Now or Never: Why We Must Act Now to End Climate Change and Create a Sustainable Future

by Tim Flannery

In Now or Never, the internationally acclaimed author of The Weather Makers returns to the subject of climate change with a book that is at once a forceful call to action and a deeply (and often surprisingly) pragmatic roadmap toward sustainability. Utilizing the most up-to-the-minute data available, Tim Flannery offers a guided tour of the environmental challenges we face and their potential solutions in both the big picture and in specific detail. He explores everything from techniques for storing the carbon that dead plants release into the earth to the fragile balancing act between energy demands and food supply in India and China, from carbon-trading schemes in South America to a recent collaboration between a Danish wind-energy company and an automobile manufacturer that may produce a viable electric car and end the reign of big oil. Now or Never is a powerful, thought-provoking, and essential book about the most urgent issue of our time. It burns with Flannery’s characteristic mix of passion, scientific precision, and “offhand interdisciplinary brilliance” (Entertainment Weekly).

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Environment, Politics, Sustainability, Climate Change, Nature

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Tim Flannery is one of Australia's leading thinkers and writers.

An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, he has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and many books. His books include the landmark works The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and in 2006 won the NSW Premiers Literary Prizes for Best Critical Writing and Book of the Year.

He received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his services to Australian science and in 2002 delivered the Australia Day address. In 2005 he was named Australian Humanist of the Year, and in 2007 honoured as Australian of the Year.

He spent a year teaching at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society's representative in Australasia. He serves on the board of WWF International (London and Gland) and on the sustainability advisory councils of Siemens (Munich) and Tata Power (Mumbai).

In 2007 he co-founded and was appointed Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business, and political leaders who came together to confront climate change.

Tim Flannery is currently Professor of Science at Maquarie University, Sydney.

Reviews

[Mish · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2009, Tim Flannery wrote a passionate essay urging action on global warming and climate change. He presented some big ideas that he was optimistic about, such as harnessing geothermal energy and more widespread use of electric vehicles.

In his essay, Tim Flannery was excited about:
- Geodynamic's project in the Cooper Basin (the trial was completed in 2015 but actually developing the Basin requires more investment)
- UAE's Masdar City Development, which isn't finished yet
- Tesco committing to carbon label its food, which it didn’t
- Carbon capture sequestration technology, which we’re still on the lookout for
- CS Energy's Oxyfuel project in Bileola QLD which is now decommissioned

I couldn’t find much news on pyrolysis machines, used to trap carbon, or nitrification inhibitors on cattle - a pity, since Flannery was so excited about these two ideas.

In 2009, Flannery noted:
- the warming of the Arctic Ocean,and the melting of one of earth's air conditioners if you will - the Greenland ice sheet (melting at between 250 to 300 cubic km per year), and today, melting faster than ever
- that there was 0.2 hectares of arable land per head of population - it continues to shrink, according to the World Bank in 2016, it’s 0.192 hectares per person

The version I read also included some helpful responses from other figures interested in the climate crisis, including (funnily enough) Richard Branson - but I found the responses helpful because they challenged the ideas that Flannery presented - that there was no such thing as clean coal; the need to take into account future carbon emissions when talking about the effectiveness of solutions rather than just the the standing stock in the atmosphere; that agriculture and the mass cattle farming harmed the environment more than logging does, specifically because logging is often performed to raise cattle.

If there's one criticism of this essay, it's that Flannery can be extraordinarily condescending and dismissive- he claims that farmers are stuck in their old ways, which is why they haven't experimented with nitrification inhibitors etc I understand this is just an essay, but it reduces the influence of the message when you gloss over the end users of the environment and their behaviour. I think a valuable follow up or other reading to accompany this essay would be additional detailed exploration of the barriers to some of the solutions presented, whether that be cost, regulation, or fear of the unknown.

Finishing 'Now or Never' made me appreciate the diversity of views on climate action and how we should tackle it. Most of all, I found it profoundly sad, that more than 10 years on the optimism is dwindling fast. The other writers, in response to ‘Now or Never’, wrote with hope - that we were going to recognise what was happening and take it seriously, like the world was taking the global financial crisis seriously. In 2009, governments were printing money like there was no tomorrow and pumping that into the economy - today, the urgency of fighting climate change hasn’t sunk in where it matters most, and I’m afraid that pandemics, regional conflicts and the economy will continue to take priority over our planet.

There are pathways forward - I’m really heartened by the push for renewable energy in Australian states and territories - but we need the federal government to design good policy, invest and take the threat of climate change seriously. If we wait until some big event happens to take any action (like China rejecting our waste exports to build a domestic recycling industry), it will be too late.

As a side note - did not realise that Australia has National Greenhouse Gas Inventory reporting updated quarterly, about our emissions and where they come from. In the year to June 2020, the largest sources of emissions were electricity (33.4%), direction combustion of fuels (except electricity, 20.0%) and transport (18.3%). Fossil fuels (labelled as ‘fugitive emissions’ HA!) and agriculture also feature in the contributions.

