden. Ich selbst mit meinen 18 Jahren interessiere mich stark für das Thema (ansonsten hätte ich das Buch auch nicht lesen wollen) und lese auch sehr gerne, aber hatte nicht viel Spaß an diesem Buch. Es strengt an. Und darum wird es auch nicht viele Menschen erreichen. Heut zu tage (wo sowieso schon zu wenig gelesen wird) muss Literatur leicht und angenehm sein, damit sie ankommt. Und diese ist es nicht. Und das bei einem so wichtigen Thema. Inhaltlich ist es gut und versorgt wirklich mit vielen Informationen, doch die Darstellungsform, (und das ist das wichtigste an allen Dingen) die hat verloren.
Deswegen werde ich auch nicht sagen: „Lest dieses Buch, es klärt auf!“, weil es das nicht wirklich tut.
Trotzdem möchte ich das Buch auf keinen Fall schlechteren, weil die Fakten sind Realität und das Buch erschreckt. Es ist so wichtig, das Menschen genau solche Dinge lesen, um sich zu erinnern. Neben Corona, der Präsidentschaftswahl in den USA und so vielen anderen aktuellen Krisen, bleibt der Klimawandel bestehen, rückt nur immer weiter in den Hintergrund, wobei er aber im gleichen Moment immer stärker stattfindet.
So gesehen finde ich das Buch von der Idee her wirklich genial und würde auch darum werben, weil eine solche Idee die Welt auch verändern kann. Wenn jemand (in dem Fall der Autor) einen Schritt macht und die Öffentlichkeit auf die Sache aufmerksam machen will, dann ist er als einer von wenigen aktiv dabei das Problem zu bewältigen. Ich will aber nicht um das Buch werben, weil die Idee gut, die Umsetzung es jedoch nicht ist. Man muss sich bei einem solchen Schritt an die Öffentlichkeit zu gehen, die Zielgruppe bewusst machen, die man erreichen will. Sind es die Wissenschaftler und Intellektuellen, die viel wissen (eben auch über das Thema) und sich alltäglich damit auseinandersetzen? Nein. Aber für genau die ist das Buch geschrieben. Die eigentliche Zielgruppe sollte aber die jüngere Gesellschaft sein. Die jenigen, die wirklich etwas verändern könnten, weil sie a) noch länger leben werden und b) am wenigsten als Gesamtheit auf die Klimaveränderung achten und am meisten konsumieren.
Ich habe ein Problem mit der Sprache. Das Buch ist in Fachsprachen und Hochdeutsch geschrieben. Zwar soweit, dass es die meisten verstehen werden, doch die wenigsten Spaß am lesen haben werden. Ich selbst mit meinen 18 Jahren interessiere mich stark für das Thema (ansonsten hätte ich das Buch auch nicht lesen wollen) und lese auch sehr gerne, aber hatte nicht viel Spaß an diesem Buch. Es strengt an. Und darum wird es auch nicht viele Menschen erreichen. Heut zu tage (wo sowieso schon zu wenig gelesen wird) muss Literatur leicht und angenehm sein, damit sie ankommt. Und diese ist es nicht. Und das bei einem so wichtigen Thema. Inhaltlich ist es gut und versorgt wirklich mit vielen Informationen, doch die Darstellungsform, (und das ist das wichtigste an allen Dingen) die hat verloren.
Deswegen werde ich auch nicht sagen: „Lest dieses Buch, es klärt auf!“, weil es das nicht wirklich tut.
Trotzdem möchte ich das Buch auf keinen Fall schlechteren, weil die Fakten sind Realität und das Buch erschreckt. Es ist so wichtig, das Menschen genau solche Dinge lesen, um sich zu erinnern. Neben Corona, der Präsidentschaftswahl in den USA und so vielen anderen aktuellen Krisen, bleibt der Klimawandel bestehen, rückt nur immer weiter in den Hintergrund, wobei er aber im gleichen Moment immer stärker stattfindet.
November 12, 2025
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Which is to say: a book warning me about the dangers of ignoring global warming should not make me feel so demoralized that I no longer feel motivated to combat it.
Conceptually I should've liked this. Speculative fiction presented and formatted as nonfiction is intriguing when done well, and a series of interviews with survivors in the future talking about how they got to that point with respect to climate change is a promising concept. It got a tad repetitive though when each interviewee was yet another climate scientist from a different part of the world giving some variation of, "it doesn't feel good to say, 'we told you so,' but here we are." For a work set in a world where there has been so much suffering endured by common folk, it's odd that we don't hear from any of them.
A recurring thread of scorn for previous generations (read: our current generation) for "letting this happen" isn't explored sufficiently. Every time it comes up, it's just explained away like: they knew about the science and either didn't believe it or didn't care because they didn't want to. It felt unfair to not mention this isn't a uniformly held belief by people living in the 2020's, to say nothing of the role of disinformation on social media or the influence of billionaires. Also curiously absent are potential solutions; the last chapter interviews two professors who are asked what could have been done to stop climate change at the turn of the century and the only answer was that every nation should have built more nuclear power plants. No discussion about ICE vehicles, the airline or marine shipping industries, animal agriculture, cryptocurrency mining, commercial over-fishing, waste management, deforestation, etc. Just nope, shoulda built more nuke plants and everything would've been alright!
I get that this was meant to be a what-if scenario where we get worse than the expected worst-case outcome, but some of these vignettes bordered on unbelievable. I don't think a handful of Uighur terrorists could destroy the Three Gorges Dam. I don't think a weakened Egypt dealing with a rising Mediterranean that floods its major population centers would be able to project force in an extended war with Ethiopia over control of the Nile dams. I don't think Israel would be defeated by Iran in a four-day war over the Golan Heights reservoirs and not go scorched earth with their nukes. If you want future geopolitical fanfiction, read The Next 100 Years by George Friedman; at least that was entertaining.
Just an overall condescending, defeatist work that does itself no favors in browbeating the reader into feeling shame over something that hasn't happened yet. There's got to be a better way to convey a call to action without being depressing.
Conceptually I should've liked this. Speculative fiction presented and formatted as nonfiction is intriguing when done well, and a series of interviews with survivors in the future talking about how they got to that point with respect to climate change is a promising concept. It got a tad repetitive though when each interviewee was yet another climate scientist from a different part of the world giving some variation of, "it doesn't feel good to say, 'we told you so,' but here we are." For a work set in a world where there has been so much suffering endured by common folk, it's odd that we don't hear from any of them.
A recurring thread of scorn for previous generations (read: our current generation) for "letting this happen" isn't explored sufficiently. Every time it comes up, it's just explained away like: they knew about the science and either didn't believe it or didn't care because they didn't want to. It felt unfair to not mention this isn't a uniformly held belief by people living in the 2020's, to say nothing of the role of disinformation on social media or the influence of billionaires. Also curiously absent are potential solutions; the last chapter interviews two professors who are asked what could have been done to stop climate change at the turn of the century and the only answer was that every nation should have built more nuclear power plants. No discussion about ICE vehicles, the airline or marine shipping industries, animal agriculture, cryptocurrency mining, commercial over-fishing, waste management, deforestation, etc. Just nope, shoulda built more nuke plants and everything would've been alright!
I get that this was meant to be a what-if scenario where we get worse than the expected worst-case outcome, but some of these vignettes bordered on unbelievable. I don't think a handful of Uighur terrorists could destroy the Three Gorges Dam. I don't think a weakened Egypt dealing with a rising Mediterranean that floods its major population centers would be able to project force in an extended war with Ethiopia over control of the Nile dams. I don't think Israel would be defeated by Iran in a four-day war over the Golan Heights reservoirs and not go scorched earth with their nukes. If you want future geopolitical fanfiction, read The Next 100 Years by George Friedman; at least that was entertaining.
Just an overall condescending, defeatist work that does itself no favors in browbeating the reader into feeling shame over something that hasn't happened yet. There's got to be a better way to convey a call to action without being depressing.
October 2, 2020
In "2084" sammelte Autor James Lawrence Powell fiktive Interviews, die er im Jahre 2084 durchführte. Dabei befragt er unterschiedliche Personen zu den Auswirkungen der Klimakrise auf ihr Leben und ihre Umgebung und zeichnet damit eine erschreckend realistisch klingende Vision: Kämpfe um Wasser, schlimme Dürren, Wasserrationierungen und Todesfälle durch die extreme Hitze.
