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Forecast - The Consequences of Climate Change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley
Climate change has already been altering lives on our planet for a generation: "Forecast" shows, through Stephan Faris's vivid on-the-ground reporting, that there are unanticipated and surprising affects - some castastrophic and some positive - right around the corner.
The latest communiqué from the emerging genre of traveling the world in the footsteps of climate change is an intelligent, nuanced report on the complex relationships between increasingly unstable weather patterns and politics, ecology and lifestyles. Journalist Faris shows how the genocide in Darfur has roots in desertification and may be a canary in the coal mine, a foretaste of climatically driven political chaos, and how the resulting emigration of Africans to Europe is causing economic pressures that are being met with fascistic movements in Italy and Britain. Locals are abandoning Key West and New Orleans due to unsustainable insurance premiums; Bangladesh is likely to be flooded out of existence; and drought may wipe out the Amazon rain forest within 70 years. Faris cites a study predicting a world depicted by Mad Max, only hotter, with no beaches and perhaps with even more chaos. But, depressingly, he admits that his travels researching this book released nine times an average person's annual carbon use and that the world many have opened its eyes to climate change, but we're far from taking effective action.
The latest communiqué from the emerging genre of traveling the world in the footsteps of climate change is an intelligent, nuanced report on the complex relationships between increasingly unstable weather patterns and politics, ecology and lifestyles. Journalist Faris shows how the genocide in Darfur has roots in desertification and may be a canary in the coal mine, a foretaste of climatically driven political chaos, and how the resulting emigration of Africans to Europe is causing economic pressures that are being met with fascistic movements in Italy and Britain. Locals are abandoning Key West and New Orleans due to unsustainable insurance premiums; Bangladesh is likely to be flooded out of existence; and drought may wipe out the Amazon rain forest within 70 years. Faris cites a study predicting a world depicted by Mad Max, only hotter, with no beaches and perhaps with even more chaos. But, depressingly, he admits that his travels researching this book released nine times an average person's annual carbon use and that the world many have opened its eyes to climate change, but we're far from taking effective action.
242 pages, hardcover
First published December 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 11, 2014
He calls this book a work of optimism, after very compellingly laying out how climate change is going to cause basically every problem you can even think of - mass migration, loss of basically everything that makes life enjoyable even in developed countries, rising nationalism, all-out war. Oh yeah, and environmental problems, too. Thought provoking and terrifying. Maybe not so optimistic.
February 22, 2013
Particularly intrigued by the sections of the book that showed the under-reported effects of climate change; how fewer resources (and/or access to resources) can lead to social disorder, and how so many of the conflicts have roots in climate change.
July 25, 2019
Global warming seen from a human perspective
Journalist Stephan Faris goes around the world to see for himself up close and personal what climate change means to the lives of people. He begins in Darfur where the rising temperature is allowing the Sahara Desert to extend its reach, the immediate result of which is bloody war between herders and farmers. (People are wonderful as long as they get what they want. Should the crops dry up and their animals find no grazing, they'll kill you, period.)
Chapter 2 finds Faris in Florida (where the waters are rising and the hurricanes are getting really frequent and fierce); from there in Chapter 3 he examines the immigration problem in Europe where the brown and often Muslim folk from equatorial lands encroach upon the relatively rich whites of the north and cause incipient nationalism (read fascism) to begin its rise again.
In Chapter 4 the Amazon is burning and malaria is moving north. In Chapter 5 Faris arrives in Napa Valley to taste the wines and hear how the warmer weather will chase the wine grapes north, perhaps to Alaska. (Well, southern England is now, as it once was in the 14th century, wine grape country.) In Chapter 6 Faris is in Churchill where the polar bears roam and near where the arctic ice is melting and staying melt for so long that a Northwest Passage year round is becoming possible. (Some good yet may come of this global warming, at least for the town of Churchill, although the polar bears will be considerably inconvenienced.)
In Chapter 7, we learn about the water rising in Bangladesh and how the Himalayas do not feed the rivers as they once did, thereby threatening the grain harvest in Pakistan, and how the coming conflict over water between Pakistan and India may result in nuclear war. The aquifers are falling. It costs more all the time to pump that water up from farther and farther down; and someday it will be gone and the crops will wilt and die and famine with spread across the land.
