The Climate War

by Eric Pooley

In The Climate War, Eric Pooley--deputy editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek--does for global warming what Bob Woodward did for presidents and Lawrence Wright did for terrorists. In this epic tale of an American civil war, Pooley takes us behind the scenes and into the hearts and minds of the most important players in the struggle to cap global warming pollution--a fight in which trillions of dollars and the fate of the planet are at stake. Why has it been so hard for America to come to grips with climate change? Why do so many people believe it isn't really happening? As President Obama's science advisor John Holdren has said, "We're driving in a car with bad brakes in a fog and heading for a cliff. We know for sure that cliff is out there. We just don't know exactly where it is. Prudence would suggest that we should start putting on the brakes." But powerful interests are threatened by the carbon cap that would speed the transition to a clean energy economy, and their agents have worked successfully to deny the problem and delay the solutions. To write this book, Pooley, the former managing editor of Fortune and chief political correspondent for Time, spent three years embedded with an extraordinary cast of from the flamboyant head of one of the nation's largest coal-burning energy companies to the driven environmental leader who made common cause with him, from leading scientists warning of impending catastrophe to professional skeptics disputing almost every aspect of climate science, from radical activists chaining themselves to bulldozers to powerful lobbyists, media gurus, and advisors in Obama's West Wing--and, to top it off, unprecedented access to former Vice President Al Gore and his team of climate activists. Pooley captures the quiet determination and even heroism of climate campaigners who have dedicated their lives to an uphill battle that's still raging today. He asks whether we have what it takes to preserve our planet's habitability, and shows how America's climate war sends shock waves from Bali to Copenhagen. No other reporter enjoys such access to this cast of characters. No other book covers this terrain. From the trenches of a North Carolina power plant to the battlefields of Capitol Hill, Madison Avenue, and Wall Street, The Climate War is the essential read for anyone who wants to understand the players and politics behind the most important issue we face today.

Genres: Politics, Climate Change, Science, Nonfiction, Environment, History

500 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2010

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about the politics of climate change, not the science. Centers around a few environmental and corporate leaders willing to grudgingly compromise with each other over the years (who achieve progress comparable to a snail in a hamster wheel), but also follows many other players including extremists on all sides and the Bush and Obama administrations. It does a decent job of treating everyone fairly, with the understanding that fairly does not mean "in the most positive light". The multi-year building of relationships and common ground is agonizingly slow but very realistic.

The heart of the issues always seems to return to moral dilemmas. Is it right to reward polluters with $$$ to help solve the problem, or can you risk waiting years for more and more consequences to change public opinion? How much do you value business or your election chances versus how much do you value your grandchildren? It is disheartening that we East African Plains Apes have such difficulty dealing with complex long term threats, but on the other hand we are out-competing the heck out of those tigers.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started reading the Climate War after seeing Eric Pooley interview a few Environmental Defense Fund senior staff at an event recently, and he signed a book for me. After recently starting a job in the climate science world, I thought a book that covers the recent history of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be very useful. It absolutely was - there's been scientific consensus for decades that we're making the planet warmer, but scientists don't make policy. Therefore the main difficulty with responding to a natural problem like this that scientists, and those who think science should trump regional factionalism, have to convince supporters of the fossil fuel industry and regional factionalists to fix a long-term problem. This is very difficult, I can now say from personal experience.

However, there has been a great deal of progress in convincing the world that there's a problem, we need to deal with it, and we can. There's also been some progress in starting to move on solving that problem. There is so much more that needs to be done in order to head off a self-sustaining warming reaction that will dramatically alter our world and more importantly to the human race: our existence. The more the ice caps melt into the sea, the less light is bounced back into space and the more is absorbed into a warming ocean. Which makes other things warmer. The more CO2 there is in the air, the more makes it into the water, which causes the salt water to acidify, which kills phytoplankton, the things that eat phytoplankton, coral, etc. The warmer it is, the more moisture gets moved around, so in certain places, there are record droughts, and in others, there are record rainstorms, floods, and blizzards. Species experience extinction more frequently, mosquitoes can survive winters longer in more temperate clients (and can bring dengue fever to the U.S., let's say). Not to mention the pollution brought by burning all the fossil fuels we can get our hands on as fast as we can. As a friend once told me - when it comes down to it, we're burning stuff to make turbines spin. It's messy.