Mir gefiel die Idee des Buches sehr gut und man kann als Leser einen Blick in die Zukunft werfen, wie sie uns vielleicht erwarten wird, wenn wir nicht endlich radikal dagegen steuern. Das Buch hat mich nicht nur schockiert, sondern auch viele Denkanstöße gegeben, sodass ich nach dem Lesen nicht nur eifrig darüber diskutiert sondern auch selbst Nachforschungen im Internet angestellt habe. Allein schon dafür lohnt es sich das Buch zu lesen, denn sobald man das Thema "Klima" anspricht, ergibt sich die Möglichkeit für tolle Gespräche! Deshalb werde ich das Buch auch weiterempfehlen und verborgen, damit so viele Menschen wie möglich es lesen - denn der Klimawandel betrifft uns alle, das zeigt das Buch sehr deutlich!
Ich muss zugeben, das mich nicht jedes Kapitel gleichermaßen gefesselt hat. Oftmals war es mir ein wenig zu wissenschaftlich, wobei der Großteil jedoch aus sehr persönlicher Sicht erzählt wurde. Das machte das Ganze noch greifbarer. Ich fand es jedoch etwas schade, dass die Interviews sich in der "Sprachweise" sehr ähnlich waren. Um das ganze realistischer zu gestalten, hätte der Autor versuchen sollen, unterschiedliche Stile und "Sprechweisen" einzubauen, damit man wirklich das Gefühl hat, man würde Interviews von unterschiedlichen Personen lesen. Aber hier drücke ich gerne ein Auge zu, da der Inhalt dafür umso überzeugender war!
FAZIT: Ich kann das Buch nur wärmstens weiterempfehlen! Der Klimawandel betrifft uns alle und man kann sich gar nicht genug mit dem Thema auseinandersetzen. Das Buch zeigt erschreckend realistische Was-wenn-Bilder, die man sich unbedingt vor Augen rufen sollte!
Mir gefiel die Idee des Buches sehr gut und man kann als Leser einen Blick in die Zukunft werfen, wie sie uns vielleicht erwarten wird, wenn wir nicht endlich radikal dagegen steuern. Das Buch hat mich nicht nur schockiert, sondern auch viele Denkanstöße gegeben, sodass ich nach dem Lesen nicht nur eifrig darüber diskutiert sondern auch selbst Nachforschungen im Internet angestellt habe. Allein schon dafür lohnt es sich das Buch zu lesen, denn sobald man das Thema "Klima" anspricht, ergibt sich die Möglichkeit für tolle Gespräche! Deshalb werde ich das Buch auch weiterempfehlen und verborgen, damit so viele Menschen wie möglich es lesen - denn der Klimawandel betrifft uns alle, das zeigt das Buch sehr deutlich!
Ich muss zugeben, das mich nicht jedes Kapitel gleichermaßen gefesselt hat. Oftmals war es mir ein wenig zu wissenschaftlich, wobei der Großteil jedoch aus sehr persönlicher Sicht erzählt wurde. Das machte das Ganze noch greifbarer. Ich fand es jedoch etwas schade, dass die Interviews sich in der "Sprachweise" sehr ähnlich waren. Um das ganze realistischer zu gestalten, hätte der Autor versuchen sollen, unterschiedliche Stile und "Sprechweisen" einzubauen, damit man wirklich das Gefühl hat, man würde Interviews von unterschiedlichen Personen lesen. Aber hier drücke ich gerne ein Auge zu, da der Inhalt dafür umso überzeugender war!
FAZIT: Ich kann das Buch nur wärmstens weiterempfehlen! Der Klimawandel betrifft uns alle und man kann sich gar nicht genug mit dem Thema auseinandersetzen. Das Buch zeigt erschreckend realistische Was-wenn-Bilder, die man sich unbedingt vor Augen rufen sollte!
November 28, 2020
Mit welchem Gefühl werden die Erdbewohner im Jahr 2084 auf uns zurückblicken? Nach Powells dramatischen Schilderungen in "2084" wird kaum ein Funken Verständnis für unser Handeln vorhanden sein. Jährlich beziehungsweise monatlich übertrumpft ein schreckliches Klimaereignis das nächste. Die Ausmaße der Wetterphänomene scheinen immer ein neues Maximum anzustreben. Bereits jetzt, im Jahr 2020, erkennen wir - Laien - die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels und doch wird wenig unternommen. Wie wird unsere Erde dann im Jahr 2084 aussehen?
Eindrucksvoll, dramatisch und beängstigend schildert Powell die möglichen beziehungsweise absehbaren Ereignisse als Rückschau von Leuten in unterschiedlichsten Erdteilen. Das Buch ist in bestimmte Teile unterteilt um die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels halbwegs thematisch einzuordnen. Dies bedeutet natürlich nicht, dass eine Region nicht auch mehrere angesprochene Situation treffen wird, jedoch ergibt sich dadurch ein gewisses Schema, das auch der geographischen Zuordnung hilfreich ist. Ich muss zugeben, dass die gewählte Erzählweise - der Interviews - sowohl Vor- als auch Nachteile mit sich bringt. Die beschriebenen Geschehnisse werden dadurch privater und demnach emotionaler, jedoch war mir die dadurch gelieferte Dramatik auch ab und an etwas zu viel. Ich habe mich selbst dabei ertappt, vom Gelesenen Abstand gewinnen zu wollen und dadurch hat Powells angestrebter Effekt nicht komplett funktioniert. Die teilweise dystopischen Erzählungen nahm ich demnach teilweise nicht ganz so ernst, was eigentlich nicht passieren sollte. Man muss sich bewusst werden, dass die angesprochenen Szenarien höchstwahrscheinlich so oder so ähnlich real werden, ob noch zu unseren Lebzeiten oder erst kurz danach. Die Brisanz ist jedoch klar zu erkennen. Es wird Kriege um Trinkwasser geben, einige Bereiche der Erde komplett überschwemmt werden, unkontrollierbare Feuer werden auftreten sowie Massenmigration. Kein Landstrich wird verschont bleiben.
Besonders gut empfand ich die vielen Informationen zu jedem Gebiet. Ich bin ganz sicher keine Niete in Geographie, mir ist jedoch trotzdem nicht jede Begebenheit in jedem Landstrich bekannt. Demnach liefert Powell geballt Wissen, das jedoch auch nachvollziehbar geschildert wird. So kann man auch relativ schnell die Situation der erzählenden Person nachvollziehen.
Auffällig ist natürlich das oftmalige Erwähnen des jetzigen Jahrzehnts und die Auswirkungen unseres Tuns bzw. Nicht-Tuns. Dies verstärkt natürlich das Gefühl des Lesers einen aktiven Part im kompletten Geschehen einzunehmen und endlich vernünftig zu handeln, bzw. sich mehr mit dem Thema auseinanderzusetzen. Ich denke auch, dass dies die Hauptaufgabe des Buches sein soll: die Brisanz aufzuzeigen und zum Handeln zu bewegen.
Mir gefiel auch ungemein die Tatsache, dass so gut wie alle Erdbereiche im Buch erwähnt werden. So fühlt sich jeder Leser angesprochen, vielleicht mal mehr, mal weniger. Ein gewisser Fokus liegt zwar definitiv auf den USA, was jedoch vielleicht auch die allgemein Größe des Landes ausmacht.
Obwohl der Erzählstil nicht absichtlich im höheren Niveau angesiedelt ist, konnte ich trotzdem keine langen Abschnitte im Buch lesen. Die Thematik ermüdet und erschüttert. Auch die Informationsflut bedarf einer stärkeren Fokussierung, wie es z.B. im Bereich der Belletristik notwendig ist. Demnach empfand ich einige Bereiche als etwas langatmig, besonders im vorderen Bereich des Buches. Ab etwa der Mitte hatte ich weniger Probleme damit und fand die einzelnen Teilbereiche "einfacher" beziehungsweise zügiger zu lesen.
Mir fällt es äußerst schwierig dieses Buch zu bewerten. Ich finde es ausgesprochen gut, dass Powell zu so einer dramatischen Erzählweise greift, andererseits etwas anmaßend, eine Art "Realität" als gegeben heraufzubeschwören. Sehr zweischneidig, jedoch auch nachvollziehbar, da viele Bücher in Bezug auf das Thema Klimawandel sehr distanziert und wissenschaftlich auftreten. Dies hatte bisher keine durchschlagende Wirkung erzielt. Trotzdem erscheinen mir Powells Szenarien auf keinen Fall aus der Luft gegriffen. 2084 überzeugt letztendlich durch seine emotionale Seite und lässt dadurch die Leser ins Nachdenken kommen.
