‘The Madhouse Effect’ by Michael E.Mann and Tom Toles
Columbia University Press
61 W 62nd St., New York, NY 10023
25 bucks – (or you can also find it in the Long Haul Infoshop’s radical library in Berkeley, CA!)
Reviewed by eoh
This is an easy-to-read book by an Atmospheric Scientist (Michael E. Mann) and an award winning Cartoonist (Tom Toles). It is filled with facts and connections to help you understand what you already know: We are fucked! We fucked it up!!…and we’re in denial.
Denial is a protective mechanism to protect oneself from emotional overload. But in regards to climate change it is very unhealthy and our collective denial is destroying the planet we’re living on, better to say: living from.
Of course it is no fun to read the scientific facts about how dire our situation really is and life here in the US still feels relatively “normal”…. we surf on the (rising) coast, hike in the (not yet burned) forests, eat (grass fed) red meat (you can’t smell the methane in the pan!) and drive our cars wherever we feel we need to. We live our lives completely dependent on the everlasting flow of fuel. But do we at all look at the everlasting flow of carbon into the atmosphere that we generate in our daily lives? 4 tons from an average American every year (the weight of an elephant) – well, we can’t see it AND there are (fossil fuel) interests that do a lot to tell us we’re crazy and misinformed if we worry about it. We are told we should trust in humanity’s creativity (for geoengineering), especially in the country of the free (enterprize)!
The cartoons perfectly summarize and complement the text. They also lead us into the focus of the last 3-4 pages on “What can we do?”.
Even though I’m not satisfied with the answers to this last question, I appreciate the book’s clear sorting out of the real scientists and REAL FACTS from the misinformation campaign.
Read this book, spread it around, give it to every denialist that crosses your path and get out of the (climate) madhouse!
Just to remember, it’s urgent!! …maybe too late
…still reading??