Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-518-42385-1
There are many writings on environmental issues. But Stephen Emmott's "Ten Billion" are unique. You deserve to be Book of the Year!
Emmot's play “Ten Billion” was also a sensational success in London.
Stephen Emmott teaches at Oxford and runs a computational science research laboratory. So he has the best overview of the world problem and has the latest knowledge about the "unprecedented emergency" in which we find ourselves.
The facts, for the most part already known for a long time, are shown in concise principles that are easy for everyone to understand: deforestation, rise of the seas, population growth, soil degradation, energy supply, global warming, climate refugees, carbon emissions, air pollution, food crisis, transport, overfishing of the Seas, environmental degradation, water scarcity, etc.
What is new is the density in which the hard facts are conveyed.
The short, concise descriptions of the position of our planet are supplemented by simple but meaningful graphics, the curves of which shoot upwards. There are also very memorable illustrations.
You can read this easy-to-read, concise book in a relatively short time and then have a good overview of the ecological situation of our civilization. Emmott sees the facts and knows the main causes of the emerging environmental problems.
The author does not see the future of our world as rosy: We have been warned against “business as usual” many times since the 1970s. But there were no effective measures. The time required to turn back is largely wasted.
We shouldn't hope for politics. Because politicians will not dare to take drastic measures, the necessity of which the majority does not see or does not want to understand. The pressure to change would have to come “from below”, worldwide!
Everyone knows that seems utopian!
So in the 21st century humanity will inevitably experience catastrophes of apocalyptic proportions ...
