Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era - Softcover

Excessive burning of oil, gas, and coal is raising our planet's thermostat to unacceptable levels -- a problem which has already resulted in increased natural catastrophes: storms, floods, droughts, and fires. Yet big oil companies have repeatedly hijacked efforts to slow global carbon emissions. THE CARBON WAR is a major call-to-arms for the safety of our planet. Throughout the last decade, Jeremy Leggett, a distinguished scientist at Oxford University and former director for Greenpeace, has worked doggedly to alert human kind to the threat of ecological catastrophe. With the grace of a novelist and the precision of a scientist, Leggett recounts his maddening interactions with scientific councils, international governmental meetings, and business leaders. Still, despite the government's backpedaling on eco-promises, the media's laziness, and fossil fuel company rhetoric, the transition to solar energy is coming, he argues. THE CARBON WAR is a riveting read and a critical contribution to the fight for sustainable energy.

Adult/High School-As a young geologist and as a professor at the Royal School of Mines in England, the author found the hunt for petroleum deposits "a great romance." But, like many scientists in the 1980s, he became convinced by growing evidence that global warming posed a serious danger. Conscience-stricken at the part he had played in bringing about this situation, he moved "from one of the most conservative universities in the world to one of the most radical environmental groups," and began a new career as scientific advisor to Greenpeace. Participating in history-making conferences such as those in Rio and Tokyo, he witnessed the key events and international politics at the end of the 20th century. In vivid detail, his account reveals the people and politics of what he calls the "Carbon Club"-the coalition of industrial and regional interests that sought to confuse the issue and, through various manipulations, derailed an effective movement to address the problem. He argues that only a rapid conversion to solar power can change the dangerous course energy production is following now, but is encouraged by recent signs of a growing understanding of the problem, and by developing cracks in the cohesiveness of the Carbon Club itself. For most teens, this clearly written, fact-packed, and passionate book will be a demanding read, but it offers a wealth of information for those interested in understanding the workings of the real world, and its thorough index will make it an excellent resource for research on global warming and the history of the issue.

Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

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