The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth

by Eric Pooley

Book Overview

In The Climate War, Eric Pooley--deputy editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek--does for global warming what Bob Woodward did for presidents and Lawrence Wright did for terrorists. In this epic tale of an American civil war, Pooley takes us behind the scenes and into the hearts and minds of the most important players in the struggle to cap global warming pollution--a fight in which trillions of dollars and the fate of the planet are at stake.

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 140132326X
• ISBN13: 9781401323264
• Release Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.6" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth

The book provides very good insight into the political story of global warming. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Eric Pooley about his book for my TV program. Please watch it on GABATV.com. The interview gives you a good sense of his book.

Excellent Look Behind Both Sides of Political Climate War

Pooley has done an excellent job of researching in great detail most of the principal participants in the political war to save the planet. Besides describing Al Gore's extensive Alliance for Climate Protection, EDF's Fred Krupp, NRDC, and Jim Rogers - CEO of Duke Energy, one of the largest coal electric utilities - but still a true believer in climate change, and their USCAP group which worked out the only realistic way forward for the US on climate with the Waxman-Markley cap-and-trade bill that gives huge free offset donations to coal companies mainly to reduce the shock to their customers of higher electric bills, but also to support carbon capture for "clean" coal, Pooley also describes the many groups in opposition to this bill, not only from the Republican right, but also from environmental groups on the left like Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club which opposed the many large donnations to the coal utilities. He also describes the many underhanded techniques used by the skeptics or "Denialosphere" which included cherry picking from scientific reports - reporting only facts supporting their arguments, scare tactics about ultra high electric rates and loosing our standard of living - most of which were outright lies! Pooley also describes melting arctic tundra which is releasing methane that is twenty times more potent than CO2!! Most important, he points out that this war is not over yet, and many more concerned citizens must get involved. This book was published before the Deep Horizon BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Many more of us should use that as an even more compelling reason to move away from coal and petrochemicals and toward many more US jobs with clean renewable energy in the future.

Best Summer Read of 2010! Eric Pooley's The Climate War

Eric Pooley's The Climate War is a page-turning political thriller that masterfully encapsulates the most compelling story (and challenge) of our time! Pooley's illuminating, provocative, and exquisitely organized work is my number one read of the summer. Thank you, Mr. Pooley, for the education, inspiration, and ultimately, the literary adventure! I've heard it said that The Climate War is the literary tipping point for U.S. Climate Policy advancing. Thank you for being a voice of reason and a voice for action! Sincerely, Stacy Clark, Dallas

A must read for environmental policy gurus

Whether you're new to environmental policy, or old hat, Climate War provides an excellent history of the political struggles over climate change from the 60s and 70s through today. Whereas many authors feel the need to re-explain and re-interpret the science behind climate change, Eric Pooley presumes the reader's familiarity, and cuts directly to the narrative - describing climate's rocky road as a wedge issue and political eight ball as public opinion has been manipulated over the decades. The only thing that has become more certain over time is the science behind climate change. Pooley's writing offers a nuanced and multifaceted read on the policy and public relations strategy. This writing will only become more important now, as the political branches, polarized news media, corporations, and general public gear up for another ridiculously theatrical fight over climate policy. Perhaps most useful is Pooley's historiography on the practice from environmental economics known as Cap and Trade. Pooley shows how Cap and Trade has been used in the past to resolve battles over acid rain, and lets some of the hot air out of the arguments of some on the right who suggest that C & T is a tax (it's not) and that it is designed to singlehandedly destroy the economy (the exact opposite is true). The book does a great job of recognizing climate change as a truly non-partisan issue. Pooley gives time to the failures and successes of both Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, lefty environmentalists and righty libertarians. Pooley makes heroes of those who seek to reconcile views, and base solutions on strong science and economics. The only villains in this story are those "Deniers," fundamentalists who, like those who denied the link between tobacco and cancer, have failed to present a logically or scientifically consistent point of view, and instead, have manipulated public opinion to block progress at any cost.

Climate 101

Eric Pooley's look at the climate war in America is one of the best analysis of what promises to be not only a crucial environmental problem for America going forward but also what represents the United States' best option for economic growth in the future. While the writing and reporting is unquestionably strong, the inside access Pooley provides to three key players - Al Gore, Duke CEO Jim Rogers, and EDF Fred Krupp - serves to inform readers of the nuances and challenges that come into play for this debate. Great read, very informative.