Book #5 of 2024:
The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell
A harrowing look at the impact of climate change on human and non-human existence, really contextualizing how innocuous-sounding figures like a few degrees of global average temperature increase are in fact catastrophic for us. Author Jeff Goodell carefully walks readers through the science of rising heat levels, including the cascading effects on living bodies and on the public infrastructure that wasn’t built to withstand such forces. People quickly weaken and die from exposure in a heat wave itself, but the weather patterns have less visible ramifications as well: power outages become more common, leading to further deaths as residents are stuck inside hot buildings without relief, while rates of miscarriages and acts of violence go up, and so on. Soaring temperatures also force animal populations to migrate if possible in pursuit of the ‘goldilocks zone’ they’ve evolved to inhabit, which along with polar glacial melting can unleash devastating pathogenic outbreaks upon humanity.
This book addresses all of that and beyond with heartbreaking real-life examples, but it moreover emphasizes the uneven distribution of harm. When local conditions render air-conditioning (and backup generators) a near-necessity to live in particular areas, for instance, those who can afford to have them — or to flee — will obviously be less affected than those who cannot. Existing privilege gaps are reproduced and magnified, and the writer urges us not to grow accustomed to these the way society has acclimated to a certain number of expected annual casualties due to gun violence, or car accidents, or COVID-19. As in those domains, there are parties responsible for recklessly endangering our world, and steps they could yet be taking to start mitigating the damage. Otherwise, it’s all going up in flames.
[Content warning for slavery, racism, and death of a young child.]
★★★★☆
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