In an epilogue Faris muses about the challenge of climate change and how unlikely it is that we will solve it before the really harsh pain sets in. He asks, "If the richest people on the planet won't make economic sacrifices to address the problem, what chance is there that the rest of the world will?"
Actually the richest people are in denial and they don't really care about the rest of world. This is another book on global warming, engagingly and gracefully written, that will become a target of the deniers, who, like creationists, close their eyes to the science and celebrate willful ignorance. Let them (the people of the future) eat cake is what they effectively say--or actually it will be dirt that they will be eating--and in some places it already is dirt.
But I have to say that some of the problems that Faris addresses--starving people in Africa in particular, and also the poor people in Bangladesh who face the rising waters--are more the result of political mismanagement and greed than they are of global warming. And most significantly in many places in the world there are just too many people for the land to reliably support. Indeed many of the problems of the world would be greatly alleviated, or at least made tractable, if there were say half a billion people on the planet instead of six and a half billion. Unless this truth is realized and acted upon, humanity and the creatures of our stewardship are in for some horrific times to come.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Journalist Stephan Faris goes around the world to see for himself up close and personal what climate change means to the lives of people. He begins in Darfur where the rising temperature is allowing the Sahara Desert to extend its reach, the immediate result of which is bloody war between herders and farmers. (People are wonderful as long as they get what they want. Should the crops dry up and their animals find no grazing, they'll kill you, period.)
Chapter 2 finds Faris in Florida (where the waters are rising and the hurricanes are getting really frequent and fierce); from there in Chapter 3 he examines the immigration problem in Europe where the brown and often Muslim folk from equatorial lands encroach upon the relatively rich whites of the north and cause incipient nationalism (read fascism) to begin its rise again.
In Chapter 4 the Amazon is burning and malaria is moving north. In Chapter 5 Faris arrives in Napa Valley to taste the wines and hear how the warmer weather will chase the wine grapes north, perhaps to Alaska. (Well, southern England is now, as it once was in the 14th century, wine grape country.) In Chapter 6 Faris is in Churchill where the polar bears roam and near where the arctic ice is melting and staying melt for so long that a Northwest Passage year round is becoming possible. (Some good yet may come of this global warming, at least for the town of Churchill, although the polar bears will be considerably inconvenienced.)
In Chapter 7, we learn about the water rising in Bangladesh and how the Himalayas do not feed the rivers as they once did, thereby threatening the grain harvest in Pakistan, and how the coming conflict over water between Pakistan and India may result in nuclear war. The aquifers are falling. It costs more all the time to pump that water up from farther and farther down; and someday it will be gone and the crops will wilt and die and famine with spread across the land.
In an epilogue Faris muses about the challenge of climate change and how unlikely it is that we will solve it before the really harsh pain sets in. He asks, "If the richest people on the planet won't make economic sacrifices to address the problem, what chance is there that the rest of the world will?"
Actually the richest people are in denial and they don't really care about the rest of world. This is another book on global warming, engagingly and gracefully written, that will become a target of the deniers, who, like creationists, close their eyes to the science and celebrate willful ignorance. Let them (the people of the future) eat cake is what they effectively say--or actually it will be dirt that they will be eating--and in some places it already is dirt.
But I have to say that some of the problems that Faris addresses--starving people in Africa in particular, and also the poor people in Bangladesh who face the rising waters--are more the result of political mismanagement and greed than they are of global warming. And most significantly in many places in the world there are just too many people for the land to reliably support. Indeed many of the problems of the world would be greatly alleviated, or at least made tractable, if there were say half a billion people on the planet instead of six and a half billion. Unless this truth is realized and acted upon, humanity and the creatures of our stewardship are in for some horrific times to come.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
January 2, 2013
I applaud Faris for attempting to draw attention to our increasingly bleak environmental outlook, but he misfires so often in this account that giving even 3 stars is a bit of a reach. The good - covering the threat of melting glaciers causing seas to rise and thus flooding many of our cities; the desertification of land reducing the area that can be cultivated and thus increasing pressure of food production amidst a rising global population; the brutality of the Sudanese Arabs in their genocidal onslaught against the blacks of the south, whether animist, Christian or fellow Muslims; India's deplorable occupation of Kashmir, with the level of disappearances and torture accounts making, in my view, their intellectual crowd's condemnation of the US invasion of Iraq painfully hypocritical and completely lacking in self-awareness; a lovely little history of Churchill, Manitoba and a solid account of the current battle for rights to the Arctic Circle's resources and shipping channels.
