Before it's gone Stories from the front lines of climate change in small-town America

Review by Booklist Review

Emmy-winning CBS news correspondent Vigliotti brings a ground-level view of the abstractions of climate change to life in his broadcasts. In his first book, he gathers together stories of disaster, drought, and devastation to reveal the radical changes underway in the planet's weather. Grouping his reports in accordance with corresponding elements--earth, air, fire, and water--Vigliotti provides scientific explanations for why weather and environmental conditions have grown increasingly chaotic and dangerous over the last half-century. While he does see bright spots, such as the reintroduction of beavers to help protect waterways in California and growing prospects for agriculture in Alaska, he primarily offers damning evidence of failure by politicians to mitigate and remediate destructive climate change. Vigliotti stresses that climate change is not something to worry about in the future. It is here now and demands immediate action. With its vivid accounts of wildfires, floods, hurricanes, massive tornadoes, soil erosion, and heat waves, all made worse by human actions, this is a stunning call to action to save ourselves and all life on the planet.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

CBS News correspondent Vigliotti debuts with a vivid report on how climate change is ravaging communities across the country. Vigliotti pairs profiles of ordinary people whose lives have been affected by severe weather with scientific context. For instance, the author describes the devastation felt by a Louisiana couple after Hurricane Laura knocked a tree into their home, fatally crushing their 14-year-old daughter, and explains that melting arctic ice sheets are reducing the salinity of the ocean, causing water to evaporate more quickly and enhancing storms' intensity. Vigliotti's other subjects include an elementary school teacher who fled Paradise, Calif., after the 2018 Camp Fire destroyed her home, and the operator of a suicide helpline for farmers, who are increasingly driven to despair by feeble harvests diminished by drought. There are some glimmers of hope amid the gloom, as when Vigliotti details how conservationists' efforts to bolster the beaver population are helping ecosystems around the animals' dams become more fire resistant. The prose is transportive ("Through a strip of lush vegetation and vapor that curtained the coast, we discovered a miles-long field of smoldering ash and twisted metal," Vigliotti writes about arriving in Lahaina to report on Maui's 2023 wildfires), and the stirring portraits ground the climate science. Disquieting and thoroughly reported, this unsettles. Agent: David Black, David Black Agency. (Apr.)

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A raw look at the climate disasters wreaking havoc on small-town America. In four sections--fire, water, air, and Earth--Emmy and Murrow Award--winning CBS News correspondent Vigliotti takes readers on a harrowing journey into a variety of natural disasters across the U.S., which are becoming increasingly frequent and dangerous. The author zooms in on the impact of these disasters on the ordinary Americans living in their paths. From uncontrollable wildfires to massively destructive tornadoes, Vigliotti examines the conditions of each event, as well as the systemic failures of both local and national governments playing catch-up after those life-changing minutes. The author asks a host of relevant questions: What does life mean in a disaster-prone area? Who can afford--both financially and emotionally--to remain in these areas? How can a small town survive the onslaught of storms that often cost more than $1 billion to clean up? Vigliotti lucidly breaks down his time covering these calamities and shares the stories of those who have been displaced by Mother Nature as recently as the Lahaina wildfire of August 2023. "Yes, Lahaina will rebuild again, just like every other American town lost before it," he writes. "But unless changes are made, another countdown clock will turn on and it's anyone's guess when time will run out. Because before every 'unprecedented' explosion in the cities and towns of a nation now under siege from an environment it spent too long taking for granted, there is a history of missed opportunities." The author also chronicles the important work of notable scientists who have fought against apathy and misunderstanding in order to ensure that we are better prepared for the inevitable. A powerful story of surviving, adapting, and making the changes needed to save our home before it's too late. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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