We can start to turn down the knob on this process by using less fuel, creating cleaner energy, creating markets that have incentives to develop clean energy technology, and saving the carbon that exists in forests from being clear cut for little economic and social benefit. If someone can convince me that the free market will do this on its own - if the invisible hand can manage externalities - then awesome, we don't need government. Unfortunately, we haven't seen a largely unregulated energy industry clean itself up, and no one's convinced me that it'll manage to do so without government, so for our own sakes, bring on the regulation. The globe will be fine no matter what, and most species will be fine, but we'll be looking at a much different world in 100 years than the one we know. And it'll be super duper sweaty.

Now all we need is 60 Senators to realize we're cooking ourselves beyond any ability to forestall massive effects on the world we know...

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another pick up from the transfer station. Not the first Climate Change book that I will have read. It should be interesting, as well as enraging. Maybe I shouldn't read it!

Started off last with Bali and Al Gore. Continuing today. Lots of snow coming down on a day off means plenty of reading time.

I picked this one up again last night after setting it aside in the face of more interesting stuff a couple of months ago. I put it back down shortly after. I guess I'm just not in the mood to be depressed, discouraged, and generally pissed off. After a bit of scenery setting the author commenced on a history of both EDF and NRDC and the relevant personalities involved. Boring ... For someone with a bit more commitment and patience this might be fine, albeit still in the negative-outcome mode considering what's going on these days. I can't give it a low rating since I didn't read that much of it.

- 3.5* rounds down to 3*

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very important book since it catches people who want to understand the "climate wars" background information. While well written and very informative, it gives almost too much detail about events that transpired. Ultimately, I'm glad it did, since it lead to better understanding of what has gone on and what will need to happen, but it made for difficult reading. I'd say the single most important fact I got from this is the fact that the PR people who were hired by tobacco companies to delay and postpone regulation of tobacco for so many decades are the same PR people who now work for the Climate Deniers's side. If this fact doesn't make people be more skeptical of the Climate Deniers, I don't know what will!

[Andrea McDowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. I now know far more than I thought it was possible to know about why the US can't pass a piece of climate change legislation to save its soul ... or its water tables, agriculture, forestry industry and future citizenry, as the case may be. Depressing, illuminating, inspiring, and exhausting.

[Eric Roston]

Journalism with principles: epic in scale, masterful in narrative and detail, with well-paced winks at the tragic absurdity of it all.

[Ryder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Climate War is an extensive chronicle of the political battle over carbon emissions between politicians, activists, CEOs, and campaigners. It is obvious that Pooley put a tremendous amount of work into this book and his reporting is, in my opinion, unmatched on the topic. He knows each character intimately and is able to offer a refreshingly unique, inside perspective on this period of climate legislation and the tireless efforts of both those for and against its implementation. As someone who is primarily concerned with the science of climate change and our social response to its effects, this was actually the first book I read about environmental politics. This is, however, definitely not a beginner’s book. It’s detailed, thorough, and long. The Climate War is a great pick for those interested in climate politics, Washington’s response to the crisis, or those hoping to learn more about a fascinating and tragic tale with an extraordinary cast of characters.

[Elaine Burnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is from 2010 and at first I thought it’d be dated, but it’s actually quite interesting, given we’ve done nothing since then and it begins with the failure of the U.S. to step up to its responsibility at the 2007 Bali summit. Since the IPCC recently announced that in 12 years, things will be irreversible, or the damage is going to happen faster, or some other dire strait, this seems important background on how we got here.

[Diana Kullman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should have read this when it was published in 2010. I admit my opinion of Gore changed quite a bit.
It was a learning experience as far as climate change is concerned as well as the Washington political process.
Now it's time for Rachel Carson's 1962 about DDTs and other chemicals poisoning our land, water, air (even years after they were used)

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Climate War is probably the best book on climate change that I've read. It's not about the science of global warming - a topic that makes even me yawn - but rather the inside game of creating climate laws - in particular, cap and trade of carbon - in the US. The story begins in the late 1980s with the promotion of cap and trade legislation for sulfate emissions by the EDF and the idea that what worked with acid rain could also work for climate.

Scaling cap and trade up from acid rain - which is a regional problem - to global warming - which is a global one with lots of opportunity for "leakage" - requires many leaps of faith and personally I'm not sold on it being a particularly optimal solution. But it is probably the only solution that has potential in a country with a blind faith in free markets, the US. Pooley, a journalist with Bloomberg News, predictably casts cap and trade in a very positive light.

Pooley has done a lot of work talking to the people involved in promoting cap and trade, in particular Fred Krupp and Al Gore. Where he comes up short is in getting interviews with the key senators involved. Krupp and Gore come off very positively. On the other hand, green organizations like the Sierra Club are given a cold shoulder in this book. I happen to agree with this assessment, but if you're a hard core green type who thinks that the EDF and Al Gore pander too much to private industry, you'll probably hate this book.

