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Library | Collection | Collection | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Beale Memorial Library (Kern Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Adult Non-Fiction | 363.73874 McG | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Climate change has become one of the most polarizing issues of our time. Extremists on the left regularly issue hyperbolic jeremiads about the impending destruction of the environment, while extremists on the right counter with crass, tortured denials. But out in the vast middle are ordinary people dealing with stronger storms and more intense droughts than they've ever known. This middle ground is the focus of Betting the Farm on a Drought , a lively, thought-provoking book that lays out the whole story of climate change--the science, the math, and most importantly, the human stories of people fighting both the climate and their own deeply held beliefs to find creative solutions to a host of environmental challenges.
Seamus McGraw takes us on a trip along America's culturally fractured back roads and listens to farmers and ranchers and fishermen, many of them people who are not ideologically, politically, or in some cases even religiously inclined to believe in man-made global climate change. He shows us how they are already being affected and the risks they are already taking on a personal level to deal with extreme weather and its very real consequences for their livelihoods. McGraw also speaks to scientists and policymakers who are trying to harness that most renewable of American resources, a sense of hope and self-reliance that remains strong in the face of daunting challenges. By bringing these voices together, Betting the Farm on a Drought ultimately becomes a model for how we all might have a pragmatic, reasoned conversation about our changing climate.
Author Notes
Seamus McGraw has written eloquently about hydraulic fracking and its sometimes devastating effects on landscapes and communities in The End of Country: Dispatches from the Frack Zone . His award-winning writing has also appeared in the New York Times , Huffington Post, Playboy , Popular Mechanics , Reader's Digest , and the Forward , and on Fox Latino.
Reviews (3)
Kirkus Review
Environmental journalist McGraw (The End of Country: Dispatches from the Frack Zone, 2011) engages a handful of citizensscientists and outdoorsmen, conservative and liberalto gain a sense of our understanding of climate change.It comes as no great surprise that climate change remains a contentious issue, drawn as it is from party lines rather than investigation, and the author examines what "may be the most consequential [issue] of our time." McGraw is an aw-shucks reporter who wears his emotions on his sleeve, and he makes use of hyperbole to make a point, not as a position statement, as do the partisans who have hijacked and stymied the debate. The author may have found that there is reason to despair on the legislative level, but fortunately, he also found more openness to finding common ground among common folks and those who are in the trenches trying to decipher climate change. There is reason to be impressed by the grass-roots response, from evangelical Christians ("our Christian valuesto love others as Christ loved us, to love our neighbors as ourselves and to care for creationdemand that Christians take action") to New Jersey fishermen who have experienced "the increased acidity" of the sea, which is making "oyster shells weaker, while the carbon that caused it seemed to be making the oyster's deadly enemy, the crab, grow to monstrous size." Whether it is a freethinking Montana sportsman, a man who has farmed in southern Illinois for the last five decades or scientistsdrawn mostly from Pennsylvania State Universitywho are gathering the data necessary to make informed decisions about how best to proceed, the author provides plenty of reasons for optimism because it is clear that people are not ignoring the issue. McGraw discovers that the respectful middle of the road is the most likely place to find a bridge to a sustainable energy future. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Wading deep into the perilous politics of climate change, McGraw steadfastly navigates a centrist path as he tells the stories of those stuck between the science and hyperbole of global warming. On the hunt for the complicated truth behind this topic, he begins in his own backyard and reviews the pros and cons of the decision to allow hydraulic fracking. Then, in long, insightful chapters chronicling his cross-country inquiry, he presents the voices of farmers and ranchers in Illinois and Texas, sportsmen in Montana, and fishermen in New Jersey and delves into the realities of living off lands that are undergoing dramatic change. McGraw also challenges preconceived notions of red and blue voters and emphasizes the independence of science from politics. He writes, Science informs judgement and judgement defines action . . . it should offer a menu of options, not a manifesto. This perspective allows him to engage with individuals across the ideological spectrum and bring the conversation back from the cable news fringe to compromise and meaningful action. This title deserves a wide and varied readership; it has the power to change minds.--Mondor, Colleen Copyright 2015 Booklist
Choice Review
Award-winning science journalist McGraw takes readers on a journey beyond polarized debate in order to provide a better understanding of how climate change is already impacting ordinary US citizens. McGraw introduces readers to farmers, fishermen, and ranchers living at the front lines of climate change. He uses their stories to show how climate change is affecting their lives and how they are struggling to find creative solutions. He complements these stories with interviews of scientists and policy makers, discussion of recent climate science, and a history of the climate debate. Most important, by connecting climate change with individual stories, the author presents a world in which lived experience and a need to persevere trump political affiliation and dogma. In so doing, he offers hope for moving past the current intractable debate and coming together for reasoned conversation about pragmatic concerns. Effectively blending story, science, and context, this engaging, readable book will be invaluable for those studying or working on issues associated with climate change, especially those with a social science or policy focus. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. --Jason L Rhoades, Antioch University New England
Table of Contents
1 Sundance | p. 1 |
2 Comfortable in Our Ignorance | p. 21 |
3 Kindergarten in a Fallout Shelter | p. 37 |
4 Preaching to the Choir | p. 47 |
5 Running from a Grizzly in Your Slippers | p. 53 |
6 The Other White Meat | p. 65 |
7 Flying by Wire | p. 81 |
8 Notes from the Ivory Clock Tower | p. 93 |
9 "I Never Met a Liberal Before" | p. 105 |
10 The Year the Creeks Stopped Freezing | p. 125 |
11 "It's What I Do" | p. 141 |
12 Penguins Tumbling Off an Ice Sheet | p. 149 |
Acknowledgments | p. 163 |
Notes | p. 167 |
Bibliography | p. 171 |
Index | p. 177 |