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The Future Earth audiobook

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The Future Earth Audiobook Summary

The first hopeful book about climate change, The Future Earth shows readers how to reverse the short- and long-term effects of climate change over the next three decades.

The basics of climate science are easy. We know it is entirely human-caused. Which means its solutions will be similarly human-led. In The Future Earth, leading climate change advocate and weather-related journalist Eric Holthaus (“the Rebel Nerd of Meteorology”–Rolling Stone) offers a radical vision of our future, specifically how to reverse the short- and long-term effects of climate change over the next three decades. Anchored by world-class reporting, interviews with futurists, climatologists, biologists, economists, and climate change activists, it shows what the world could look like if we implemented radical solutions on the scale of the crises we face.

  • What could happen if we reduced carbon emissions by 50 percent in the next decade?
  • What could living in a city look like in 2030?
  • How could the world operate in 2040, if the proposed Green New Deal created a 100 percent net carbon-free economy in the United States?

This is the book for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the current state of our environment. Hopeful and prophetic, The Future Earth invites us to imagine how we can reverse the effects of climate change in our own lifetime and encourages us to enter a deeper relationship with the earth as conscientious stewards and to re-affirm our commitment to one another in our shared humanity.

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The Future Earth Audiobook Narrator

Gary Tiedemann is the narrator of The Future Earth audiobook that was written by Eric Holthaus

Eric Holthaus is the leading journalist on all things weather and climate change. He has written regularly for the Wall Street Journal, Slate, Grist, and The Correspondent, where he currently covers our interconnected relationship with the climate. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

About the Author(s) of The Future Earth

Eric Holthaus is the author of The Future Earth

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The Future Earth Full Details

Narrator Gary Tiedemann
Length 6 hours 42 minutes
Author Eric Holthaus
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date June 30, 2020
ISBN 9780062989840

Subjects

The publisher of the The Future Earth is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Global Warming & Climate Change, Science

Additional info

The publisher of the The Future Earth is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780062989840.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Hákon

February 23, 2021

I have for some time now been immersed in the climate change debate, and I have to admit over time I have come to alternate between cautious optimism, and well, frankly, sorrow or something quite close to it. Listen, I came across an interesting quote by Larry Kudlow in a news article quite recently. He has served as an economist in various positions throughout his career, and he said:“It turns out President Biden may be the most left-wing president we’ve ever seen,” Kudlow said. “His actions on spending and taxing and regulating, on immigration and fossil fuels and other cultural issues… he may be the most left-wing.”Fossil fuel, and therefore climate change as the two go together, are in Kudlow's mind a cultural issue. Of course, one has to try to see it from his point of view as well. He is an old man who has spent his career defending a system that some people say are killing the planet we all live on. That is never going to be an easy thing to hear, or accept for that matter, for anybody no matter how strong they are.So let's think about this for a moment without Kudlow because he isn't the real issue here. Climate change as a cultural issue. I could say a lot of things about this idea, I could rant for a long time about how someone can still hang on to this belief, but I'm not going to. I'm not going to say any more than this: It is at moments like these that I mostly feel sorrow.On the other hand I feel cautious optimism when I read books like this one by Eric Holthaus. In many ways, I think it is a good book to begin to look into this issue. It explains what is happening to the planet, why it is happening, and what we could do to change it.It is a nonfiction book that does use fiction a bit to try to show how the world could look like if we would actually take the much-needed steps to prevent disaster. He is basically setting forwards a plan for the future. It is not the only plan I've read, but it seems like a good one, and it appears to be grounded in science.What will bother some people, I'm sure, is that part of Holthaus's idea will sound pretty close to socialism, tax the rich and so on. I suspect people like Kudlow will not like that, but that doesn't mean Holthaus is wrong. This problem, if we can call the climate crisis a problem, is huge, and it is not going away. It's only getting bigger the longer we talk about it, or even try to ignore it.Looking past his politics, I think Holthaus explains the complexities of the climate crisis, and how it could develop in the next few decades. He does it with clearer language than a lot of other writers that I've read. The reader doesn't have to have a PhD in anything to understand him, and that is well done with this issue.Because I've explored this debate so thoroughly, I know there are people, mostly people directly opposite Kudlow on the political spectrum in fact, that would say all Holthaus has done is to write a piece of hopium for the masses. But I don't think so. I can't see anything here that isn't in theory do-able, and as far as I know, it is pretty well grounded in science. The thing is, Holthaus doesn't say it's going to be an easy thing to solve. No, he explains how it is not going to be that.All in all, I like this book. I think I will read some parts of it again. It is not the only road map of how to deal with climate crisis, and I don't know if it is the best one, but it is a pretty good one at the very least. There is one thing about it that doesn't fill me with optimism, and that is how well it points to the fact that we all on this planet, or at the very least most of us need to come together for this to work, and that would mean the Kudlow's of this world as well. Still, it's a good book, with a good plan.