Also - a great video from Vox about the pathway to decarbonising and separating ourselves from 'traditional' energy sources.

[Annapoorni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book - Now or Never
Author- Tim Flannery
Genre- #NonFiction #Environment
Publisher- Open Road Integrated Media
My Rating-3.5⭐

#WorldEnvironmentDay

A book written with a lot of clarity, substantiated with facts and statistics, laid out in terms that is understandable to ordinary people. While the book states the possibility of an apocalypse, one that we literally tailored with no heed to the rest of the world, all is not lost. Action needs to be taken immediately and without more deliberation and debates. The time for that is long gone.
The book points out at China and India as fast developing nations that use coal based energy and thus aggravate the issue. This maybe true, but what about the developed nations that boast of clean energy now, but have already pitched in their substantial share to the climate crisis?
Elsewhere in the book, the author acknowledges this 'historic debt' owed to the world by the Western countries that profited maximum from the Industrial Revolution.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short essay on climate change.
Flannery urges the public and governments to act quickly to confront climate change. Flannery describes the fallout with purple oceans and green skies. This book delves into the definition of sustainability, subsistence farmers, Geothermal energy production, and more efficient infrastructure.
The arguments are valid but the tone is alarmist. If you are familiar with climate change, this book will not offer many new concepts. If you want to learn more, I recommend reading the following books:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Robert Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

You've got to love the clear description of the basic science of the carbon cycle here. Makes the politics of continuing to burn our fossil fuel reserves a travesty. Essential reading and an interesting time capsule of sorts given that more than a decade has passed since its writing and needless to say a lot has changed. Unfortunately the urgency with which we need to act only becomes more pressing.

[SLADE · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was some interesting science in support of the theory of human caused climate change and how to combat it book ended by some weird Earth spiritual rambling. I enjoyed the science, not so much on the spiritual stuff.

It's short enough to read and enjoy though without boring you. Check it out.

[moira · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author made some great points and I liked the balance between and data/facts with convincing and writing to the audience.
The overall tone of the book felt very "doomsday" to me- which is most likely accurate. I felt many of the solutions he listed he even countered by saying the were unlikely to happen.
I did enjoy reading the replies to the book.

[Mary]

I could not get into this book; will try it again at another time.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good brief overview of climate emergency. Covered a variety of topics but not too deeply. Lacked a personal spin and made it hard to get into the book. Did not notice any factual errors.

[Malcolm Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking, frightening in parts and (I think) very prescient given recent events. No alarmist hyperbole here, just well-reasoned argument backed by science.

[ems · Rating 2 out of 5]

very disappointing to see a mention of volcanic geoengineering where it is presented as a somewhat reasonable solution

[Jenny williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I've ever read by Tim Flannery and within the first few pages I was in love. Books like this that talk about our planet and all the current threats to it in this present day is the scariest for the human race to face; that's why most don't. I was very interested in climate change and how long our planet earth will withhold all of the different things we do to it on a day to day basis. Flannery goes into detail about global warming and how big of a factor it is on climate change. He didn't say exactly how fast our glacier ice caps will melt when global warming picks up but he did mention a timescale of it. As of right now according to our temperature proxies and passed climate patterns, our global temperature is increasing at an exponential rate. This scared me for my life. At around 2050 our population will have DOUBLED (assuming our reproduction rate is the same) and then at that point we are going to be completely overpopulated. With overpopulation comes more need for natural resources that we simply can't recreate and from there, our world goes into a spiraling downfall. We are going to bring global warming onto ourselves and when our ice caps do melt, which they will, our sea level is going to rise a few feet in the best case scenario. The probable scenario is over a couple hundred feet; we won't even be able to live on Western Washington if it rises that high. I believe every non-believer should read this book so they understand the realization of the harms on our planet from abuse and pollution. This book had me on the edge of my seat. Every time I read it, i would always want to run around and tell everyone I saw that it's now or never for planet earth. But then again that would just look crazy! I'm a huge fan of Tim Flannery and his tone, style and personality that is evident in his writing. Phenomenal read.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a book that every human being should be physically forced to read, this very instant. global warming is real (as Flannery points out 40% of people still don't think so), and our atmosphere has already reached a temperature that scientists believe is too high to continue to sustain life as we know it on our little planet.

I am horrible at reviews and synopses, suffice it to say this book is a must-read. if you are a global warming skeptic or even if you already believe in global warming, this book is for you. this book is for ANY human who wants to still be alive in 20-40 years. we are messing up our one and only planet, fast, and the ecosphere as we know it is already changing so rapidly that we are close to the point of no return where no amount of effort will save us. we need to wake the f*** up and start doing something about it because the government is certainly not going to.