Ich persönlich empfinde den Abschnitt des "Ausweges" als zu gering. Nach der geballten Dramatik der vorangehenden Kapitel hätte ich mir an dieser Stelle einfach mehr gewünscht.
2084 rüttelt wach und erschüttert. Man muss das Gelesene reflektieren und wird auch dadurch erneut zum Recherchieren angeregt. Obwohl mir das Werk von Powell emotional sehr zugesetzt hat, bin ich dennoch positiv überrascht und auch beeindruckt. Die Anhäufung von Wissen in diesem Buch gibt den Grundstein für ein weiteres Auseinandersetzen mit der Thematik Klimawandel.
Eindrucksvoll, dramatisch und beängstigend schildert Powell die möglichen beziehungsweise absehbaren Ereignisse als Rückschau von Leuten in unterschiedlichsten Erdteilen. Das Buch ist in bestimmte Teile unterteilt um die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels halbwegs thematisch einzuordnen. Dies bedeutet natürlich nicht, dass eine Region nicht auch mehrere angesprochene Situation treffen wird, jedoch ergibt sich dadurch ein gewisses Schema, das auch der geographischen Zuordnung hilfreich ist. Ich muss zugeben, dass die gewählte Erzählweise - der Interviews - sowohl Vor- als auch Nachteile mit sich bringt. Die beschriebenen Geschehnisse werden dadurch privater und demnach emotionaler, jedoch war mir die dadurch gelieferte Dramatik auch ab und an etwas zu viel. Ich habe mich selbst dabei ertappt, vom Gelesenen Abstand gewinnen zu wollen und dadurch hat Powells angestrebter Effekt nicht komplett funktioniert. Die teilweise dystopischen Erzählungen nahm ich demnach teilweise nicht ganz so ernst, was eigentlich nicht passieren sollte. Man muss sich bewusst werden, dass die angesprochenen Szenarien höchstwahrscheinlich so oder so ähnlich real werden, ob noch zu unseren Lebzeiten oder erst kurz danach. Die Brisanz ist jedoch klar zu erkennen. Es wird Kriege um Trinkwasser geben, einige Bereiche der Erde komplett überschwemmt werden, unkontrollierbare Feuer werden auftreten sowie Massenmigration. Kein Landstrich wird verschont bleiben.
Besonders gut empfand ich die vielen Informationen zu jedem Gebiet. Ich bin ganz sicher keine Niete in Geographie, mir ist jedoch trotzdem nicht jede Begebenheit in jedem Landstrich bekannt. Demnach liefert Powell geballt Wissen, das jedoch auch nachvollziehbar geschildert wird. So kann man auch relativ schnell die Situation der erzählenden Person nachvollziehen.
Auffällig ist natürlich das oftmalige Erwähnen des jetzigen Jahrzehnts und die Auswirkungen unseres Tuns bzw. Nicht-Tuns. Dies verstärkt natürlich das Gefühl des Lesers einen aktiven Part im kompletten Geschehen einzunehmen und endlich vernünftig zu handeln, bzw. sich mehr mit dem Thema auseinanderzusetzen. Ich denke auch, dass dies die Hauptaufgabe des Buches sein soll: die Brisanz aufzuzeigen und zum Handeln zu bewegen.
Mir gefiel auch ungemein die Tatsache, dass so gut wie alle Erdbereiche im Buch erwähnt werden. So fühlt sich jeder Leser angesprochen, vielleicht mal mehr, mal weniger. Ein gewisser Fokus liegt zwar definitiv auf den USA, was jedoch vielleicht auch die allgemein Größe des Landes ausmacht.
Obwohl der Erzählstil nicht absichtlich im höheren Niveau angesiedelt ist, konnte ich trotzdem keine langen Abschnitte im Buch lesen. Die Thematik ermüdet und erschüttert. Auch die Informationsflut bedarf einer stärkeren Fokussierung, wie es z.B. im Bereich der Belletristik notwendig ist. Demnach empfand ich einige Bereiche als etwas langatmig, besonders im vorderen Bereich des Buches. Ab etwa der Mitte hatte ich weniger Probleme damit und fand die einzelnen Teilbereiche "einfacher" beziehungsweise zügiger zu lesen.
Mir fällt es äußerst schwierig dieses Buch zu bewerten. Ich finde es ausgesprochen gut, dass Powell zu so einer dramatischen Erzählweise greift, andererseits etwas anmaßend, eine Art "Realität" als gegeben heraufzubeschwören. Sehr zweischneidig, jedoch auch nachvollziehbar, da viele Bücher in Bezug auf das Thema Klimawandel sehr distanziert und wissenschaftlich auftreten. Dies hatte bisher keine durchschlagende Wirkung erzielt. Trotzdem erscheinen mir Powells Szenarien auf keinen Fall aus der Luft gegriffen. 2084 überzeugt letztendlich durch seine emotionale Seite und lässt dadurch die Leser ins Nachdenken kommen.
Ich persönlich empfinde den Abschnitt des "Ausweges" als zu gering. Nach der geballten Dramatik der vorangehenden Kapitel hätte ich mir an dieser Stelle einfach mehr gewünscht.
2084 rüttelt wach und erschüttert. Man muss das Gelesene reflektieren und wird auch dadurch erneut zum Recherchieren angeregt. Obwohl mir das Werk von Powell emotional sehr zugesetzt hat, bin ich dennoch positiv überrascht und auch beeindruckt. Die Anhäufung von Wissen in diesem Buch gibt den Grundstein für ein weiteres Auseinandersetzen mit der Thematik Klimawandel.
July 4, 2020
Long story short, I was offered an e-galley copy to proof, but I have not yet heard back if it’s an actual galley copy or if Atria Books is looking to simply drum up buzz before it drops on 01 SEP. As it is, I give it 5 stars for content, and 2 stars for execution, with a mean of 3.5 stars, then rounded up because why not be generous.
I’ll explain. Powell takes the current scientific data, overwhelmingly knowledgeable about anthropogenic global warming (AGW), and gives us a projection of 2084 with a nameless and deadpan interviewer chronicling the events between now and then with a host of interviewees across the globe (but all speaking perfectly good if not literary English). Powell is a scientist, professor, and prestigious leader in a number of important educational and scientific institutions and organizations. I have tremendous respect for him, and he knows this topic intimately. In fact I agree completely with him when he says "I think it’s time for scientists to get up from the lab bench and speak out." In fact we need our scientific experts to lead, because the bulk of the political class is soulless, selfish, ignorant, and/or bought-out.
I should also mention that this copy was offered on NetGalley, a site I’ve not used before but one that leans heavily towards Amazon’s Kindle app. I have boycotted Amazon for almost six years now and don’t intend to ever give Bezos another dime on his way to becoming the first trillionaire. If you don’t know it, Goodreads is also owned by Amazon. I had to take the encrypted file and use a glitchy Adobe app to read it, but it has since crapped out on me and I can no longer cite my highlights. The file wouldn’t open on Nook, or Libby, or iBooks. So it goes.
OK, back to the book. It is powerful nonfiction wrapped in interesting fiction. The 2084 Report, on the surface, might feel like Max Brooks’s World War Z, but it is not, at all. It’s also not A Canticle for Leibowitz, nor Letters from Earth, though Twain’s idea might be a best comparison in a way, but I’m also thinking about the Dio-fronted Black Sabbath song from 1992 of the same name, so they might be meshed together in my mind. The Report reads like so many books over the past 10 years discussing the Anthropocene, within the thin veil of being in the form of harsh analyses from the future, condemning us in the present for not doing enough to avert the hardships ahead. It’s a cool idea, certainly; however, Powell’s cast of interviewees converse in a problematically homogenous way. There is little to distinguish one from another, besides the opening description of each. His “voice” if you will, is uniform and bares little semblance of a multicultural cast. Many characters say something like “my English is rusty” and then go on to communicate in proper English with some Russian or Dutch or Arabic phrases sprinkled around. I think there was only one exclamation mark used as those from the future berate our collective stupidity and selfishness and myopia, our incompetent and corrupt governments, our greedy and vampiric corporations. Wouldn’t people be pissed off? Hell, I have a Master’s in English Studies and I still talk like an old soldier half the time. I’m pissed off now, and I don’t have any progeny to worry about. Give us scientists that throw things across the room in disgust, give us religious leaders questioning their fantasy faiths with a noose hanging from a door frame behind them, give me a person on the brink of insanity, locked in a bunker surrounded by “old books”, scrawling a screed in feces across the walls of his or her tomb, crucifying past generations for their complete and utter idiocy with futile rage. “Let the cockroaches rule next time!”