Michael

July 28, 2021

I am researching climate change for a novel. While this book did not have a ton of reviews, they were still good. I decided to start my research with this book because the author speculates what the earth and sea levels will look like in about 10-year intervals and how we can help reverse it.What I liked:-The book was very well researched. I was very impressed. Through research and interviews, he gets a good picture of where we are and where we might be going. That is enough.What I didn't like:-The author got very preachy at times. But if you feel as strongly as he does and our earth being destroyed. I understand.-When the author gets into speculation about what the earth will look like at different intervals of time, he tells what was done as if it were a fact, then mixed into the account is come background, so it got confusing.-He flat says we will not science our way out of the global warming problem. There is a lot of social discussions, I may get this part wrong, but until women, people of color, and poor people are empowered you will not change the CO2 issue.-He specially mentions it is all rich white guys' fault and they need to be taxed more, their power is taken away, etc, etc.A big surprise:The last 20% of the book are suggestions on how to rally others. And also how, to control your own carbon footprint. The big message I think is that if you don't feel you can do much, get others talking about it. Spread the word. This was not very useful to me.Overall:A lot of great facts. Take the facts and take as much action as you can. And I do agree, tell others. I guess my big problem with the book, is all the feel-good solutions are too slow. Yes, we need everyone on board, but we need some BIG, BOLD ACTIONS. Most of the things he suggests will make you feel good, but won't fix the problem. I do respect his hard work and I totally respect his passion. If the author reads this, I hope he appreciates I am on his side that we have a HUGE problem and it must be solved.Very worth the read!PS: Lots of positive assumptions. I wonder how much China will cooperate?

Shruti

January 04, 2021

I liked reading this very hopeful book. It helped me deal with my anxiety on why other people are not scared, worried about our environment. The book has some valid points on why 'making conversation' is the best way to deal with our reality. A good read for environmentally conscious people.

Auriel

July 09, 2020

This book is optimistic in a way I didnt expect. It paints pictures of what could be and how it could happen, while recognizing the grief of climate change and the pain and suffering and uncertainty that is coming.I look forward to using the examples in this book to talk to people about what the future could look like, which is often the part of talking about climate change that can be so hard.

Andrew

July 28, 2021

I’m giving this book four stars because I appreciate the “stubborn optimism” reflected in the author’s predictions for the next few decades. Instead of leading with the doomsday scenario often posited in most climate change-oriented works, he described the steps needed to avert such a disaster. Though they may be idealistic, intersectional, and broad, these ideas will ultimately be necessary if we plan to reverse the dire effects our colonialism and development have inflicted on our future existence. Saving the world will be difficult. Even when we go to a carbon-neutral planet, we will still see the impacts of climate change. Millions of lives will likely be lost, refugees will be forced to migrate because of uninhabitable homes, and our societies will fundamentally change. But in that challenge is hope: hope for a more-unified world, hope for an economy and system that benefits the many rather than the few, hope for a planet sustainable for hundreds of future generations. It will be hard. It will be necessary. It’ll take action and patience. After reading this book, I’m convinced it’s possible.

