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Selbstverbrennung: Die fatale Dreiecksbeziehung zwischen Klima, Mensch und Kohlenstoff
Alarmierender Report über die selbstzerstörerischen
Folgen einer ungebremsten Erderwärmung
»Um jedes Zehntelgrad zu kämpfen« lohne sich, davon ist Deutschlands wichtigster Klimaforscher mit internationaler Reputation überzeugt. Er streitet seit Jahrzehnten darum, dass Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft dem Klimawandel und seinen dramatischen Folgen endlich ins Auge sehen – und alles daran setzen, ihn aufzuhalten.
In einem brisanten Thesenbuch spitzt er seine Kritik noch einmal zu: Nach derzeitigem Wissensstand bewegt sich unsere Zivilisation nicht auf die oft genannte Zwei-Grad-Grenze, sondern viel dramatischer auf eine Erwärmung von 3 bis 4 Grad Celsius bis Ende des Jahrhunderts zu. Die fortgesetzte Verbrennung fossiler Energieträger droht zum kollektiven Suizid zu führen. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber fasst das aktuelle Wissen in aller Schärfe zusammen, damit die Politiker auf der »Schicksalskonferenz« in Paris im Spätherbst 2015 die letzte Chance zum Umsteuern ergreifen.
Folgen einer ungebremsten Erderwärmung
»Um jedes Zehntelgrad zu kämpfen« lohne sich, davon ist Deutschlands wichtigster Klimaforscher mit internationaler Reputation überzeugt. Er streitet seit Jahrzehnten darum, dass Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft dem Klimawandel und seinen dramatischen Folgen endlich ins Auge sehen – und alles daran setzen, ihn aufzuhalten.
In einem brisanten Thesenbuch spitzt er seine Kritik noch einmal zu: Nach derzeitigem Wissensstand bewegt sich unsere Zivilisation nicht auf die oft genannte Zwei-Grad-Grenze, sondern viel dramatischer auf eine Erwärmung von 3 bis 4 Grad Celsius bis Ende des Jahrhunderts zu. Die fortgesetzte Verbrennung fossiler Energieträger droht zum kollektiven Suizid zu führen. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber fasst das aktuelle Wissen in aller Schärfe zusammen, damit die Politiker auf der »Schicksalskonferenz« in Paris im Spätherbst 2015 die letzte Chance zum Umsteuern ergreifen.
789 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 21, 2019
An extraordinary book!
Self-Combustion: The fatal triangle-relationship between climate, humankind and carbon. That’s the English translation of the book’s title. With almost 800 pages it ranks at the far end of books I usually like to read, especially non-fictional ones. You know the deal: The more books the merrier, and 800 page bricks only slow you down. In this case, however, I regretted the purchase and reading at no time. It reads like a breeze, actually. This is not a purely scientific work, although it was written by a scientist, one of the most renowned climate researchers in Germany and abroad.
In short (although I surely do the work wrong here) readers can expect a tour-de-force through the entire history of climate research from the beginning until now, with excursions into related sciences such as (in alphabetical order) biology, chemistry, ecology, geology, paleontology, physics, and more. With so much science around there surely must be some math too. But fear not: Throughout the book there are only eight equations, and those are not even necessary for understanding. They’re more presented like quaint artworks. The main focus is, of course, on climate research and here in particular on the acceleration of the climate change since the beginning of the industrial age, that is on man-made global warming which affects us all. The “hard” science has been reduced to a minimum, however, and the basic facts are presented in a clear and comprehensible manner. In this respect, the intentions of the author to explain to us, the non-scientists, the problems are fully met. The subject matter is incredibly complex, while the text, fortunately, is not.
The path of science is also left frequently, in favor of broader view on events, which eventually led to global warming. The fact that, for example, slave trading and loom technology made a significant contribution to industrialization, and thus promoted the unspeakable technology of burning fossil fuels, was new to me. To what extent climate events in the past have led to breakthroughs in human history and enabled the rise and fall of cultures, is also a fascinating subject. Here you can still comfortably sit back, as a reader, and follow the explanations of the author with great interest.
In the very first chapter, however, in which a purely personal experience of the author is described, there already appears a certain shadow. If this were a novel, I would speak of an uneasy premonition. Throughout the book this premonition is more and more becoming a certainty: We, humanity, will finally burn ourselves if we don’t find ways to limit global warming to a manageable level. The author speaks of the two degree guardrail. What is meant is that the mean temperature on Earth, should be no more than two degrees above the one of pre-industrial age. Otherwise, as a consequence, we can close this shop for good by the end of this century. That this is not intended by anyone should be obvious. Nevertheless nothing happens, or only very little. The author, alongside his work as a scientist, is also a policy advisor and in this capacity has participated in numerous climate conferences. About these he reports in some chapters, very personally. As a reader, one is inclined to laugh about so much “palaver” with so little result if it was not so serious, not so urgent. The book was published, by the way, shortly before the latest climate conference in Paris in 2015, so that results of this gathering is not considered in the current edition of the book. In these and other sections the author leaves the way of a scientist and becomes a “conscientist” [this pun, Wissenschaftler/Gewissenschaftler, works better in German]. He does not mince his words, calls things and sometimes people by their name. I think this shall be allowed to him, after 30+ years of research in this area, whose findings are shared by 97% of the experts; after insults, disorders of his lectures, even death threats! The remaining three percent, the Merchants of Doubt as they are referred to in another book, have actually managed to sow doubt on man-made climate change in the public, and present the problem in much smaller way than it really is. Those contemporaries (and others, such as the oil/gas/coal-industry) must be fought, and this book provides some contribution. [Apparently so does even nature itself, because the fact that precisely the capital of the yucky oil sand extraction, Fort McMurray in Canada, is haunted these days by a devastating forest fire, I can only call some bitter irony]
To set the limit of global warming to two degrees is one thing. To achieve this goal is quite another one. Even if all decision makers would pull together (and in the same direction), it would still remain an incredible feat to deal with. Again, the book provides comprehensive information on the current state of affairs in all areas and discusses possible scenarios for the future. The latter ones being, of course, speculative.