Powell doesn’t give us that. He gives us stoic person after stoic person relaying the research we already have, telling us again and again to not breed so much, to conserve more and consume less, to focus on long-term contingencies instead of short-term pleasures, because misery for billions is coming through droughts and famines; drowned coastlines, swallowed islands, and 120-degree days; mass migrations; wars for potable water and other precious resources; genocides; the use of nuclear weapons; increasing divisions and strife; rampant suicide and hopelessness. The window for collective behavior change is quickly closing, but you already know that because you’ve read Wallace-Wells’s The Uninhabitable Earth, Wilson’s Half-Earth”, and Hawken’s Drawdown, plus so many others, right? You haven’t? Then you’re a huge part of the problem. Dwelling on misanthropic Agent Smith from The Matrix (1999), “I’d like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.” Sadly though, there is no cure for the human plague. We’ve been told about these dynamics of homo sapiens for over twenty years plus. We’ve been told about global warming since 1970. I doubt the species will ever wake up from its ignorance-is-bliss Matrix.
Overall I enjoyed reading the book simply because it is reinforcing what I already know, and gives us a glimpse of 60 years into the future, though I didn’t see many technological advances described. In a way I felt the pangs of Omar el Akkad’s American War and its utter lack of creativity towards what the future will appear like, in an everyday sort of way. Holographic projections, cyber-jacks into neural nets, a full-day’s nutrients in one handy pill, automation and AI wiping out half of all current occupations, the last billionaires zipping through dystopias in their armored hover-trains, or having escaped to their robo-brothels on the moon? Think of the world 60 years ago—in the 1960s—and the drastic transformations that have taken place with everyday things. Now project 60 years into the future. Powell strips away those creative, descriptive elements and instead focuses on the hard truths of today and their prospective outcomes. Again, this is all fine and well, but it doesn’t make it truly as unique and dynamic as this work could be. That is what I was hoping for. While I was struggling through the hellscape of high school in the late 80s, I was fortunate enough to have taken a class on American Sci-fi and Fantasy, where I read A Canticle for Leibowitz, Stranger in a Strange Land, Dune and numerous other great books (by white guys). I suppose The 2084 Report could be an interesting primer for current high-school students; it just doesn’t have the punch that makes a classic work truly classic. I feel that this will just be shelved alongside all the other important portents the multitudes are ignoring, but as Joaquin Phoenix’s masterful Arthur Fleck tells us, we get what we deserve.
I’ll explain. Powell takes the current scientific data, overwhelmingly knowledgeable about anthropogenic global warming (AGW), and gives us a projection of 2084 with a nameless and deadpan interviewer chronicling the events between now and then with a host of interviewees across the globe (but all speaking perfectly good if not literary English). Powell is a scientist, professor, and prestigious leader in a number of important educational and scientific institutions and organizations. I have tremendous respect for him, and he knows this topic intimately. In fact I agree completely with him when he says "I think it’s time for scientists to get up from the lab bench and speak out." In fact we need our scientific experts to lead, because the bulk of the political class is soulless, selfish, ignorant, and/or bought-out.
I should also mention that this copy was offered on NetGalley, a site I’ve not used before but one that leans heavily towards Amazon’s Kindle app. I have boycotted Amazon for almost six years now and don’t intend to ever give Bezos another dime on his way to becoming the first trillionaire. If you don’t know it, Goodreads is also owned by Amazon. I had to take the encrypted file and use a glitchy Adobe app to read it, but it has since crapped out on me and I can no longer cite my highlights. The file wouldn’t open on Nook, or Libby, or iBooks. So it goes.
OK, back to the book. It is powerful nonfiction wrapped in interesting fiction. The 2084 Report, on the surface, might feel like Max Brooks’s World War Z, but it is not, at all. It’s also not A Canticle for Leibowitz, nor Letters from Earth, though Twain’s idea might be a best comparison in a way, but I’m also thinking about the Dio-fronted Black Sabbath song from 1992 of the same name, so they might be meshed together in my mind. The Report reads like so many books over the past 10 years discussing the Anthropocene, within the thin veil of being in the form of harsh analyses from the future, condemning us in the present for not doing enough to avert the hardships ahead. It’s a cool idea, certainly; however, Powell’s cast of interviewees converse in a problematically homogenous way. There is little to distinguish one from another, besides the opening description of each. His “voice” if you will, is uniform and bares little semblance of a multicultural cast. Many characters say something like “my English is rusty” and then go on to communicate in proper English with some Russian or Dutch or Arabic phrases sprinkled around. I think there was only one exclamation mark used as those from the future berate our collective stupidity and selfishness and myopia, our incompetent and corrupt governments, our greedy and vampiric corporations. Wouldn’t people be pissed off? Hell, I have a Master’s in English Studies and I still talk like an old soldier half the time. I’m pissed off now, and I don’t have any progeny to worry about. Give us scientists that throw things across the room in disgust, give us religious leaders questioning their fantasy faiths with a noose hanging from a door frame behind them, give me a person on the brink of insanity, locked in a bunker surrounded by “old books”, scrawling a screed in feces across the walls of his or her tomb, crucifying past generations for their complete and utter idiocy with futile rage. “Let the cockroaches rule next time!”
Powell doesn’t give us that. He gives us stoic person after stoic person relaying the research we already have, telling us again and again to not breed so much, to conserve more and consume less, to focus on long-term contingencies instead of short-term pleasures, because misery for billions is coming through droughts and famines; drowned coastlines, swallowed islands, and 120-degree days; mass migrations; wars for potable water and other precious resources; genocides; the use of nuclear weapons; increasing divisions and strife; rampant suicide and hopelessness. The window for collective behavior change is quickly closing, but you already know that because you’ve read Wallace-Wells’s The Uninhabitable Earth, Wilson’s Half-Earth”, and Hawken’s Drawdown, plus so many others, right? You haven’t? Then you’re a huge part of the problem. Dwelling on misanthropic Agent Smith from The Matrix (1999), “I’d like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.” Sadly though, there is no cure for the human plague. We’ve been told about these dynamics of homo sapiens for over twenty years plus. We’ve been told about global warming since 1970. I doubt the species will ever wake up from its ignorance-is-bliss Matrix.
Overall I enjoyed reading the book simply because it is reinforcing what I already know, and gives us a glimpse of 60 years into the future, though I didn’t see many technological advances described. In a way I felt the pangs of Omar el Akkad’s American War and its utter lack of creativity towards what the future will appear like, in an everyday sort of way. Holographic projections, cyber-jacks into neural nets, a full-day’s nutrients in one handy pill, automation and AI wiping out half of all current occupations, the last billionaires zipping through dystopias in their armored hover-trains, or having escaped to their robo-brothels on the moon? Think of the world 60 years ago—in the 1960s—and the drastic transformations that have taken place with everyday things. Now project 60 years into the future. Powell strips away those creative, descriptive elements and instead focuses on the hard truths of today and their prospective outcomes. Again, this is all fine and well, but it doesn’t make it truly as unique and dynamic as this work could be. That is what I was hoping for. While I was struggling through the hellscape of high school in the late 80s, I was fortunate enough to have taken a class on American Sci-fi and Fantasy, where I read A Canticle for Leibowitz, Stranger in a Strange Land, Dune and numerous other great books (by white guys). I suppose The 2084 Report could be an interesting primer for current high-school students; it just doesn’t have the punch that makes a classic work truly classic. I feel that this will just be shelved alongside all the other important portents the multitudes are ignoring, but as Joaquin Phoenix’s masterful Arthur Fleck tells us, we get what we deserve.
April 12, 2016
This is a very sobering account of what the future could look like if the world doesn't wake up and do something about global warming (especially the republicans in politics in the US, which is mentioned in the book). When people and corporations make decisions based on short-term profit, instead of long-term consequences, the situations in the book result.