Ava

March 05, 2021

This was very good!! The author finds a good balance between being optimistic and realistic. He takes you through the next 30 years describing all the tough choices and actions we’ll have to take to undo all we’ve already done with regards to climate change. Throughout the book he drives home the point that tackling climate change is not just an environmental movement, but also a humanitarian one. Climate justice is social justice!! One of my favorite parts was learning about all the crazy new science and technologies that are in the works NOW in an attempt to stop the earth from warming to 1.5C degrees. My only teeny tiny qualm with this book is that he seems overly optimistic that millions of very wealthy and powerful people across the world (namely in the US) will miraculously change from exploiting the earth, it’s resources, and people, to a wholistic, selfless, and caring attitude towards the planet and other people. I really hope he’s right, but I just don’t see it happening in the next few decades.

Lena

November 23, 2022

Mostly doom and gloom, all the warnings and then naively hopeful imaginings you have heard before.But then there are some new personal, small scale ideas. He emphasizes that we should talk in groups about climate change. Not with the pressure of coming up with a solution, but on a personal level. Listening to each other, discussing how climate change makes us feel. Some of this type of thing was discussed in Designing Regenerative Cultures, a book I need to find the patience to finish.As an introvert, long group talks sound like torture. But he also mentions journaling, and that did sound like a good medium for expressing anthropocene despair.

Maggie

August 25, 2020

"As long as we are still here, it means we haven't yet lost the fight. And that realization gives me a glimmer of hope."When I picked this up I was not expecting an optimistic take on the earth after climate change, but I'm very glad that's what I got. It's not naively hopeful, but managed to strike a solar punk, hope punk kind of vision of our future based on the current state of climate science and activism. As a reader who desperately needed a moment of hope, I really appreciated this book

Benjamin

July 27, 2020

Eric weaves an imperative web with story, research, and message that is yet another valuable call to action around the climate crisis. I liked the fact that it was from a meteorologist and had a lot to do with democratic reform. I also liked the focus on the next 30 years.

Matthew

December 18, 2020

There's some fascinating ideas in here around decentralised and post capitalist societies. Bits of it feel a little too much like speculative fiction but the ideas are solid regardless