The book is short, i read it in one day; if you are reading this review i implore you to give it a spin and open your eyes to the ways our world is changing all around us. It is very scary, tough to read about, and tougher to act on, especially since we can't actually see the wide-spread scale of our actions on the planet. i, for one, vote that we rally together and give future generations a fighting chance at survival.




as a side-note, i find it ironic that the scientists and environmentalists speaking on global warming are often made fun of and disbelieved when they are the ones trying to save our sorry-asses from imminent self-destruction.....

[Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I wish more books were like this, particularly environmental books. It's short and sweet, and virtually free of ideology. It clearly discusses the problems we face, and then moves swiftly onto several very practical and even profitable solutions that can be enacted today. These aren't the typical canned answers you normally hear--drive a hybrid and use CFLs. These are fairly novel, targeted precisely at changes that will bring the most bang for the buck: preventing rain forest destruction and reforming food production.

Then the coolest part is at the end, which includes responses from several prominent environmentalists, some supportive, some critical. Some very good points are raised here. So, not only is this book fairly free of ideology, it becomes more of a discussion than a lecture. You can read some of the different viewpoints, and then make up your own mind.

This is the perfect book if you're looking for a quick overview of the critical issues we face.

[Brendan]

A discussion of the definition of sustainability and their various ethical insinuations. Presentation of select facts proving warming etc. ETS, a few of the drawbacks and holes in the system, and a few suggestions (subsistence farmers in tropical/ideal climates being paid to establish/maintain forests is a fair idea). Geothermal energy production, specifically Australia, and more efficient infrastructure. Diet. These are the sorts of things discussed. If you want to know more about any of these than reading this isn't going to take up too much time. His earlier Quarterly Essay was something a little closer to his traditional knowledgebase, but you're not going to get dumber reading this one.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Easy to read. The first half of the book paints a rather sobering picture of the human impact on the climate and what scientist predict we can expect in the future. Basically, if we do nothing to reverse climate change, we are in for a world of hurt with major impact on civilization as we know it. In the second half of the book Flannery proposes a proposes a number of novel ideas to reduce greenhouse gases. Unfortunately, it appears that world leaders, for the most part, are choosing to ignore climate change and are choosing to do nothing about it.
We, as citizens of planet earth should be outraged that our leaders are ignoring this crises. We should encourage every one we know to read this book and demand that our governments take action.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides an essential understanding of global warming and cogent arguments for ways to combat it. It is concise, well written, and well-documented with evidence from the world's leading climate scientists. At this point, climate change is no longer a theory to be disputed. It is up to those of us who are alive today to deal with climate change in the same manner as "the greatest generation" in their response to Hitler's domination of Europe. We can, and must, do it. Read this book and find out how we can successfully navigate climate change for the benefit of our children and grandchildren.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The consequence on not acting swiftly and decisively on climate change is made very clear in this book. It is chilling to read. The impact of purple oceans and a green sky is the stuff of nightmares. The good news is that it is probably preventable, if we would just get our act together. Right now, politicians beholden to carbon based energy should be treated as lepers. They need to go away and stay away so the rest of us can clean up the mess they've created. A must read if you have children and give a damn about them.

[Petersong · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting point made by Tim Flannery in this book is that in its Fourth Assessment Report (2007) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that the global warming trend was "very likely" caused by humans. This body of experts is very conservative as it works by consensus. This means that government representatives from countries including the United States, China and Saudi Arabia must assent to every word of every finding.

[Judy Lindow · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to return this book because I agree with Peter Singer. Strongly. And think Mr. Flannery's rebuttal is weak, weak, weak; this is no time to avoid the impact our food choices have in contributing to climate change. This is NOT just about methane and nitrous oxide, it's about deforestation (loss of carbon intake, sequestration, oxygen, etc.) for grazing and global depletion of resources. I feel the book verges on denial when it ignores the gravitas of eating meat. Boo.

[Jake Berlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book approaches climate change from a very scientific point of view (something i appreciate), and surprisingly taught me a few things i didn't know. at the same time, i wish it had come to a more satisfying conclusion -- you certainly know what flannery is saying, but you leave wishing he had finished on a stronger note.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear statement of where the world stands in relation to the climate crisis. Flannery is insightful and pragmatic about the hope that still exists and the reality we are leaving for the next generation. This is a book everyone should read, if only to brace themselves for what is coming.

[John Walls · Rating 3 out of 5]

A less than practical response to the situation of climate change. Very alarmist and it sounded like a script for someone debating the issue with a denier who had no chance of winning. The information was valid, but the argument was way overstayed.

[Joseph Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little depressing. It calls for action on a much broader scale than what individuals can do on their own; rather it calls for action at a governmental level.

[Cara Schwarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoughtprovoking book about what we humans are getting up to ... do not agree with all he says but I actually want to read it again ...

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 50 pages of this book are depressing as hell. The following 150 attempt to show you a way through to hope.

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

wanted to know more about climate change - this was ok, but it didn't particularly persuade me or excite me

[Valar Morghulis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eye-opener.

[LadyS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good suggestions