Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and Activists Have Fueled a Climate Crisis -- And What We Can Do to Av

by Ross Gelbspan and Gelbspan Ross

Book Overview

In Boiling Point, Ross Gelbspan argues that, unchecked, climate change will swamp every other issue facing us today. Indeed, what began as an initial response of many institutions -- denial and delay -- has now grown into a crime against humanity. The fossil fuel industry is directing the Bush administration's energy and climate policies-payback for helping Bush get elected. But they're not the only ones to blame: the media and environmental...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465027628
• ISBN13: 9780465027620
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

In case you thought there was no ecological crisis...

You may have noticed climate changes in your cubby hole area. They should have warned you through 'normal channels' but they seemed to have all been wiped out. They used to say the crisis of the environment was only a matter of time, now the time has come and this book should be essential reading for anyone glued to standard sources of (dis)information. You know the time has come when Bush starts hemming and hawing on this issue. It's not a prearranged signal, but it's alarmingly indicative. In another decade they may change their story. Meanwhile, all the important measures are starting to spike and major lifestyle changes are on the table. Very important reading.

A masterpiece

When Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, she was widely attacked for advocating the elimination of DDT. But Carson had done her homework well. Her book was meticulously documented and it withstood the inevitable assaults from those who believed that behind her opposition to DDT lay some sort of covert left-wing agenda. I predict that Ross Gelbspan too will survive such assaults. Like Carson, he is a journalist who writes with passion but also with full documentation. Even today, there are scientists who deny that DDT poses environmental problems. The same will likely be true of global warming: there will always be deniers. But reviewers like "Chaxford" mischaracterize the nature of the debate within the scientific community. For example, the Harvard-Smithsonian study, which he cites as an example of mainstream science undermining the human-driven global warming hypothesis, does nothing of the sort. That study merely documents that non-human global warming has occurred before -- hardly a surprising fact! (...)Or Google on the title: "Reconstructing Climatic and Environmental Changes of the Past 1000 Years: A Reappraisal." Those interested in the true nature of the debate should also read another source mentioned by "Claxford," NASA's James Hansen (note: not Hanson), rather than accepting at face value Claxford's characterization of Hansen. Hansen does suggest a somewhat different approach than Gelbspan -- and yes, he has been criticized by "political types." But Hansen is hardly in the camp of the deniers. (...) Or Google on the title of the article: "Can We Defuse the Global Warming Time Bomb?" The closing paragraph of Hansen's article actually provides as good a defense of Ross Gelbspan's work (and refutation of critics like "Claxford") as any. Hansen writes: "The bottom line. How can I be optimistic if, as I have argued, climate is now in the hands of humans and it is closer to the level of "dangerous anthropogenic interference" than has been realized? If we compare the situation today to that 10-15 years ago, we realize that the main elements required to halt climate change, as summarized above, have come into being with remarkable rapidity. I realize that it will not be easy to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, but I am optimistic because I expect empirical evidence for climate change and its impacts to continue to accumulate, and that this will influence the public, public interest groups, industry,and governments at various levels. The question is: will we act soon enough. It is a matter of time."

Wake Up Call

The world has known about global warming for years, but it's time to wake up and do something about it. This well-written, revealing book should add much to the effort. We cannot afford the rabid political diatribe of global warming naysayers that don't have any facts to stand on. There are no more legitimate papers refuting global warming then there are good papers in support of Creationism. The world must awaken.

Horrible but true

With BOILING POINT Ross Gelbspan has written a book which will be sure to intrigue those of us who, like I, only heard about this danger by watching the recent Hollywood blockbuster, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Shameful, I guess, but what can you do? In the movie, Ian Holm mans a Scottish weather station in the days after warming reaches boiling point and results, paradoxically, in a new Ice Age approximately 2.5 times worse than the original one that formed the icebergs and firmed up the glaciers. What Gelbspan does is to show us that this very catastrophe is not far off, indeed he says that it (or something akin to this scenario) is almost 100% likely to happen, and much sooner than we think, due to the way the oil and coal industries are forcing the government to legislate unfair laws. The government of Bush, he states flatly, is in the pocket of these multinational corporations. Other countries have fought back against global warming and the depredations of the oil companies. But not America. This book asks one question: why not? It's a long book, filled with dense explanation, but despite everything it must be read for the sake of our children and of all life on this fragile planet.

An excellent look at the politics of global warming

One can turn to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the scientific facts on climate change. This fine book will, on the other hand, bring you a clear discussion of the paid political hacks who attempt to confuse the public on what may be the most critical issue facing the world's people. Gelbspan, a leading investigative reporter, shows how badly science can be distorted by the agents of big oil and big coal -- and what might be done about it.