Sneha

August 15, 2020

Eric Holthaus’s ‘Future Earth: A Radical Vision For What’s Possible in the Age of Warming’ is unique in its scope, conceptually speculative and realistic. It is grounded by an eclectic mix of evidence of global warming and narratives of social movements led and championed by activists and researchers from Global South. In its two parts, the book tackles the present and future of the world, piecing together climate-related events, socio-political movements, global policies and narratives of action and awareness across the world. In Part 1, ‘A Living Emergency’, Eric begins with Puerto Rico’s experience of recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Although he provides a bird’s eye view of the recovery process, Eric argues that the slow rate of recovery has created a new normal, ‘A living emergency’, filled with despair, anxiety and post-traumatic stress. This section also describes other events that are direct consequences of global warming: the melting of ice in the Arctic, the sinking of Marshall Islands, 2018 Cyclone Yutu, Cyclone Idai and Kenneth in Mozambique in 2019, wildfires in Alaska, Hurricane Dorian in Abaco Islands, Bahamas, and firestorm in Australia in 2019. These events are pervasive, and definitive of our new planetary area, and Eric deftly juxtaposes this global work with his own personal narratives and existentialism — growing up in Kansas, surviving wildfires, and reflecting upon the future that his children will inherit from him. For professionals and activists engaged in this environmental movement, these meditative sections are inspiring and essential. The early sections call for radical changes in the face of inevitable climatic collapse, and transition to a new kind of environmentalism beyond the individual or moral standards, but an actionable, scalable model for a new way of life rooted in collective support and universal justice.Part 2 is divided into three chapters: the 2020s, the 2030s, and the 2040s, where Eric outlines his speculation around catastrophic success, radical stewardship and new technologies and spiritualities for each of these decades. These are founded on the vignettes gathered through interactions by experts from Global South, evidence of impact of our current actions on the climate, and in the direction of policy initiatives that are currently shaping discourse such as the New Green Deal in the US, the radical future for people of Marshall Islands, residents of a large ocean state just 32-feet above sea level and facing the wrath of increasing sea levels due to melting of glaciers.Future Earth combines scientific and research on social movements to explain issues of justice and equity. Eric begins with Latin word for ‘disasters’ as ill-starred but then goes on to explain that climate change compounds natural disasters, giving people less time to recovery before they are plunged back in crisis mode. This is where it can be disagreed, that disasters are not natural. As Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), recently argued that disasters result when a natural or man-made hazard affects a human settlement which is not appropriately resourced or organized to withstand the impact, and whose population is vulnerable because of poverty, exclusion or socially disadvantaged in some way.In Future Earth, Eric does acknowledge that disasters are consequences of policies and weak governance around climate and complicity of fuel and other environment polluting industries. This is an ambitious book with a huge speculative element. It would have be interesting to understand how these scenarios were arrived at and unpack the underlying assumptions. This book has effectively set the ground and is an incredible step towards cocreating a future this planet is hurtling towards. At the end, Eric also provides a personal guide for readers to reimagine their role in building a better world for everyone irrespective of their gender, class and status.I’m impressed by the hopeful future it envisions but we have a lot of ground to cover to get there & avoid the consequences of years of inaction in climate policy. What impressed me most about this work is that Eric mentions he pulled off the research for this book while maintaining low carbon footprint. In these times of zero international travel what and whose stories do we choose to tell, are equally important as we give up our privileged spaces to make space for those who are in the fight on the ground.

Philip

October 20, 2020

With "The Future Earth", Eric Holthaus has done a great service to society. He has shown us with the clarity of a scientist but the passion of a parent, both the great magnitude of the environmental and societal challenges in front of us and also the real and achievable solutions that are within our reach. Holthaus' narrative, told from the perspective of a journalist in the not-to-distant future, blends the truths about the recent past and present with projections about the short-term future in a way that is simultaneously sobering and mind-bending. I recall several times, especially in the first half of the book, having to re-read a section and ask myself, "wait, did that happen yet?" This was a remarkably effective literary device on Holthaus' part, so much so that it makes it noticeable when he slips out of character. Nevertheless, it pays off especially in the second half, because he's shown us a possible trajectory for our collective human future that is truly possible. If I have one critique, it is that Holthaus underestimates the significant conflict that we have in front of us, even under the best of circumstances. While he notes the great human costs, strife, and suffering that are already happening around the world, and that will no doubt expand in the near term, many of the radical, systems-level changes he narrates still seem to come too easily. In this extremely polarized political climate, it is hard to see how these many changes, like giving land back to Indigenous peoples, no matter how necessary, will not be accompanied by create dissent and social unrest. Nevertheless, Holthaus has given us something pragmatic and honest that we can build hope on, and this is true from cover to cover. It is especially true in this quote, which is a mantra that deserves to be shared as widely as possible: "You were born at exactly the right time to help change everything."

Ramin

August 01, 2020

Here's an excerpt from my book review. Read the whole thing here: https://undark.org/2020/07/31/book-re...A Hopeful Vision of Our Planet’s FutureIn a remote pocket of the Pacific Ocean lie the Marshall Islands, which nearly 60,000 people call home. But the islanders are facing the grim and very real prospect of losing their entire country in their lifetimes. One resident, Selina Leem, spoke at the Paris climate summit in 2015, passionately arguing that she refuses to lose her homeland, which will be inexorably enveloped by the seas unless governments worldwide take dramatic and rapid action to mitigate climate change.In his new book, “The Future Earth,’’ climate journalist and meteorologist Eric Holthaus describes this and other imminent human impacts of climate change. Even if carbon emissions decline gradually, scientists’ projections for rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes, deluging floods, and more intense droughts and wildfires threaten many people and communities. But rather than dwell on such apocalyptic predictions — ground that has been thoroughly tread by other writers — Holthaus seeks to craft an aspirational vision of the future of our planet and society.“We will have to share with one another alternative visions of a shared future, stories about how climate doom is not inevitable,” he writes. Instead, he believes that if we persistently focus on positive views of what lies ahead, it could create enough of a cultural shift so that radical change becomes possible, giving a chance of survival to all vulnerable peoples...[Here's the full review in Undark magazine: https://undark.org/2020/07/31/book-re...]

