Hawken, Paul, ed. Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
Climate drawdown is the point at which greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere level off and begin to decline on a year-to-year basis. Drawdown is a milestone in reversing climate change, and eventually reducing global average temperatures.
In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here, from individual lifestyle adjustments to societal revolutions.
The Drawdown Project’s hopeful and positive approach is a soothing counterweight to the Doom theory of climate change.
Project Drawdown has recently released their first major update to their research and analysis of climate solutions and includes 10 KEY INSIGHTS for possibility and action across sectors. Called the Drawdown Review, you can get it for free here.
Hal Harvey et al, Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy (Island Press 2018).
This book brings together the latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions. It is an accessible resource on lowering carbon emissions for policymakers, activists, philanthropists, and others in the climate and energy community. In Part I, the authors deliver a roadmap for understanding which countries, sectors, and sources produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions. In Part II, they break down each type of policy, from renewable portfolio standards to carbon pricing, offering key design principles and case studies where each policy has been implemented successfully.
Hal Harvey is CEO of the policy firm Energy Innovation. He served on energy panels appointed by Presidents Bush (41) and Clinton, and currently serves as President and Chairman of the Board for several financial, science, and philanthropic groups.
Here is an interview, with audience Q&A, about energy policy.
MacKay, Sir David, Sustainable Energy—without the hot air (UIT Cambridge 2018)
This unusual and valuable book analyzes the promise of, and obstacles to, transition from carbon based to renewable energy in Britain. The methods, however, apply to all countries. The author writes:
“We often hear that Britain’s renewables are huge. But it’s not sufficient to know that a source of energy is huge. We need to know how it compares with another huge, namely our huge consumption. To make such comparisons, we need numbers, not adjectives.
Where numbers are used, their meaning is often obfuscated by enormousness. Numbers are chosen to impress, to score points in arguments, rather than to inform. In contrast, my aim here is to present honest, factual numbers in such a way that the numbers are comprehensible, comparable, and memorable.”
And, perhaps his most famous line: “Please don’t get me wrong: I’m not trying to be pro-nuclear. I’m just pro-arithmetic.”
Sir David MacKay passed away in 2016 at age 48. His obituary in The Guardian reveals a remarkable scientist.
A free online version of the book is here and a 10-page synopsis is here.
*Kintisch, Eli. Hack the Planet: Science’s Best Hope-or Worst Nightmare-for Averting Climate Catastrophe. (Turner Publishing Company, 2010)
A look at the possibilities and limitations of geoengineering schemes for countering the effects of climate change.
Eli Kintisch is a contributing correspondent for Science magazine, published by The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest multi-disciplinary scientific society; its annual meeting has over 10,000 attendees from over 70 countries. https://www.aaas.org/membership
Hsu, Shi-Ling. The Case for a Carbon Tax, Getting Past Our Hang-ups to Effective Climate Policy. (Island Press, 2011)
There is a simple, straightforward way to cut carbon emissions and prevent the most disastrous effects of climate change—and we are rejecting it because of irrational political fears. A great book for those who like to get into policy and economics.
The author is a law professor who has published extensively on the economics of decarbonization policies.
Prof. Hsu’s 2017 video lecture to Citizen Climate Lobby chapters here.