This review was written by Eugene Kernes
“No one had the heart to point out that India had also failed to meet its emission reduction targets. And of course if total emissions over historical time were totted up, India would come in far behind all of the developed nations of the Western world, as everyone knew. In dealing with the poverty that still plagued so much of the Indian populace, the Indian government had had to create electricity as fast as they could, and also, since they existed in a world run by the market, as cheaply as they could.” – Kim Stanley Robinson, Chapter 6, Page 31
“Tatiana gave Mary a sharp look, as if to say Please be serious. “Nations agree to them only if they like their judgements. But judgements always side with one side or other, so the losing side is never pleased. And there is no sheriff for the world. So, the US does what it wants, and the rest of us also do what we want. The courts only work when some petty war criminal gets caught and everyone decides to look virtuous.”” – Kim Stanley Robinson, Chapter 9, Page 46
“India is now leading the way on so many issues! We remain horrified by the memory of the heat wave, galvanized, and if not unified then nearly so, in a broad coalition determined to re-examine everything, to change whatever needs changing. You see it all around you!” – Kim Stanley Robinson, Chapter 31, Page 136
Overview:
This is a story of the potential consequences of environmental mismanagement, specifically climate mismanagement. Along with ways on how people cope with the tragedies. Stimulating a reflection upon the potential destruction, and ways that can avert the destruction. A reflection of the psychological coping mechanisms to the destruction, the science and technology of climate management, and the global political and economic ramifications of the changes.
When India gets ravaged by a heat wave that produces havoc, a movement is started to prevent further catastrophes. But the rest of the world is not so eager to make changes. Even a global agency meant to protect present and future beings known as The Ministry for the Future, is hesitant to make changes as rapidly as they would like. India starts the changes, and breaks global political restraints on methods used to battle the deleterious climate. Years pass by with much of the world resisting changing their practices to become environmentally sustainable.
There are groups that cannot stand for the lack of change,
the lack of responsibility for the environment.
These groups rise up in resistance to those who would seek to destroy
the environment. Groups that protect the
environment initiate a War for the Earth.
The methods are steeped in violence, but increase the costs of producing
greenhouse gases. Creating a search for
alternative means of production, without damaging the environment. The world economic and political stance on
the environment gradually changes from resistance, to persecution of those who
damage the environment. Changing the way
people think, and behave in relation to their environment.
Caveats?
The book is composed of various ideas and narratives. With so many different perspectives, their
transitions are poor. The book contains
various ideas from environmental science, economics, politics, and
psychology. But the ideas are not given
much detail, and the way the ideas are described contain the biases of the
author. The author presents many
different ideals, in resolution of a single major ideal, but they are sometimes
a distraction to the major ideal.
The science itself is simplified to promote an ideal for the climate, but there is a loss to information within that simplification. Science rarely does not have unintended consequences, while the resolutions to the climate problem in this book appear to be completely sustainable and without negative effects.
The ways in which policies change in this book, utilize instrumental evil. Doing acts of evil, for good outcomes. The promotion of these behavior is inappropriate, and have contradictory outcomes. Wars to end violence have historically tended to create more violence. But in this book, this type of tyranny has created a society in which people accept violence as righteous and do not abuse this method. Within this book, there appears to be no problem with persecution of any dissenter from the environmental policies enacted. Seemingly minor incidents on the way to changing policies, only bring about greater defense of the methods used to persecute those who think differently.
With global changes to the economic system, there are acknowledged major economic disruptions. Within this book, production methods and products quickly make adjustments. Daily life seems to be going without much disruptions. There appears to be nothing wrong with the different economic system.
An economic policy that is promoted in the book is a carbon
coin, that pays to prevent release of carbon.
Before the carbon coin, the author berated rents. Rents are incomes that peoples receive
without doing anything. While the rents
of the carbon coin are promoted in the book without any seeming
contradiction. There appears to be
nobody in this book who takes advantage of the policy. Historically, similar policies have been
used, with devastating effect. Firms
have produced more unwanted products, for which they wanted an income to
prevent releasing the product. Damaging
the environment way more than before the policy.