Michael

November 11, 2020

Ok, so Eric is a friend of mine, so this 5-star review may be a little biased, but I really enjoyed the book. I especially liked the closing chapters, which brought it all together, and I was really appreciative that Eric's prescription for action was for us to simply talk to each other. This book certainly has inspired me to make some changes in my life in regards to climate change. For example, I live in a state where I could actually choose my electric provider. I assumed it would be more expensive to switch to wind energy, but once I looked into it, it actually was pretty much a wash. So that's a win.I am skeptical of calls for changing society, especially if there's no alternative posed. My feeling is, there's a lot of benefit to our current capitalist system, even if the massive drawbacks are known. I sat in numerous discussions of this topic while in grad school, but my economics classes were so much more persuasive about how the system we have addresses human needs and wants. The global community has come together to address environmental problems before, such as with the CFC/ozone layer fiasco a few decades ago. I think we can do it again, but it's going to take some time.

Dan

August 30, 2020

Good. But not really what I was expecting. It's essentially a futures protocol - like the kinds I've run with my students before. Imagine the Earth in the 2020s, 2030s, and 2040s. Work backwards. And we can make it happen. I like tons of stuff in here - from circular economy, universal basic income, four day work week, the elimination of lawns and widespread small-scale growing of food, ripping up of highways, and the changing of social norms - like no/slow travel and a return to smaller communities. The epilogue is cool because it has concrete sessions that somebody (me!) could run with a group of people - essentially processing grief and doing a futures protocol for the earth. One of the many good visions of the future: "In the United States, we realized that we preferred spending time with one another rather than maintaining our stuff, so the default lifestyle of a single-family home in a car-based neighborhood started to become obsolete." [p. 134] That is Greenwich. And I wish it were not so. We must live more densely - and change zoning so the single-family house with too much square footage becomes a thing of history. To build community, to rip up highway systems, and so we can live more joyfully in the age of warming. Now it's time to build that future.

Athena

May 26, 2021

** spoiler alert ** “the Imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth'” (Genesis 8:21).I was very skeptical of this book at the start and completely surprised with how much i was won over by the end if it. In a post pandemic world where even the Oscars are depressing and every movie about the future is a tragedy or apocalypse, this book stands out as a something new and different. Although Holthaus starts with a dire picture of humanity in trouble, he imagines a future where we (mostly) band together to save our planet and make a more equitable and just world. There are probably missing pieces of Holthaus’ vision of our future (like a worldwide pandemic in 2020...he wrote this in 2019) but i overlooked them and kept reading. I kept reading not only because of interesting new technology he mentions and the scientists he quotes, but because of the overall message of hope and love. Imagining better, imagining beautiful and imagining life is what we need right now

James

August 31, 2021

Rather than just mapping out all the worst things that could happen to our planet due to climate change, Holthaus begins with a significant warning and then shows what a hopeful vision for the next thirty years could look like. He emphasizes the need for a "circular" economy, restorative attitudes and a much slower relationship with the world around us. It is a helpful reminder that human behavior is not irreversibly locked into some certain trajectory. We can change the future and leave our children with a world that they can flourish within. Our current trajectory seems quite bleak before, but we can change and we must change.One confusing (and slightly discouraging) section is the beginning of his chapter on a vision for the 2020s. Because I read this in August of 2021, much of what has happened in the past year and a half is quite different (!) than what he discusses in the book (which includes information up till early 2020).

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