The Carbon Almanac: It's Not Too Late

I should have known by the title that this is probably not the best thing to listen to on an audiobook. As an almanac, it is filled with lists, charts and tables. Probably half the book comes across as a general narrative that makes sense as an audiobook. The various lists and tables do not work so well.

As for the content, it is a fairly standard "reduce carbon" policies. It does attempt to do a job of pointing out the pros and cons of various approaches. But it hews too closely to the "accepted wisdom". It mentions the benefit of LED lights. Alas, advocacy from a decade ago required new sockets that only accepted CFLs. This is a case where too-quick advocacy led to an inferior solution. On the other hand, there is a push for electric cars rather than advocacy for re-engineering cities to not be so dependent on cars. If we are thinking big, the big solution needs to be implemented.

The book book gives examples of past cases, like raising Chicago. These cases have a short term horizon that is clearly visible. Global warming concerns are based on complex models over the long term. Real life may be significantly different (for better or worse.)