These stories are told in a fashion similar to, "World War Z", with the author interviewing various people from around the world for first-hand accounts of the effects of global warming. Some of these accounts are truly terrifying. People die. Billions of people died. At one point, someone makes an off-hand comment that the current population is 3 billion. The comment is never addressed, but when you realize the population today is 7 billion (and rising), the full effect of the disaster hits you in the gut--hard.
I wish the members of congress would read this book, especially those who claim global warming is a hoax or that God will save the planet. I don't know if these people are just stupid, corrupt, or truly don't believe in climate change. I think the first two are the most likely scenarios. When money is at stake--lots of money--corrupt people do stupid things in their own self-interest. Throughout the world, republicans in the US are pretty much the only ones who don't admit to believing in climate change although the proof is staring them in the face. Unfortunately, they also have a lot of power. If a republican President is elected, we can all kiss the world goodbye.
Our descendants (if any survive) will hate us (as they do in the book) for not doing anything to address this problem. It has been well-known for decades when there was still time for us to do something to stop it. We didn't. And this book may address the consequences of this inaction perfectly. Or it could be worse.
These stories are told in a fashion similar to, "World War Z", with the author interviewing various people from around the world for first-hand accounts of the effects of global warming. Some of these accounts are truly terrifying. People die. Billions of people died. At one point, someone makes an off-hand comment that the current population is 3 billion. The comment is never addressed, but when you realize the population today is 7 billion (and rising), the full effect of the disaster hits you in the gut--hard.
I wish the members of congress would read this book, especially those who claim global warming is a hoax or that God will save the planet. I don't know if these people are just stupid, corrupt, or truly don't believe in climate change. I think the first two are the most likely scenarios. When money is at stake--lots of money--corrupt people do stupid things in their own self-interest. Throughout the world, republicans in the US are pretty much the only ones who don't admit to believing in climate change although the proof is staring them in the face. Unfortunately, they also have a lot of power. If a republican President is elected, we can all kiss the world goodbye.
Our descendants (if any survive) will hate us (as they do in the book) for not doing anything to address this problem. It has been well-known for decades when there was still time for us to do something to stop it. We didn't. And this book may address the consequences of this inaction perfectly. Or it could be worse.
January 3, 2021
Oh man. I was so excited for this book, but I was really let down. World War Z is an old favorite of mine, specifically because it feels so authentic as an oral history of events that feel believable due to the writing. I hoped that this one would be similarly powerful, but I was disappointed. I knew from the start that the size of the book would probably be a problem for me- a 220 page book doesn’t seem like the appropriate length for something so ambitious in scope. More importantly though, were the interviews themselves. The “author” of the oral history claimed that he/she spoke with mostly average people, but each interview really felt like an interview with a specialist. I really wanted to hear some personal accounts of some shit, but everything I got was distanced and filled with numbers. There are ZERO characters here really, and most of the people giving their history sounded exactly the same. Ideally, I would have loved to see this books twice as long, and have it include both types of narratives.
The later sections of the book were far superior to me because they required more creativity from the author. I was annoyed that most chapters started with a debrief of the situation up to 2020, including way too many statistics for me. I’m giving this to my husband to read- he’s studying political science and environmental studies, so I think he’ll enjoy it a little more than I did.
It’s clear that the author wanted to make the reader think long and hard about global warming, and take some action towards change in response to the things we read in this book. That would have been more successful I think if I cared about characters, or if there was any actual story arc at all.
The later sections of the book were far superior to me because they required more creativity from the author. I was annoyed that most chapters started with a debrief of the situation up to 2020, including way too many statistics for me. I’m giving this to my husband to read- he’s studying political science and environmental studies, so I think he’ll enjoy it a little more than I did.
It’s clear that the author wanted to make the reader think long and hard about global warming, and take some action towards change in response to the things we read in this book. That would have been more successful I think if I cared about characters, or if there was any actual story arc at all.
June 11, 2020
This was grim, scary and depressing AF and thank heavens it is a apocalyptic predictive fiction about the future of the planet, but it does and should scare everyone who reads it into action. Our current generation is already seeing effects of climate change from past generations and future generations have to live with a vastly changing Earth. I liked how the chapters were divided into different disasters and different sub-chapters delving deeper into catastrophe. The author obviously did a lot of research and you can tell he cares about climatology and a call to global action.
This is brief read, less than 250 pages, it was 224. I was able to read this in a few days. This is a work of fiction but left me with a sense of dread and doom just like the nonfiction book, Uninhabitable Earth. I think these are both important pieces of writing and we as a plant. human-race need to work together to make some real changes for future generations, to hold off the doom a little longer. This will stay with for a long time and a must read.
Thanks to Netgalley, James Lawrence Powell and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 9/1/20
This is brief read, less than 250 pages, it was 224. I was able to read this in a few days. This is a work of fiction but left me with a sense of dread and doom just like the nonfiction book, Uninhabitable Earth. I think these are both important pieces of writing and we as a plant. human-race need to work together to make some real changes for future generations, to hold off the doom a little longer. This will stay with for a long time and a must read.
Thanks to Netgalley, James Lawrence Powell and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 9/1/20
October 12, 2020
I think the message of this book is super important. But the execution is lacking, which is why I ended up at 3-3.5 stars instead of more.
The author was going for a World War Z vibe but certainly it fell quite short of that. Each of the interviews with different people were in very similar voices, sometimes with the same turns of phrase. Sometimes they ended abruptly and/or felt incomplete.
I did think that it started getting stronger towards the end of the first section and later on into the book. Many of the stories/interviews were really compelling but the storytelling was dry.
Despite the shortcomings, I still think this is an important and sobering read, and certainly a preview of things to come if we don't change out shit up real fast.
Note: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The author was going for a World War Z vibe but certainly it fell quite short of that. Each of the interviews with different people were in very similar voices, sometimes with the same turns of phrase. Sometimes they ended abruptly and/or felt incomplete.
I did think that it started getting stronger towards the end of the first section and later on into the book. Many of the stories/interviews were really compelling but the storytelling was dry.
Despite the shortcomings, I still think this is an important and sobering read, and certainly a preview of things to come if we don't change out shit up real fast.
Note: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 4, 2023
The conceit of The 2084 Report is that it’s a fictional missive from the future, a collection of interviews transcribed to form an oral history archive. When I think of oral history, the most memorable archives I have witnessed are those that are able to preserve the sounds of the voices represented, and for that reason I wonder if this book might be more compelling in audiobook format, preferably with each character read by a different actor. There was another flattening effect in the text as well: not only are the characters’ literal voices silent, but their narrative voices all sound identical. Regardless of age, culture, or career, each narrator blends seamlessly into the next. None seemed to have any identity or unique personality.
Powell writes with a clear intention: a desire to impress upon his readers the severity, the seriousness of our impending doom, if we neglect to take drastic action now to mitigate climate change. This is a subject that weighs heavily on my personal psyche and informs all of my decisions and plans for the future. I have deep concerns that governments and media dramatically underestimate how significant, and how rapid, environmental destruction will be. My observation is that many academic researchers seem to fail to synthesize findings from across many fields, resulting in overly-conservative, compartmentalized predictions of how our planet’s future will play out that don’t pay enough attention to climate tipping points and feedback loops; it is that much more difficult, I believe, for laymen to fully comprehend the scope of this disaster encroaching upon us.
Some of Powell’s narrators comment on this conservative bias in academia: “In my research preparing for the trip, I found a report from the 2010s noting that migration to the EU had already risen due to increasing heat and drought and the social disorder that resulted. One study projected that the annual number of migrants would rise from the 350,000 of the tens to twice that by 2100. But this study, like so many from that period regardless of topic, projected the future based on the past and the past was not a good guide when there was a ‘new normal’ every year or two. These projections almost never took into account global warming and its ancillary effects.” (Although this point of view is undercut elsewhere in the book: “The forecasts turned out to be accurate, though at the time they were made no one had paid any attention.”) Overall, The 2084 Report does engage with much of the more recent science about climate change picking up speed, and imagines what kind of social changes might plausibly accompany a rapidly changing environment. Powell discusses many facets of a changing climate that are often left out of climate prediction models: will increased flooding lead to a rise in diseases like dysentery, cholera, yellow fever, typhus? will desertification result in not just famine, but also increased respiratory disease? will fascist governments euthanize seniors and imprison climate refugees in concentration camps? what happens if the Amazon rainforest essentially vanishes? what happens if entire ecosystems disappear?