I could provide many more topics of the book, but that would be well beyond the scope here. In addition, not all issues are dealt with in detail. But everywhere there are references to other works. The bibliography at the end of the book with its 36 closely written pages is one of the largest I have seen so far.
The only slight downer for me was the illustrations. Some of these were, although informative, not easy for me to decipher, with or without my glasses. In short: They are often simply too small. Here I would hope that perhaps the charts and world maps, would be published on a separate website in their full size.
All in all, this is a book that leaves almost nothing to be desired, and any unfulfilled demands are surly met by some book from the bibliography.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Self-Combustion: The fatal triangle-relationship between climate, humankind and carbon. That’s the English translation of the book’s title. With almost 800 pages it ranks at the far end of books I usually like to read, especially non-fictional ones. You know the deal: The more books the merrier, and 800 page bricks only slow you down. In this case, however, I regretted the purchase and reading at no time. It reads like a breeze, actually. This is not a purely scientific work, although it was written by a scientist, one of the most renowned climate researchers in Germany and abroad.
In short (although I surely do the work wrong here) readers can expect a tour-de-force through the entire history of climate research from the beginning until now, with excursions into related sciences such as (in alphabetical order) biology, chemistry, ecology, geology, paleontology, physics, and more. With so much science around there surely must be some math too. But fear not: Throughout the book there are only eight equations, and those are not even necessary for understanding. They’re more presented like quaint artworks. The main focus is, of course, on climate research and here in particular on the acceleration of the climate change since the beginning of the industrial age, that is on man-made global warming which affects us all. The “hard” science has been reduced to a minimum, however, and the basic facts are presented in a clear and comprehensible manner. In this respect, the intentions of the author to explain to us, the non-scientists, the problems are fully met. The subject matter is incredibly complex, while the text, fortunately, is not.
The path of science is also left frequently, in favor of broader view on events, which eventually led to global warming. The fact that, for example, slave trading and loom technology made a significant contribution to industrialization, and thus promoted the unspeakable technology of burning fossil fuels, was new to me. To what extent climate events in the past have led to breakthroughs in human history and enabled the rise and fall of cultures, is also a fascinating subject. Here you can still comfortably sit back, as a reader, and follow the explanations of the author with great interest.
In the very first chapter, however, in which a purely personal experience of the author is described, there already appears a certain shadow. If this were a novel, I would speak of an uneasy premonition. Throughout the book this premonition is more and more becoming a certainty: We, humanity, will finally burn ourselves if we don’t find ways to limit global warming to a manageable level. The author speaks of the two degree guardrail. What is meant is that the mean temperature on Earth, should be no more than two degrees above the one of pre-industrial age. Otherwise, as a consequence, we can close this shop for good by the end of this century. That this is not intended by anyone should be obvious. Nevertheless nothing happens, or only very little. The author, alongside his work as a scientist, is also a policy advisor and in this capacity has participated in numerous climate conferences. About these he reports in some chapters, very personally. As a reader, one is inclined to laugh about so much “palaver” with so little result if it was not so serious, not so urgent. The book was published, by the way, shortly before the latest climate conference in Paris in 2015, so that results of this gathering is not considered in the current edition of the book. In these and other sections the author leaves the way of a scientist and becomes a “conscientist” [this pun, Wissenschaftler/Gewissenschaftler, works better in German]. He does not mince his words, calls things and sometimes people by their name. I think this shall be allowed to him, after 30+ years of research in this area, whose findings are shared by 97% of the experts; after insults, disorders of his lectures, even death threats! The remaining three percent, the Merchants of Doubt as they are referred to in another book, have actually managed to sow doubt on man-made climate change in the public, and present the problem in much smaller way than it really is. Those contemporaries (and others, such as the oil/gas/coal-industry) must be fought, and this book provides some contribution. [Apparently so does even nature itself, because the fact that precisely the capital of the yucky oil sand extraction, Fort McMurray in Canada, is haunted these days by a devastating forest fire, I can only call some bitter irony]
To set the limit of global warming to two degrees is one thing. To achieve this goal is quite another one. Even if all decision makers would pull together (and in the same direction), it would still remain an incredible feat to deal with. Again, the book provides comprehensive information on the current state of affairs in all areas and discusses possible scenarios for the future. The latter ones being, of course, speculative.
I could provide many more topics of the book, but that would be well beyond the scope here. In addition, not all issues are dealt with in detail. But everywhere there are references to other works. The bibliography at the end of the book with its 36 closely written pages is one of the largest I have seen so far.
The only slight downer for me was the illustrations. Some of these were, although informative, not easy for me to decipher, with or without my glasses. In short: They are often simply too small. Here I would hope that perhaps the charts and world maps, would be published on a separate website in their full size.
All in all, this is a book that leaves almost nothing to be desired, and any unfulfilled demands are surly met by some book from the bibliography.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
May 5, 2020
Selbstverbrennung - A tour de force of climate science, climate politics and Schellnhuber’s own role in this. Written in a very personal style but full of great insights and never shy of clear opinions.
4/5
4/5
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