The bad - whiny, bleeding heart accounts of the immigration to Italy via North Africa and faulting Southern Italy, a 2nd world country by any objective measure, for not doing more to welcome impoverished individuals fleeing their futureless homelands for greener pastures. Tying this movement to climate change is largely without grounds. The poor have sought lives in the rich world ever since countries began to separate themselves in terms of GDP per capita. He harms his cause by introducing this into the narrative and for faulting Italy for its treatment of the, depending on your viewpoint, refugees/illegal invaders.
The terrible - the chapter on California's wine country was inane and actually made me think environmental catastrophes wouldn't be so bad if they rid the world of the pretension and waste of the wine industry. Agriculture pumps CO2 into the air and causes the planet to get warmer. Yes, but it largely provides food. Vineyards pump CO2 into the air and produce nothing of value since the grapes are wasted by a process that converts them into a brain cell-destroying drug. Does the author say one negative word about this waste of arable land and misuse of its harvest? No. He just complains about climate change cutting the space where premium wine can be grown. Unbelievable. If the environmentalists want the science to win they have to let go of double standards like that.
The bad - whiny, bleeding heart accounts of the immigration to Italy via North Africa and faulting Southern Italy, a 2nd world country by any objective measure, for not doing more to welcome impoverished individuals fleeing their futureless homelands for greener pastures. Tying this movement to climate change is largely without grounds. The poor have sought lives in the rich world ever since countries began to separate themselves in terms of GDP per capita. He harms his cause by introducing this into the narrative and for faulting Italy for its treatment of the, depending on your viewpoint, refugees/illegal invaders.
The terrible - the chapter on California's wine country was inane and actually made me think environmental catastrophes wouldn't be so bad if they rid the world of the pretension and waste of the wine industry. Agriculture pumps CO2 into the air and causes the planet to get warmer. Yes, but it largely provides food. Vineyards pump CO2 into the air and produce nothing of value since the grapes are wasted by a process that converts them into a brain cell-destroying drug. Does the author say one negative word about this waste of arable land and misuse of its harvest? No. He just complains about climate change cutting the space where premium wine can be grown. Unbelievable. If the environmentalists want the science to win they have to let go of double standards like that.
February 17, 2012
You know why we're doomed? Because the people smart enough to grasp the problems of global climate change, it happens, are also the most boring writers in the Universe. If you're a fan of those pompous, arid, tedious, bloated, meandering, evil, flavorless essays which regularly appear in such journals as The Atlantic or The New Yorker, you will love this book the way you love rice cakes.
....
And just when I thought it couldn't get more boring, I hit Chapter 5.
"Hey. You know the world is dying? Let's spend a couple hours talking about wine."
....
And just when I thought it couldn't get more boring, I hit Chapter 5.
"Hey. You know the world is dying? Let's spend a couple hours talking about wine."
October 29, 2016
The author discusses the effects climate change may have on several areas around the globe, although it often takes him an awful long time to get to his point. While the causes and potential solutions are given light treatment, the potential affects are sobering.
February 19, 2014
I listened to this book for a report on Darfur I needed to write for school. It was a good, quick description of consequences of climate change. But, it was all description without any explanatory science.
March 13, 2020
Not the best or the worst book that I've read on climate change and the coming century. I would say that this one is pretty standard. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot in here that would influence people who are on the fence about understanding how bad it's going to be, but there was plenty to reinforce the beliefs of the already faithful.
I liked how he focused on the effects of people worldwide and tried to make it a human problem because that's what it is. I dislike that he focused so much on the effects that people in far flung corners of the world will feel because of climate change. I think a faster, better way to get through to people is to tell them how it will hurt them, not someone a thousand or three thousand miles away.
I can't say that there would be anything wrong with your reading this book, but I think there are better ones on the topic so I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one to anyone.
