Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Heatstroke, infectious disease, and attacks by starving polar bears are among the perils posed by rising temperatures, according to this startling report. Rolling Stone contributing editor Goodell (The Water Will Come) surveys how extreme heat is ravaging the planet, describing the 2021 wildfire that tore through the town of Lytton in British Columbia during an unprecedented 121 °F heat wave, the sudden deaths by overheating of a California family out for a hike in California's Sierra Nevada foothills, and the spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes into warming regions. The author also details how his own life has been affected by climate change, as when he recounts a trip he took with friends to the Canadian Arctic, where they were shadow ed by polar bears that were likely hungry and eyeing the group's food because the lack of ice floes made it difficult to hunt seals. The alarming case studies are well complemented by elegant reportage on overheated regions ("The air feels solid, a hazy, ozone-soaked curtain of heat," he writes of a summer day in Phoenix) and disturbing explanations of the dire physical effects of excessive heat (a 107 °F body temperature melts cell membranes). The result is a sobering assessment of the risks of global warming. (July)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A noted environmental journalist examines the effects of extreme heat on our lives and future generations. In this gripping examination, Goodell, a Rolling Stone contributing editor and author of The Water Will Come and Big Coal, demonstrates the deleterious effects of rising temperatures and the frightening possibilities of what lies ahead if we don't take immediate, globally coordinated action. Rather than simply providing scientific data to support his claims, the author provides an intimate look at the effects of our planet's warming on individual lives. Among them is the heartbreaking story of Sebastian Perez, a migrant worker from Guatemala who succumbed to heat exhaustion while working in the fields of Willamette Valley, Oregon, a location once considered a refuge from extreme heat. Goodell argues for legislation to protect vulnerable outdoor workers from unsafe conditions; investigates how hotter weather will lead to a decline in food production, which will make feeding the rapidly increasing global population more difficult; and looks at the decrease in mountain snowpack, which is already taking a toll on the water supply of the American Southwest. As the temperature of our planet continues to rise, we also face greater risks related to mosquito-borne and other infectious diseases. Rising temperatures increase the chance of ice-sheet collapse in the polar regions, resulting in rising sea levels and catastrophic damage to low-lying coastal cities. With the extreme weather conditions experienced in recent years throughout the world, including heat waves in Paris, prolonged drought followed by widespread flooding in California, and more frequent ice storms in Texas, climate change denial is no longer an option. "Making the necessary changes will be hard; it will require political leadership and a deeper understanding of our connection with one another and with the world we live in," writes Goodell. "But it is not beyond our reach." Yet another stark, crucial reminder that we are running out of time to save humankind. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
