SYSTEM CHANGE, NOT CLIMATE CHANGE

Greta Thunberg's new book is a warning of the dire future that lies ahead of us if we don't implement systemic changes now. We have, quite simply, run out of time. 

“The longer we keep pretending that we are on a reliable path to lower emissions and that the actions required to avoid a climate disaster are available within today’s system ... the more precious time we will lose.” Greta Thunberg

ALTHOUGH GRETA THUNBERG'S name is on the cover of The Climate Book and, given her global popularity, that's a sound commercial move, this book is actually a collection of bite-sized essays from more than one hundred scientists, environmental activists, journalists and writers. They lay out, in straightforward terms, why the climate crisis is happening and what we must do about it.

It is testament to Thunberg's towering reputation, at the age of just twenty, that she has attracted some notable contributors to her book. They include Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, Thomas Piketty, George Monbiot and Margaret Atwood.

The Climate Book is divided into several sections and each section is introduced with a short essay from Thunberg herself. She's a very good writer and exhibits a maturity far beyond her age. 

The book can be viewed as an activists' manual to win a better world.  And there is still a world to win. Thunberg says there is no going 'back to normal' because it is normal is what gave us this crisis in the first place. 

And like most of her generation she has lost faith in a political establishment that counsels gradual change and says that our only course of action is to 'adapt' to climate change. Thunberg has a withering riposte to such arrogant nonsense: 'Our so-called leaders still think they can bargain with physics and negotiate with the laws of nature.'

The scientific evidence is crystal clear: our so-called leaders have left it too late for us to avoid major systemic changes. There are simply not enough resources left. If we are to have a chance of minimizing further irreparable damage, we now have to choose: either we safeguard living conditions for all future generations, or we let a political and economic elite continue their constant, destructive search for profit - at the expense of the planet.  

And if you’re wondering about the cover of the book, which features stripes that fade from shades of blue to shades of red, these are known as 'warming stripes,' which represent how average temperatures have changed over the past 100 years.