Reason in a Dark Time: Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed -- and What It Means for Our Future
If one listens to popularity-hungry politicians and optimistic environmentalists, there is still ample hope for humanity to halt global warming in its tracks.  Yet a growing number of atmospheric scientists are saying it’s already too late and the real debate now is over how the earth’s denizens can adapt.   Jamieson, an environmental studies and philosophy professor at New York University, falls squarely in the latter camp, pointing out that, despite a last-ditch, internationally attended Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009,  worldwide greenhouse-gas emissions have only increased.  Since, in his view, catastrophic ecological damage is a foregone conclusion, Jamieson here narrows the issues down to moral and economic concerns.  One of his key arguments involves getting us all to acknowledge both our personal responsibility in creating this global crisis and our collective ability to still make a difference.  Although not intended as a rallying cry for arresting climate change, Jamieson’s work is nonetheless an invaluable contribution to the dialogue about how to minimize the inevitable social and environmental devastation that looms large in our future. --Carl Hays