Unfortunately, although this book presents one of the more dire views of the future I’ve seen, I believe the author is still too conservative in his projections. The amount of space and textual weight devoted to trophic cascade and loss of biodiversity is negligible; when he does mention these phenomena, he does so briefly and without naming them. It was disappointing to see Powell fall into the same trap of compartmentalization that he criticizes in today’s scientists and governments: when tackling the question of whether and why the loss of a random species should matter to humans (in the single chapter devoted to extinction!!), a character gives three answers: 1. It’s disrespectful to God to destroy his creation. 2. Some animals and plants have “practical benefits” that can contribute to medicines and vaccines; extinction removes these life-saving medical qualities from our arsenal. 3. Either all life is meaningful, or all life is meaningless. It seemed strange and unfortunate to me that the author would pass up this opportunity to discuss how life on Earth is interdependent; as humans, the environmental conditions necessary for our existence depend on ecosystems, species, and complex natural systems we have only scratched the surface in understanding. In effect he has removed the human animal from its natural surroundings and put forth a vision of a future, hellish as it is, where some of us can survive well enough even long after the majority of other life on Earth has perished. In my opinion, this undercuts his ultimate goal, which is to increase humanity’s urgency to act.
Similarly, in another section devoted to oceans, Powell largely misses the forest for the trees. Re: the Great Barrier Reef, he has this to say: “By 2050, 95 percent of the Great Barrier Reef had died, taking with it more than a thousand fish species. The beautiful reef that once brought Australia well over $1 billion in tourism annually then brought in nothing.” There is no discussion of the role coral reefs play in protecting coastal land from tropical storm damage and flooding, or of the tangible benefits of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. He briefly mentions ocean acidification in connection with the extinction “of many species of plankton, starfish, urchins, oysters, coral polyps, as well as the larger species like squid that feed on them,” but neglects to tell us, for instance, why we should care about plankton. He certainly does not seriously engage with alarming research predicting dead oceans by 2048, and the significance of that tragedy for human life.
The book’s section on war and social conflict took a dark turn: according to a narrator intended to represent Ethiopia, “Of course, Africa’s ultimate problem has always been its large population. Even without global warming, the presence of so many people might have sealed our doom eventually.” (Somewhat ironically, the following chapter begins the section on “Fascism and Migration.”) This assertion is glossed over quickly; the author must not have experienced this as a controversial statement that would require defending. While I agree it is reasonable to allow that Earth does not possess limitless resources (clearly — as we are currently blowing past those limits at a frightening, self-destructive pace), I think it’s extremely important to exercise some perspective when looking at these numbers, and a great deal of caution when discussing concepts like overpopulation, particularly when directed at regions and peoples who have historically been exploited and robbed of resources, who are not significant sources of carbon emissions, and who are at the most risk from climate change. Powell’s claim here is overtly political, white supremacist, and frankly upsetting.
There were some aspects of this book that I really appreciated. I was glad to see climate change treated seriously, not as a problem for “our grandchildren” to deal with, but as something that is happening now, much sooner than expected. On the whole, though, I was not impressed by The 2084 Report. Particularly as fiction, it missed the mark for me. Although the projections in this book are more conservative than my own, I would have liked to see 2084 presented instead as creative or speculative nonfiction; its tone is more appropriate for science writing, and I believe its narrative would be more compelling through that lens. At the end of the book, a character opines, “This may have seemed a bit like a dry recitation of numbers. If so, I have failed to convey the impact of the greatest health crisis in human history.” This insight, I believe, should have prodded Powell to continue reworking his narrative until he found a better balance of statistics and story. That said, I hope the picture painted in his words helps more people realize the seriousness of what is happening to our world.
Powell writes with a clear intention: a desire to impress upon his readers the severity, the seriousness of our impending doom, if we neglect to take drastic action now to mitigate climate change. This is a subject that weighs heavily on my personal psyche and informs all of my decisions and plans for the future. I have deep concerns that governments and media dramatically underestimate how significant, and how rapid, environmental destruction will be. My observation is that many academic researchers seem to fail to synthesize findings from across many fields, resulting in overly-conservative, compartmentalized predictions of how our planet’s future will play out that don’t pay enough attention to climate tipping points and feedback loops; it is that much more difficult, I believe, for laymen to fully comprehend the scope of this disaster encroaching upon us.
Some of Powell’s narrators comment on this conservative bias in academia: “In my research preparing for the trip, I found a report from the 2010s noting that migration to the EU had already risen due to increasing heat and drought and the social disorder that resulted. One study projected that the annual number of migrants would rise from the 350,000 of the tens to twice that by 2100. But this study, like so many from that period regardless of topic, projected the future based on the past and the past was not a good guide when there was a ‘new normal’ every year or two. These projections almost never took into account global warming and its ancillary effects.” (Although this point of view is undercut elsewhere in the book: “The forecasts turned out to be accurate, though at the time they were made no one had paid any attention.”) Overall, The 2084 Report does engage with much of the more recent science about climate change picking up speed, and imagines what kind of social changes might plausibly accompany a rapidly changing environment. Powell discusses many facets of a changing climate that are often left out of climate prediction models: will increased flooding lead to a rise in diseases like dysentery, cholera, yellow fever, typhus? will desertification result in not just famine, but also increased respiratory disease? will fascist governments euthanize seniors and imprison climate refugees in concentration camps? what happens if the Amazon rainforest essentially vanishes? what happens if entire ecosystems disappear?
Unfortunately, although this book presents one of the more dire views of the future I’ve seen, I believe the author is still too conservative in his projections. The amount of space and textual weight devoted to trophic cascade and loss of biodiversity is negligible; when he does mention these phenomena, he does so briefly and without naming them. It was disappointing to see Powell fall into the same trap of compartmentalization that he criticizes in today’s scientists and governments: when tackling the question of whether and why the loss of a random species should matter to humans (in the single chapter devoted to extinction!!), a character gives three answers: 1. It’s disrespectful to God to destroy his creation. 2. Some animals and plants have “practical benefits” that can contribute to medicines and vaccines; extinction removes these life-saving medical qualities from our arsenal. 3. Either all life is meaningful, or all life is meaningless. It seemed strange and unfortunate to me that the author would pass up this opportunity to discuss how life on Earth is interdependent; as humans, the environmental conditions necessary for our existence depend on ecosystems, species, and complex natural systems we have only scratched the surface in understanding. In effect he has removed the human animal from its natural surroundings and put forth a vision of a future, hellish as it is, where some of us can survive well enough even long after the majority of other life on Earth has perished. In my opinion, this undercuts his ultimate goal, which is to increase humanity’s urgency to act.
Similarly, in another section devoted to oceans, Powell largely misses the forest for the trees. Re: the Great Barrier Reef, he has this to say: “By 2050, 95 percent of the Great Barrier Reef had died, taking with it more than a thousand fish species. The beautiful reef that once brought Australia well over $1 billion in tourism annually then brought in nothing.” There is no discussion of the role coral reefs play in protecting coastal land from tropical storm damage and flooding, or of the tangible benefits of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. He briefly mentions ocean acidification in connection with the extinction “of many species of plankton, starfish, urchins, oysters, coral polyps, as well as the larger species like squid that feed on them,” but neglects to tell us, for instance, why we should care about plankton. He certainly does not seriously engage with alarming research predicting dead oceans by 2048, and the significance of that tragedy for human life.
The book’s section on war and social conflict took a dark turn: according to a narrator intended to represent Ethiopia, “Of course, Africa’s ultimate problem has always been its large population. Even without global warming, the presence of so many people might have sealed our doom eventually.” (Somewhat ironically, the following chapter begins the section on “Fascism and Migration.”) This assertion is glossed over quickly; the author must not have experienced this as a controversial statement that would require defending. While I agree it is reasonable to allow that Earth does not possess limitless resources (clearly — as we are currently blowing past those limits at a frightening, self-destructive pace), I think it’s extremely important to exercise some perspective when looking at these numbers, and a great deal of caution when discussing concepts like overpopulation, particularly when directed at regions and peoples who have historically been exploited and robbed of resources, who are not significant sources of carbon emissions, and who are at the most risk from climate change. Powell’s claim here is overtly political, white supremacist, and frankly upsetting.
