Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning

by George Monbiot

The task George Monbiot sets for himself in Heat is this: to find ways to cut CO2 emissions by 90% of their current levels—while still maintaining much of current lifestyle. Why 90%? The precise reasons are laid out in Chapter 1, which I have to admit I flipped through a bit quickly, feeling it was aimed at those not yet convinced of the reality of global warming. Still, I caught the gist: this is the amount he believes necessary to avoid future catastrophe. Whether or not you agree with that, setting that as his emissions target certainly proves an interesting counter-point as governments and industry—particularly on this continent—squawk about the dire effects of much, much lower levels of reduction, of 20% or so.

Not that surprising, perhaps, that the book is not really a fun read, but it's not really that depressing, either. It is a search for solutions, so after that first chapter (plus the Canadian-ized introduction, which reminds us of our country's abysmal record to date), you are no longer slogging through descriptions of the disasters to come. Instead you are slogging through the ways and means of avoiding that disaster.

And slogging is really too harsh for a book that presents so many interesting possibilities—some so logical you wonder why they haven't been implemented already, regardless of the global warming threat. For example, technology already exists to build incredibly efficient homes—sometimes requiring no central heating system at all. The additional building cost is not excessive, and is quickly recouped in decreased energy bills. So why isn't this style of building the norm, instead of the tiny fraction of the new house market it currently represents? Who wouldn't want this in their new house?

Another example. Compared with planes, cars, and even high-speed trains, buses are actually surprisingly efficient methods of transporting groups of people. But no one likes to take the bus, because taking the bus is horrible; it takes forever to get where you need to go. And why is that? Because bus terminals are always plopped right in the middle of cities, which means that each stop requires a long, laborious drive into and out of town centers. The solution? Move them to the outskirts of towns, right by the highway. Buses could then zip along from town to town; with a dedicated lane, they might end up being even faster than cars. But even without that, the money saved from shutting down the stations in prime downtown real estate, could be used to make the buses nicer, roomier, with entertainment, with Internet connections, so they're a viable means of travelling for business.

Monbiot similarly takes on the issues of electricity use, electricity production, local and long-distance transportation, and the cement and grocery store industries (as but two examples). In doing so, he's not afraid to challenge the dogma of fellow ecologists, pointing out, for example, the limitations of renewable energy, and dismissing outright the system of "neutralizing" your carbon emissions by "investing" in offsets such as tree-planting. I'm not sure if I agree with him dimissing nuclear power not because he disputes their zero level of CO2 emissions, but because of concerns about security and disposal of the waste product, but I appreciate the serious consideration the industry gets.

Does he succeed in pointing the way to 90% reductions without us all living in caves lit by candlelight? In most cases, and with an understanding that many of these solutions would require the will to make some big infrastructure changes, yes. The one area in which he can't find a way to a solution is air travel. The admittedly depressing conclusion there is that we just can't keep flying off to New York, Paris, London, Hawaii... whatever. Flights must become few and infrequent and mostly by slower propeller planes.

This leads to his final point that while it's much easier—even for himself—to hope that all this is wrong, or not as bad, or that we'll somehow be saved by some currently unknown technology, or that it won't really affect us or anyone we care about, we need to fight that tendency. I've been feeling a bit burdened by this knowledge ever since.