The quality of the writing is B+ investigative journalism grade, nothing special. Pooley tries to make the book read like a suspense novel, but I think that's just a dopey approach. We know the ending before we read the book. Basically, US efforts at mitigating carbon use have been a long road to nowhere.

Still, this book did make me think about how we would get somewhere in the next decade. The biggest roadblock may not be the energy industry, but the American people. As this book emphasizes, it's hard to get legislators to move against lobbyists under any conditions. In the case of global warming, the public is more than apathetic. We as a nation are dead set on wanting cheap energy and wanting to keep our big powerful cars and big energy leaking homes.

There's a small bit in this book on another nation that had an equally intransigent public, Australia. Widespread drought and accompanying fires like nothing ever seen before changed public perception and legislation followed. Whether human induced global warming actually caused the Australian drought was immaterial. The public thought it did.

This book doesn't say so, but it would seem that for the US to act on global warming, its citizens are going to have to witness some real environmental disaster that they believe is caused by global warming. What are the chances of that happening in the next decade? Slim. What are the chances of the US actually implementing real legislation on global warming in the next decade? Slim.

For those interested in the politics of global warming, I'd highly recommend this book. I'd also highly recommend Ryan Lizza's New Yorker article about the death of cap and trade in the Senate, http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/20... .

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot "The Climate War" did right, but there is one big warning I should give before you pick up this book: It is chock-full of facts, quotes, people, statistics, legislation and policy... and therefore reads a bit like a textbook. But, if you're OK with that, and interested in climate policy, then this book is a remarkable look back at the global crisis.

"The Climate War" really does start at the beginning of the climate debate, when the first scientists were figuring out what was happening to the planet and the first environmental groups and politicians were taking a stance on the issue. Then, the book continues with the chronology through some pretty challenging times for people trying to stop global cimate change.

The story of climate change in this country - and around the world - is full of some pretty interesting characters. The author does a great job of sprinkling brief bios, quirky anecdotes and poignent stories from this diverse cast of characters throughout the whole book. It was always refreshing to take a break from policy and negotiation and find the next chapter starts with a brief profile of some important and unique figure in the world of climate change.

And, speaking of policy and negotiation, that really is where some of the real tension and page-turning in this book occurs. I would never have thought that following legislation - and the myriad different parties interested in the outcome - would be quite so fascinating. The book does a terrific job of laying out arguments from all sides, providing an inside look at the negotiation process, giving you access to the thoughts of the biggest players in the game and building the suspense of the entire situation. Even though this is actual history, I still felt like I was identifying heros and villains and rooting for certain people to win or lose... when I just as easily could have Googled the final result to get a summary of what ultimately played out.

The "Denialsphere" doesn't get off without frequent mentions in this book, which are well placed and well researched. There is clearly enough scientific evidence that climate change exists to thoroughly discredit climate change deniers, but this book does a good job detailing their strategy, their arguments and their place in the debate. And, of course, manages to easily discredit everything they say.

The biggest fault of this book is that it was published well before there is a resolution to the story. In fact, the final few chapters detail some intense negotiation on a climate bill, and then the book kind of wraps things up with a "We'll have to wait and see" attitude. There may never be a great time to publish this book, as the debate will likely continue for years. But, I was left a little disappointed the story ended when it did.

[Pete D'angelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a book about the politics of climate change, not the science. it is well written, and the author is very knowledgeable about the major political events around this issue over the last few decades. i found it incredibly disheartening to get this view into the political process. having pretty much given up on the ability of our legislators to pass any significant bill around all but the least contentious issues, this book validated that mindset. maybe it's because i earn a significant amount of money, am convinced by the science (it's not subjective!) and would find it very sad to lose as many species as our business as usual approach will likely result in, i do find myself wanting the U.S. to lead in an energy revolution. even tho it inevitable would be a costly endeavor. e.g. energy prices would HAVE to go up in the short term, as the actual cost of dirty energy is greater than we're used to paying. after reading this book, i'm less confident than ever that that will happen. which doesn't surprise me really, but it's still a bit disheartening. i'd definitely recommend this book tho for the in-depth reporting on why global warming is such a difficult issue to make any headway on

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of the past 15-20 years of environmental legislation in the US, but focuses mainly on the last 4 years or so and the attempt to deal with climate change. The book follows the long career of Environmental Defense Fund's (EDF) CEO Fred Krupp who was instrumental in getting legislation passed to curb acid rain and ozone pollution. Another key player is Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, who is trying to bring industry to the political table to deal with climate change. Then there is a cast of hundreds: senators and representatives, scientists and bloggers, Al Gore and environmentalists, industry CEOs, who are trying to get America to pass meaningful legislation to start decreasing our greenhouse gas pollution. While on the other side there are more politicians, climate change deniers, Rush Limbaugh, who will do anything to delay and defeat any such legislation. The last part of the book gives a truly in-depth blow-by-blow look at the process involved in crafting the Waxman-Markey bill in 2009. After reading this section one has to wonder if any effective legislation will ever be passed in the US.