There were some aspects of this book that I really appreciated. I was glad to see climate change treated seriously, not as a problem for “our grandchildren” to deal with, but as something that is happening now, much sooner than expected. On the whole, though, I was not impressed by The 2084 Report. Particularly as fiction, it missed the mark for me. Although the projections in this book are more conservative than my own, I would have liked to see 2084 presented instead as creative or speculative nonfiction; its tone is more appropriate for science writing, and I believe its narrative would be more compelling through that lens. At the end of the book, a character opines, “This may have seemed a bit like a dry recitation of numbers. If so, I have failed to convey the impact of the greatest health crisis in human history.” This insight, I believe, should have prodded Powell to continue reworking his narrative until he found a better balance of statistics and story. That said, I hope the picture painted in his words helps more people realize the seriousness of what is happening to our world.
September 30, 2020
Der Titel spielt mit einer der bekanntesten Dystopien, 1984 von George Orwell. Doch im Gegensatz zu dieser gesellschaftlichen Dystopie, wie man sie auch aus Jugendromanen wie Tribute von Panem kennt, dreht sich hier alles um die extrapolierten Konsequenzen des Klimawandels in einer Was-wäre-wenn Erzählung..
Powell greift viele Themen in diesem relativ kurzen Buch auf: beginnend bei Dürre, tödlicher Hitze und Feuer in Kalifornien und Australien, über steigende Meeresspiegel, die ganze Staaten wie die Niederlande, Florida oder Pazifikinseln überschwemmen und den Untergang von Städten verursachen, bis hin zu Migration, Neofaschismus und gesundheitliche Auswirkungen. Auch Kriege um Wasser und brauchbare Ackerflächen kommen nicht zu kurz: Indien und Pakistan tragen einen Atomkrieg um die Kontrolle über Induszuläufe aus, Israel verliert die Golanhöhen und Kanada wird nach kurzem Kampf in die USA einverleibt, um Ackerland zu gewinnen..
Das alles ist Spekulation, erzählt als eine Reihe von Interviews, die im Jahr 2084 weltweit durchgeführt werden und bis in unsere Zeit zurückblicken. Die Erzählung deckt interessante Aspekte auf, die nicht sofort auf der Hand liegen, wenn man an den Klimawandel denkt.
Dabei ist es keine US amerikanische Nabelschau, die der Autor betreibt: Alle Regionen der Welt finden ihre Berücksichtigung, darunter natürlich auch die USA. In einem hervorragenden Vorwort ordnet Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker das Buch für Leser in Deutschland ein.
Die Lektüre ist kurzweilig, sehr gut strukturiert, bringt nie den Anschein auf, populärwissenschaftlich sein zu wollen. Entsprechend fehlen Quellennachweise oder weitere Lesehinweise. Denn es ist zwar plausibel, was Powell erzählt, aber dennoch reine Fiktion.
Hier muss sich der Autor Kritikpunkte gefallen lassen: Zum einen gibt es zwar eine Vielzahl an Interviewpartnern; der Autor versäumt es aber, diesen jeweils charakteristische Erzählstimmen zu geben, und es mutet kurios an, wenn der Amazonasindianer in Stammestracht dieselbe Grammatik und Wortwahl hat wie die Professoren. Zum anderen fehlt eine Geschichte, die die Interviews binden würde.
Demnächst erscheint Kim Stanley Robinsons „Ministry for the Future“, die einen ähnlichen Rundumschlag, in ähnlicher Zeitachse wagt, aber als Erzählung etwas besser funktioniert.
Als Erzählung scheitert das Buch - trotzdem ist es eine interessante und kurzweilige Lektüre - dafür 3 Sterne. Ein Zusatzstern gibt es für die Wichtigkeit des Themas: mit Covid19 gelangt der Klimawandel aus dem Fokus, obwohl er das Leben unserer Nachkommen deutlich stärker prägen wird als die aktuelle Pandemie. Wir müssen jetzt den Schalter umlegen, sonst ist es zu spät - das jedenfalls stellt Powell sehr deutlich heraus.
Powell greift viele Themen in diesem relativ kurzen Buch auf: beginnend bei Dürre, tödlicher Hitze und Feuer in Kalifornien und Australien, über steigende Meeresspiegel, die ganze Staaten wie die Niederlande, Florida oder Pazifikinseln überschwemmen und den Untergang von Städten verursachen, bis hin zu Migration, Neofaschismus und gesundheitliche Auswirkungen. Auch Kriege um Wasser und brauchbare Ackerflächen kommen nicht zu kurz: Indien und Pakistan tragen einen Atomkrieg um die Kontrolle über Induszuläufe aus, Israel verliert die Golanhöhen und Kanada wird nach kurzem Kampf in die USA einverleibt, um Ackerland zu gewinnen..
Das alles ist Spekulation, erzählt als eine Reihe von Interviews, die im Jahr 2084 weltweit durchgeführt werden und bis in unsere Zeit zurückblicken. Die Erzählung deckt interessante Aspekte auf, die nicht sofort auf der Hand liegen, wenn man an den Klimawandel denkt.
Dabei ist es keine US amerikanische Nabelschau, die der Autor betreibt: Alle Regionen der Welt finden ihre Berücksichtigung, darunter natürlich auch die USA. In einem hervorragenden Vorwort ordnet Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker das Buch für Leser in Deutschland ein.
Die Lektüre ist kurzweilig, sehr gut strukturiert, bringt nie den Anschein auf, populärwissenschaftlich sein zu wollen. Entsprechend fehlen Quellennachweise oder weitere Lesehinweise. Denn es ist zwar plausibel, was Powell erzählt, aber dennoch reine Fiktion.
Hier muss sich der Autor Kritikpunkte gefallen lassen: Zum einen gibt es zwar eine Vielzahl an Interviewpartnern; der Autor versäumt es aber, diesen jeweils charakteristische Erzählstimmen zu geben, und es mutet kurios an, wenn der Amazonasindianer in Stammestracht dieselbe Grammatik und Wortwahl hat wie die Professoren. Zum anderen fehlt eine Geschichte, die die Interviews binden würde.
Demnächst erscheint Kim Stanley Robinsons „Ministry for the Future“, die einen ähnlichen Rundumschlag, in ähnlicher Zeitachse wagt, aber als Erzählung etwas besser funktioniert.
Als Erzählung scheitert das Buch - trotzdem ist es eine interessante und kurzweilige Lektüre - dafür 3 Sterne. Ein Zusatzstern gibt es für die Wichtigkeit des Themas: mit Covid19 gelangt der Klimawandel aus dem Fokus, obwohl er das Leben unserer Nachkommen deutlich stärker prägen wird als die aktuelle Pandemie. Wir müssen jetzt den Schalter umlegen, sonst ist es zu spät - das jedenfalls stellt Powell sehr deutlich heraus.
October 7, 2020
Worum geht´s?
Die Welt im Jahr 2084. Der Autor interviewt Experten zur weltweiten Klimakatastrophe. Und alle fragen sich, wieso hat Anfang des Jahrhunderts niemand etwas getan?
Meine Meinung:
Was für ein Buch! Ich bin der Meinung, dass man es nehmen sollte, und jedem an den Kopf werfen müsste, der den Klimawandel immer noch nicht ernst nimmt. Lest dieses Buch und werdet endlich wach!
Dystopie oder nahe Zukunft? Wenn man dem Autor glaubt, ist beides zum heutigen Zeitpunkt noch möglich, auch wenn die Zeichen eher in Richtung Realität schreiten.
Es ist einfach nur erschreckend und beklemmend, welche Auswirkungen unser derzeitiges Leben und Ignorieren auf unserem Kontinent haben wird. Nicht nur Städte verschwinden von der Landkarte, ganze Länder werden ausradiert. Neben Kriegen um Wasser und Lebensraum, kämpfen die Menschen um ein Überleben in einer nie dagewesenen Hitze. Selbstmorde und Depressionen stehen auf dem Tagesplan. Wer spricht da schon über das Great Barrier Rief, welches schon jahrzehntelang von unserem Kontinent verschwunden ist. Oder dem Regenwald, den es nicht mehr gibt, geschweige denn von den vielen Tierarten, die einfach vom Erdboden verschwunden sind.
