From David Wallace-Wells’ just published The Uninhabitable Earth:
“Over the last few years, as the planet’s own environmental rhythms have seemed to grow more fatalistic, skeptics have found themselves arguing not that climate change isn’t happening, since extreme weather has made that undeniable, but that its causes are unclear — suggesting that the changes we are seeing are the result of natural cycles rather than human activities and interventions. It is a very strange argument; if the planet is warming at a terrifying pace and on a horrifying scale, it should transparently concern us more, rather than less, that the warming is beyond our control, possibly even our comprehension.”
One of the most compelling aspects of The Uninhabitable Earth turns out to be the fact that the text includes no illustrating pictures or graphs or anything of that sort, be it artistic or scientific.
It is worth mentioning that the New York magazine version of story Wallace-Wells first told back in July 2017 did have imaginative (not scientific) graphics, swhich were memorable if controversial among some.
But none of that in this book. Nada. Zilch. Not one image in the entire volume.
So, to honor that essayistic apprach, I think I’ll include some memorable qutoes while reading this — without illustration. [p31, from the introduction, which is called “Cascades.”]
(No “Death by Powerpoint” presentation here.)
Worth Mentioning: for a great podcast version of this, “the biggest stry in the world,” see David Roberts of Vox’s interview of David Wallace-Wells, author of this um terrifying book.
Kit Stolz 