Hell and High Water

Hell and High Water

Written By Joseph Romm

Publisher HarperCollins Publishers

Date of Publication 2007

ISBN 978-0-06-117212-0

Reviewed By Nicole Perry for Lloyd Alter

Outline

Hell and High Water looks at the effect that global warming is having on our world and gives solutions to avoid catastrophe. It explains the consequences of climate change such as rising sea levels, loss of coastal cities due to mega-hurricanes and increasingly warmer summers. Romm comments on the American government's inability to do anything about global warming and how this is influencing other countries, particularly China. He feels the Nation must adopt the California-style, energy efficient way of living.

In order to avoid climate catastrophe Romm believes that it is necessary to reduce emissions from electricity and heavy industry. On a more individual level, the book also explains the process of Hydrogen and how a better transportation choice would be plug in hybrids, and electric cars. Romm's goal was to make this book as informative and factual as possible with regards to our climate, the change it is currently undergoing and what we have to do to slow it down.

Relevance

I found that this book describes how, as a country, we must adopt sustainable choices in order to decreases our chances of future climate catastrophe, this includes “launching a massive performance-based efficiency program for homes, commercial buildings and new construction, launching a massive effort to boost the efficiency of heavy industry and expand the use of cogeneration, capture the CO2 from 800 new large coal plants and store it underground, build 1 million large wind turbines, build 700 new large nuclear power plants while shutting down no old ones.”

The book deals with sustainability on a political level in terms of what the government can do and suggests that we support a government that plans on cleaning up the country. It touches upon sustainable design on a massive scale rather than on a more individual level. The book tells us that this effort must be taken up by the majority of the country in order for us to be successful in saving our world and in order to do this the government must take responsibility and convince the country that we are facing major changes in our climates and natural disasters of epic proportions.

Relevance rating number, useless to relevant - 4

Opinion

I enjoyed reading the book but didn't feel like it gave me very much information on how I can live a sustainable life as an individual, although it did go into depth with what the government can do. I believe that it's important to support a government that has strong feelings towards making the country a greener place and is willing to put words into actions and follow through with their plans. It's important to have your opinions heard as an individual living in a society where global warming is ignored as a problem and brushed off of the political agenda.

The facts on global warming frightened me but they also opened my eyes to what's going on in our world today and how it will change our future. This book went to the extreme when talking about the consequences of the American Government's actions and had detailed information and facts to back up their argument, which is why I believe that this book is truly speaking of our fate. I plan on taking the information that I got from this book to heart and doing my part in society to help stop global warming. This book was worth reading and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in global warming and climate change.

Opinion rating number, awful to fabulous- 3