Atomkriege um Wasser? Klingt nach Science-Fiction? Das sollte es auch! Leider ist es in nicht allzu ferner Zukunft unserer Alltag! Wir sollten langsam aufwachen und uns verantwortungsbewusst einem Leben stellen, das zwar Einschränkungen bedeutet, aber auch unseren Kindern und Enkeln ein Fortbestehen auf diesem schönen Kontinent ermöglicht!
Wer sich in 50 Jahren nicht nachsagen lassen möchte: “Aber ihr habt es doch gewusst!”, sollte dieses Buch lesen, darüber nachdenken und sein Leben anpassen! Es braucht nicht viel Verzicht, um unseren Nachkommen ein Überleben zu sichern!
Fazit: Eins der besten Bücher, die zu diesem Thema geschrieben wurden! Lesen, und allen Politikern unseres Landes zu schicken! Wir müssen endlich aufwachen!
Die Welt im Jahr 2084. Der Autor interviewt Experten zur weltweiten Klimakatastrophe. Und alle fragen sich, wieso hat Anfang des Jahrhunderts niemand etwas getan?
Meine Meinung:
Was für ein Buch! Ich bin der Meinung, dass man es nehmen sollte, und jedem an den Kopf werfen müsste, der den Klimawandel immer noch nicht ernst nimmt. Lest dieses Buch und werdet endlich wach!
Dystopie oder nahe Zukunft? Wenn man dem Autor glaubt, ist beides zum heutigen Zeitpunkt noch möglich, auch wenn die Zeichen eher in Richtung Realität schreiten.
Es ist einfach nur erschreckend und beklemmend, welche Auswirkungen unser derzeitiges Leben und Ignorieren auf unserem Kontinent haben wird. Nicht nur Städte verschwinden von der Landkarte, ganze Länder werden ausradiert. Neben Kriegen um Wasser und Lebensraum, kämpfen die Menschen um ein Überleben in einer nie dagewesenen Hitze. Selbstmorde und Depressionen stehen auf dem Tagesplan. Wer spricht da schon über das Great Barrier Rief, welches schon jahrzehntelang von unserem Kontinent verschwunden ist. Oder dem Regenwald, den es nicht mehr gibt, geschweige denn von den vielen Tierarten, die einfach vom Erdboden verschwunden sind.
Atomkriege um Wasser? Klingt nach Science-Fiction? Das sollte es auch! Leider ist es in nicht allzu ferner Zukunft unserer Alltag! Wir sollten langsam aufwachen und uns verantwortungsbewusst einem Leben stellen, das zwar Einschränkungen bedeutet, aber auch unseren Kindern und Enkeln ein Fortbestehen auf diesem schönen Kontinent ermöglicht!
Wer sich in 50 Jahren nicht nachsagen lassen möchte: “Aber ihr habt es doch gewusst!”, sollte dieses Buch lesen, darüber nachdenken und sein Leben anpassen! Es braucht nicht viel Verzicht, um unseren Nachkommen ein Überleben zu sichern!
Fazit: Eins der besten Bücher, die zu diesem Thema geschrieben wurden! Lesen, und allen Politikern unseres Landes zu schicken! Wir müssen endlich aufwachen!
October 8, 2020
2084 von J. L. Powell
Ein Buch aus der Sicht des Jahres 2084, in dem der Klimawandel erschreckende Ausmaße angenommen hat. Das Buch ist wie ein Interview aufgebaut, das im Jahr 2084 geführt wird, mit Personen aus unterschiedlichen Fachgebieten und Ländern.
Das Buch ist durchgehend sehr verständlich geschrieben und der Leser wird nicht mit Fachbegriffen überhäuft. Und dennoch hat das Ganze ein gewisses Niveau. Für mich war hier besonders erschreckend, in welcher Größenordnung die genannten Zahlen stehen. Einfach aus aktueller Sicht unvorstellbar und dies sorgte immer wieder für eine Gänsehaut bei mir.
Besonders hat ich am Anfang wirkten manche Szenarien sehr repetitiv, was gegen Ende aber besser wurde. Hier muss man aber auch sehen, dass dies nicht als Roman zur Unterhaltung gedacht ist.
Am Ende folgt noch ein Kapitel, in dem erläutert wird, was man 2020 unternehmen hätte müssen, um die Folgen, wie im Buch beschrieben. Abzuwenden, bzw. Abzuschwächen. Das ist für meinen Geschmack etwas kurz ausgefallen und hätte bestimmt mehr Aufmerksamkeit verdient.
Insgesamt fand ich das Buch aber sehr gut. Es hat einen guten Einblick in eine Erschreckende Zukunft gegeben, die so hoffentlich nicht eintreten wird.
Bezüglich des Klimawandels muss etwas getan erden und zwar am besten schon gestern. Deshalb kann ich dieses Buch echt empfehlen mit der Hoffnung, dass es 2084 nicht so aussehen wird wie hier beschrieben.
Ein Buch aus der Sicht des Jahres 2084, in dem der Klimawandel erschreckende Ausmaße angenommen hat. Das Buch ist wie ein Interview aufgebaut, das im Jahr 2084 geführt wird, mit Personen aus unterschiedlichen Fachgebieten und Ländern.
Das Buch ist durchgehend sehr verständlich geschrieben und der Leser wird nicht mit Fachbegriffen überhäuft. Und dennoch hat das Ganze ein gewisses Niveau. Für mich war hier besonders erschreckend, in welcher Größenordnung die genannten Zahlen stehen. Einfach aus aktueller Sicht unvorstellbar und dies sorgte immer wieder für eine Gänsehaut bei mir.
Besonders hat ich am Anfang wirkten manche Szenarien sehr repetitiv, was gegen Ende aber besser wurde. Hier muss man aber auch sehen, dass dies nicht als Roman zur Unterhaltung gedacht ist.
Am Ende folgt noch ein Kapitel, in dem erläutert wird, was man 2020 unternehmen hätte müssen, um die Folgen, wie im Buch beschrieben. Abzuwenden, bzw. Abzuschwächen. Das ist für meinen Geschmack etwas kurz ausgefallen und hätte bestimmt mehr Aufmerksamkeit verdient.
Insgesamt fand ich das Buch aber sehr gut. Es hat einen guten Einblick in eine Erschreckende Zukunft gegeben, die so hoffentlich nicht eintreten wird.
Bezüglich des Klimawandels muss etwas getan erden und zwar am besten schon gestern. Deshalb kann ich dieses Buch echt empfehlen mit der Hoffnung, dass es 2084 nicht so aussehen wird wie hier beschrieben.
September 5, 2020
Fictional oral history conducted in year 2084, based on real life science. Recounting what global warming has affected people all over the world. Water and food shortage, drought, sea level rising, nations going to war fighting for recourses... The US invaded and took over Canada, Iceland has become a province of China, billions of animal species extinct and that people can no longer have pets. In the author's note, "People have asked me, is this book fiction or non-fiction? And i say that, It's fiction now, but if we're not careful, it's going to be non-fiction by the 2080'." Though the author did try to end the book on a hopeful note, "act now" sounds just as bleak as the rest of the book (it is also mentioned in the book that the cut off year to act to have any impact is 2020). The illustrated future is so bleak, so grim, so hopeless this book should be categorized as Horror. That said, everyone should read it!
September 16, 2021
Here is the most realistic dystopia that I’ve ever read, and so one of the scariest. Using a structure similar to Max Brooks’s World War Z, the author envisions real-world effects of climate change based on statistics. And it’s a fairly comprehensive look, considering what happens, for example, when glaciers melt, first causing massive floods and then leaving their lands in drought. That’s only one angle here. The book makes projections around the world, with explanations by survivors. And even the survivors aren’t happy, because things will only get worse.
September 18, 2020
I read this book in one sitting, unable to stop reading. The oral history approach that worked so well for World War Z works here too, although these horrors are all too plausible in a world that is careening toward catastrophe. We have to force or governments to adopt and enforce carbon neutral goals before it is too late.
December 27, 2022
to preface when i got this i didn’t know what book it was!!! anywho i feel bad giving it such a low rating bc it was an interesting idea but i could not get into it at all. everything was like scientific terms that made no sense to me. it had no real characters or storyline just a bunch of interviews put together. i would not recommend :(
September 27, 2020
A frightening eye opener that closely acknowledges the effects that global warming has had on the world and where we may stand in the years to come. It shocks you into actually wanting to do something to commit to change and elect officials that will enforce the laws that need to save our planet.
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