[Rachel Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book to be rather interesting. I was not aware of the politics and how self-serving so many different interests are, and how that reflects upon our legislative system. I hope that in the future, we can look past this and decide what is best for our collective country-not just as a group of individuals who happen to live by each other.

The book also kept reiterating that climate change and the politics around it was based on "geology, not ideology." I found this to be particularly interesting. In the present our country is so polarized, so bi-partisan. In College, I used to say that I could pass a bill to a majority democrat legislation by just wearing blue. I hope that generalization is not that true. However, the climate bill was more inspired by geology (although, ideology certainly played a part). I found this to be an interesting difference than what I had thought before.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. It took me a little longer because I tend to like fiction, and get distracted easily. However, I felt that I got a lot out of the book

[Jesse Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fantastic account of the effort to put a price on carbon up through the Copenhagen summit in 2009. Pooley is hardly an objective observer -- he's a clear cheerleader for the climate change movement. That said, he has a really solid grasp on the players and the substance of the issues. He's not shy about his affection for Fred Krupp and the team at EDF, which warps his perspective mildly -- rarely does he view any of EDF's actions as ill-advised. One of the book's strengths is how far it reaches into the past -- the detail around the acid rain cap is essential to telling this story, and Pooley does it well. If you like helpful detail in your political procedurals, you'll like this one -- most books will just tell you that "Waxman finally cut a deal." The book shows and tells: "Waxman finally cut a deal, based around a compromise that...."

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very detailed and a bit difficult to read. However, I found it quite interesting especially in the following fact: Many of the PR types who worked for the tobacco companies delaying the conclusion that tobacco is bad for you then went to work for the climate deniers' groups doing exactly the same spinning of lies. If only for that vital info, I would recommend this book! It gives a lot of background that should be known if you're trying to find out about the subject.

[Luke Lavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the plus side, it's a very engaging read. Further, it gives you a sense of how much work and politicking it really requires to (almost) get big legislation done in Washington.

On the minus side, Pooley is so blatantly partisan about a few issues that this book is anything but a balanced story. Sure, there are plenty he criticizes who deserve criticism (e.g. Inhofe et. al.), but I'm not sure this is a story best told by a Gore/EDF sycophant.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. As far as non-fiction goes, this is compelling. It probably requires a significant interest in environmental politics, but assuming that pre-requisite is fulfilled, you'll enjoy Eric Pooley's behind the scenes experience with scientists, politicians, industry leaders, and lobbyist as they navigate on either side of the polarizing issue of climate change. Top notch.

[Chad S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the political considerations surrounding climate change legislation. Especially focuses on 2007-early 2010. A bit dry, but, if you are wondering why the US government has failed to pass bills addressing carbon pollution and resultant climate change, I highly recommend this account.

[Kory · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far it is very interesting! The politics surrounding the debate of CO2 emissions is incredibly interesting and this book provides a very interesting non partisan narrative of America's movement towards a greener future! I am required to read this for class but I have found no problems meeting the required reading deadlines of this book.

[Tharindu Magedara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave me a better understanding of uphill tasks faced by politicians, activists and corporate CEOs who genuinely want to do something about Climate change. After reading this I have increased admiration and appreciation for people like Al Gore and Krupp.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

More writers need to make the knowledge in this book public... specifically in journals and magazines. But this book addresses why that isn't possible. It is a eye opening read!

[Rhosymed18 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really revealing history around the politics of climate change.

[Seamus McGraw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid reporting on a truly embarrassing failure of will and leadership.

[Pat Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is making me very angry! If we keep doing what we are doing, our grandchildren may have to live in caves and eat fungus!

[Maddy Yozwiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

An overlooked classic. Reveals a lot about the inner politics surrounding climate change, and quite well-written.

[David Elizardi]

nyt business sect revu 7-18-10
good book but ponderous and arduous to read

[Tony]

First few pages are unutterably depressing.

[Ahmed Messaoud · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great read for people wishing to know the intricacies of politics and the environment