I liked how he focused on the effects of people worldwide and tried to make it a human problem because that's what it is. I dislike that he focused so much on the effects that people in far flung corners of the world will feel because of climate change. I think a faster, better way to get through to people is to tell them how it will hurt them, not someone a thousand or three thousand miles away.
I can't say that there would be anything wrong with your reading this book, but I think there are better ones on the topic so I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one to anyone.
August 17, 2017
A boots-on-the-ground account of climate change in which Faris demonstrates how it's affecting the poorest among us and how it's already the threat multiplier army generals have nightmares about.
Topics covered include : the skyrocketing costs of home insurance in parts of the United States, the impact of extended warm seasons on the reproductive cycles of various pests, the shuffling of agricultural regions suitable for growing wine grapes, the mounting tensions between arctic countries over territorial claims and the plight of environmental refugees in all parts of the world.
Topics covered include : the skyrocketing costs of home insurance in parts of the United States, the impact of extended warm seasons on the reproductive cycles of various pests, the shuffling of agricultural regions suitable for growing wine grapes, the mounting tensions between arctic countries over territorial claims and the plight of environmental refugees in all parts of the world.
June 2, 2024
Quite depressing. We should do something about this.
March 9, 2017
reading this almost a decade after it was first published was both fascinating and disturbing. The ice cap and glaciers continue to melt, global average Temps continue to increase, greenhouse gas production continues at alarming rates. I would love to see Faris produce an updated edition
April 10, 2016
Mr. Faris describes some of the current situations that are already happening because of climate change... plus tell us what MORE we can expect in the future
I found the sections on Dafur, Bangladesh, and Kashmir chilling: the book does a great job of describing the political/social situation on the ground, sketching out how these complex and fragile places are particularly susceptible to climate change, and then talking about the terrible consequences that are already playing out. In the US, the book describes the reaction of the insurance industry to our increasingly chaotic weather, and how that effects communities like New Orleans and the Florida Keys. The section on how the wine industry is being effected by warming was interesting... France being one of the ones whose climate is changing enough to disrupt their wine making
2nd reading is in April 2016. ALso read it before when it was first published
I found the sections on Dafur, Bangladesh, and Kashmir chilling: the book does a great job of describing the political/social situation on the ground, sketching out how these complex and fragile places are particularly susceptible to climate change, and then talking about the terrible consequences that are already playing out. In the US, the book describes the reaction of the insurance industry to our increasingly chaotic weather, and how that effects communities like New Orleans and the Florida Keys. The section on how the wine industry is being effected by warming was interesting... France being one of the ones whose climate is changing enough to disrupt their wine making
2nd reading is in April 2016. ALso read it before when it was first published
June 19, 2009
This accidetally got returned to the library before I finished it. It had a lot of good information and really makes you think about not only your resource usage but how land is used not only now but in the future when there may be much less ariable land. It may cause me to vote against the new urban growth boundries that will be made this summer. They are thinking of using Helvatia, which is where our CSA farm, favorite multi berry picking farm and farms are. When it got returned, it was in a pretty depressing part, and I not sure I want to get it to finish.
September 4, 2009
Pretty depressing account of the ways in which climate change has already and is likely to continue to affect pretty much everyone on the planet. I'd give it more stars, but the book, despite taking on fascinating pieces of the environmental, cultural, and political effects of global warming, is not as well written or as interesting as it could be. One sometimes wonders about the point of particular episodes Faris describes, and he has a tendency to try for literary fiction-style descriptions of the people he interviews, without having enough of a subtle touch to avoid sounding a bit corny.
April 27, 2009
Wow, it is pretty shocking to hear how global warming and climate change have already disrupted many communities around the world. We are seeing effects now. This book is very informative and has a lot of great information. Also the way it is written is very engaging, not dry at all.
July 10, 2009
I really tried to like this book, but it just failed to keep my attention. It had some interesting parts, such as the discussion about infections, however, I found the book, overall, to be on the boring side.
Currently reading
October 29, 2009This is a good book so far.
September 25, 2010
Points out ways in which climate change could impact society that we don't necessarily think about. The chapters on coastal property and the wine industry are excellent.
February 10, 2017
I couldn't finish this, it was way too depressing.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews