Hell and High Water: Global Warming--The Solution and the Politics--And What We Should Do

by Joseph J. Romm and Joseph Romm

Global warming is the story of the twenty-first century. It is the most serious issue facing the future of humankind, and American energy and environmental policy is driving the whole world down the path of global catastrophe. Hell and High Water is nothing less than a wake-up call to the country. It is a searing critique of American environmental and energy policy and a passionate call to action by a writer with a unique command of the science...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006117212X
• ISBN13: 9780061172120
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A 'must' for any collection serious in global warming issues

Global warming is threatening the whole world, and HELL AND HIGH WATER is a wake-up call to the country, critiquing American environmental and energy policy and offering a call to action. It comes not from a politician but from an expert in science, business and politics, and provides a concrete plan of action to reduce emissions and adapt a nation-wide energy-efficient policy. Most books on the topic offer little more than rhetoric: this concrete game plan is a 'must' for any collection serious in global warming issues, whether it be at the college or public library level. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

A valuable contribution

Until this book, it's been hard to recommend one place where people could get solid answers to the major questions about global change. Now, Romm covers the bases of science, potential energy strategies, and politics. Despite its advocacy style, the book reflects the best thinking of energy experts, of whom Romm is clearly one of the best. Romm shows that the level of response to this dire challenge will need to be greater than widely assumed, but clearly identifies the paths that can lead to success.

Clear, Precise and Actionable

During a conversation in Washington, DC in 1988, I was stunned by how succinctly my former professor Carl Sagan was able to summarize the behavior of bureaucrats inside the U.S. Government. After listening quietly to my rant about inactions of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the subject of acid rain and global warming, Sagan simply offered the following one-liner: "Bureaucratic Ecocide." Joe Romm's convincing, straight-forward and extremely well-written book reminds me of Sagan's ability to cut to the quick of a matter like a laser beam. Romm writes with precision and insight about a complex subject. This gift is made all the more precious to us because of the layers of obfuscation, half-truths and outright lies of the "Deniers and Delayers." Because of the complexity of the subject and the murky job done to date by the press, Romm's talent to clarify shines like a beacon to all thinkers on the planet. Read this book - for yourself and for the generations yet to come. Then take action.

A Practical Guide ...

As I sit here typing, I can see the snow and ice just outside our window. I also hear people grumbling around me "What global warming?" but they're forgetting something ~~ this has definitely been a very mild winter for us in northwest Ohio and it is very unusual that we're just now getting our first snow of the season. Normally, we start getting snow in mid-November and by this time in January, the romance of the snow is pretty much all gone. Not this year. After reading this book, I am now more concerned about what our government is not doing (it'll be interesting to see the backlash to the State of the Union speech tomorrow night) to work with these legitimate and valid concerns. This is not your typical scaremonger book. In fact, this book is written by the former acting assistant secretary at the Department of Energy, heading the office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Romm writes about the reasons why you don't hear a lot of scientists flooding the media with dire warnings of our actions and the near future of global warming ~~ he writes vividly and rationally, pointing no fingers of blame at anyone. He writes a history of scientific studies and the Delayers and Denyers tactics in stalling appropriate responses to issues that should have been addressed yesterday if not today. He writes simply. He writes of the truth. He backs his reasons up with scientific studies and news reports. He doesn't point fingers at anyone ~~ just states simply the facts and the solutions he thinks are viable in fixing this problem before it's too late. Already, we're seeing record hurricanes, droughts and mild winters and already, we're seeing signs of glaciers melting. Romm debunks what the current administration is doing in fixing global warming and offers other viable solutions (after going into details about what would happen if we built more coal or nuclear plants as well as just how exactly far the hybrid cars have come along). This is a very straight-forward book and very well-written. Instead of worrying about catching the Avian flu, I think I am now more worried about global warming. And what I can do to help educating others about it. If you want to get some insights and a practical guide on what needs to be done, I would highly suggest getting this book. 1-23-07

His hair is on fire

And ours should be too. Joseph Romm, who is an expert on energy (author of The Hype about Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate (2004), which I highly recommend), holds a PhD in physics with an emphasis on the physics of weather. Consequently he writes from a position of knowledge about climate change that few others can match. He is also politically savvy, having worked in the Department of Energy in the Clinton administration. His hair is on fire because the danger to the planet from global warming is frighteningly real, and it appears that nobody is going to do anything about it until it is too late. Part I is devoted to both making it absolutely clear that global warming is caused by human activities, in particular the burning of fossil fuels, while giving some considerable data on just what the consequences of global warming will be for the planet and in particular for the US. A number of meany-mouthed nay-sayers have suggested that a little warming won't be so bad, especially for the US. Romm lays this mythology into its grave by showing that the most recent scientific projections show that unchecked global warming will be a disaster for the US, inflicting enormous damage to our costal areas, burying much of Louisiana, Florida and other parts of the US under water, and creating dust bowl conditions in the Midwest far worse than experienced in the 1930s. The real meat of this book however begins in Part II, "The Politics and the Solution," and in particular in Chapter 5, "How Climate Rhetoric Trumps Climate Reality." Have you ever asked yourself why conservative politicians are in a state of denial about global warming? I have, and Romm is the first one to explain it to me. Simply put, "ideology trumps rationality." Romm spells it out: "Most conservatives cannot abide the SOLUTION to global warming--strong government regulations and a government-led effort to accelerate clean-energy technologies into the market." (p. 107) Therefore they become what Romm calls "Denyers and Delayers." They are indulging in political purity--but at what price? In this connection I was intrigued and frankly amazed to find out that many conservatives are in the thrall of novelist Michael Crichton who wrote a novel entitled "State of Fear" in which the villain is a scientist who "falsifies scientific studies to justify draconian steps to curb global warming." Romm notes that President George W. Bush was a big fan of Crichton's book, and ignored "every major study by the world's leading climate scientists," and instead invited Crichton to the White House where they "talked for an hour and were in near-total agreement" (quoting Fred Barnes, p. 102). It appears that not only does Bush practice "faith-based" foreign policy, he gets his science not from scientists but from misinformed writers of science fiction! In Chapter 10, "Missing the Story of the Century," Romm takes the media to task for not getting the global warming story