Book Review #3: “The Uninhabitable Earth” by David Wallace-Wells
“It is worse, much worse than you think.” is how David Wallace-Wells, an American journalist who writes about climate change starts narrating the catastrophic consequences of global warming in “The Uninhabitable Earth”. The author first published “The Uninhabitable Earth” as an essay in the New York magazine in 2017. The story was the most read article in the history of the magazine, though somewhat criticized for not being backed by enough evidence. 2 years later, he publishes a book that expands on the article while providing extensive scientific references.
I was walking on the beach a few months ago with my sister (@gonewiththewaste) when we started talking about sea levels rising, and destroying houses along one of the coast lines around Rabat, Morocco. She said people tend to think about sea levels rising when they think of climate change, but the reality is much more encompassing, and much more alarming than that. She went on talking about this book that was describing in great detail the consequences of climate change: sea levels rising and flooding entire cities, areas becoming too hot for their inhabitants, people migrating to more climate stable areas, resources such as water and food becoming scarce and leading to conflicts and wars, and the list goes on. I wasn’t aware the impacts of climate change were so devastating, and decided this would be my next book to read.
Climate change is not a new phenomenon. According to NASA, throughout history, change in Earth’s temperature happened following a change in its orbit around the sun, which created variations in the amounts of solar energy it received. However, since the Industrial Revolution (1760–1840), temperatures have been rising at an unprecedented rapid rate as a result of human activities, causing disturbances that threaten life on the planet.
The Industrial Revolution marked a period where manufacturing processes transitioned from hand production methods to the use of machines, and where the number of factories and new power sources rose. The period is considered by economists to be the most important event in human history since the domestication of animals and plants and has led to unprecedented sustained growth in human population, as well as in the standard of living, largely in the West.
This period also marks the beginning of burning fossil fuels to produce energy to fuel almost everything in our modern life. As fossil fuels are burnt, they release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. These emissions increase “the greenhouse effect” on Earth, which raises its temperature.
“The Uninhabitable Earth” focuses on this specific aspect of climate change. It takes us on a disheartening tour over all the horrifying consequences that global warming has brought to the planet to this date, and to the more dramatic consequences we should expect as the earth continues to warm: heat death, hunger, drowning, wildfire, disasters “no longer natural”, freshwater drain, dying oceans, unbreathable air, plagues of warming, economic collapse, and climate conflict.
Wallace presents historical evidence of how these phenomena have already been taking place now that the Earth is 1.1 degrees warmer than it was before the Industrialization Revolution, and how their effects will worsen dramatically with each additional degree of warming. He tells the story of the 2003 heat wave that killed 70.000 Europeans, for example, and explains that these figures would become normal if the earth is 4 degrees warmer; that countries around the Equator would become so hot at that level of warming that going out would become a lethal risk;
He also tells the story of the man who burned himself to raise the alarm about global warming; explains that the wealthiest countries have the largest carbon footprint and that the poorest countries will be the most hardly hit and the most unprepared; that each seat in an airplane equates to melting a few square miles in the Arctic.
Wallace also predicts the rise of new viruses, diseases, and pandemics — a few months before the world is hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Uninhabitable Earth” is a difficult read as it gives little hope for a brighter future given our response to climate change so far. It nevertheless puts a strong emphasis on the potential politics has in curving its consequences.
“We have all the tools we need today, to stop it all: a carbon tax and the political apparatus to aggressively phase out dirty energy; a new approach to agricultural practices and a shift away from beef and dairy in the global diet; and public investment in green energy and carbon capture.”
This book is an important read for its extensive climate change literature and research, and the remarkable work carried by Wallace to collect all this information and make it available to raise public awareness around the alarming issue of global warming.
If you’re interested in reading it, you can find it here: The Uninhabitable Earth, Life after warming.
