The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis
Ratings10
Average rating3.5
In this cautionary but optimistic book, Figueres and Rivett-Carnac--the architects of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement--tackle arguably the most urgent and consequential challenge humankind has ever faced: the world's changing climate and the fate of humanity. In The Future We Choose, the authors outline two possible scenarios for the planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris targets for carbon dioxide emission reduction. In the other, they describe what it will take to create and live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head on, with determination and optimism. How we all of us address the climate crisis in the next thirty years will determine not only the world we will live in but also the world we will bequeath to our children and theirs. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us, in no uncertain terms, what governments, corporations, and each of us can and must do to fend off disaster.
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It's an inspiring and optimistic take on climate change, but to be honest I don't feel that I learned anything new from this book. There were some interesting scientific tidbits in this book, but it was definitely more of a motivational “yes we can tackle climate change!” kind of book. Nothing bad about that, but I think I would've liked more substance. It was a nice and easy read though (unlike some other climate books that are very dense and difficult to read).
It's an inspiring and optimistic take on climate change, but to be honest I don't feel that I learned anything new from this book. There were some interesting scientific tidbits in this book, but it was definitely more of a motivational “yes we can tackle climate change!” kind of book. Nothing bad about that, but I think I would've liked more substance. It was a nice and easy read though (unlike some other climate books that are very dense and difficult to read).
I am very unimpressed. Such a disappointment after hearing so many good things about it, but I got nothing from this. Maybe this would be a useful book if you knew literally nothing about what it's currently taking place on a planet (but then would you ever pick up this book), but I found it patronising, strangely self-congratulatory in tone (we've done nothing, yet, NOTHING), and extremely light on the substance. The two chapters on our possible futures (one the bad, one the good) were just bizarre. How is imagining a black and white, good or bad scenario at all helpful? The world doesn't work like that. And the list of “things you can do” was, again, patronising, and painfully obvious. So all in all not at all motivating in the way I was hoping. It's so hard to stay positive sometimes... :(
