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A Warning from the Golden Toad
In twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.
Taking us on an extraordinary journey into the past and around the globe, from coral reefs to the North Pole, deserts to rainforests, Tim Flannery's A Warning from the Golden Toad tells the story of the earth's climate, and how we have changed it.
Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.
Taking us on an extraordinary journey into the past and around the globe, from coral reefs to the North Pole, deserts to rainforests, Tim Flannery's A Warning from the Golden Toad tells the story of the earth's climate, and how we have changed it.
Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.
96 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 26, 2021
6 people are currently reading
301 people want to read
About the author
Tim Flannery
132 books392 followersTim Flannery is one of Australia's leading thinkers and writers.
An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, he has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and many books. His books include the landmark works The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and in 2006 won the NSW Premiers Literary Prizes for Best Critical Writing and Book of the Year.
He received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his services to Australian science and in 2002 delivered the Australia Day address. In 2005 he was named Australian Humanist of the Year, and in 2007 honoured as Australian of the Year.
He spent a year teaching at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society's representative in Australasia. He serves on the board of WWF International (London and Gland) and on the sustainability advisory councils of Siemens (Munich) and Tata Power (Mumbai).
In 2007 he co-founded and was appointed Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business, and political leaders who came together to confront climate change.
Tim Flannery is currently Professor of Science at Maquarie University, Sydney.
An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, he has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and many books. His books include the landmark works The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and in 2006 won the NSW Premiers Literary Prizes for Best Critical Writing and Book of the Year.
He received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his services to Australian science and in 2002 delivered the Australia Day address. In 2005 he was named Australian Humanist of the Year, and in 2007 honoured as Australian of the Year.
He spent a year teaching at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society's representative in Australasia. He serves on the board of WWF International (London and Gland) and on the sustainability advisory councils of Siemens (Munich) and Tata Power (Mumbai).
In 2007 he co-founded and was appointed Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business, and political leaders who came together to confront climate change.
Tim Flannery is currently Professor of Science at Maquarie University, Sydney.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 24, 2023
An informative slice of a much larger riff (from more than 15 years ago) from an important voice in the climate change discussion/literature. Worth reading, no doubt, but somewhat lacking.... Compared to others in the series, this felt more like filler (or a side dish) rather than the main attraction (or an entrée).
This worked OK as a standalone, but, unlike many in the series (see below), it felt much more like - or was more obviously - an extract, an excerpt, a carve out, a fragment ... or, I dunno, something not quite whole and complete and less cohesive than some of the others.
This slight, pocket/bite-sized essay (more specifically, in this case, an extract from Flannery's The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change) is volume 7 in the Penguin Green Ideas collection, which, apparently, is not available for sale (in the slipcase collection) in the U.S. (but it's not that difficult to order it from a UK supplier).
This worked OK as a standalone, but, unlike many in the series (see below), it felt much more like - or was more obviously - an extract, an excerpt, a carve out, a fragment ... or, I dunno, something not quite whole and complete and less cohesive than some of the others.
This slight, pocket/bite-sized essay (more specifically, in this case, an extract from Flannery's The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change) is volume 7 in the Penguin Green Ideas collection, which, apparently, is not available for sale (in the slipcase collection) in the U.S. (but it's not that difficult to order it from a UK supplier).
July 31, 2024
Stirring, partly also depressing but very interesting and important!
April 22, 2022
No. 7 in Penguin’s Green Ideas series. A clear account of our terrible future if we don’t act now.
March 25, 2024
Touched on the Coral reefs and a frog going extinct due to climate change.
Fun fact: there is a frog species that fertilizes its eggs in its mouth until they are ready, then the tadpoles (or frogs) are regurgitated onto Earth.
Nature is wonderful and unique, but we are destroying it before we see it.
Fun fact: there is a frog species that fertilizes its eggs in its mouth until they are ready, then the tadpoles (or frogs) are regurgitated onto Earth.
Nature is wonderful and unique, but we are destroying it before we see it.
June 19, 2025
Bite sized extract of some of Flannery's work, a bit disjointed but certainly makes his other works look worthwhile.
April 23, 2024
“For the second year running he held a lonely vigil, waiting for the arrival of his fellows. He was, as far as we know, the last of his species. The golden toad has not been seen since. The golden toad is the first documented victim of global warming. We killed it with our reckless use of coal-fired electricity and our huge cars, just as surely as if we had flattened its forest with bulldozers.”
I’m not crying
I’m not crying
January 29, 2023
Not sure what it was about these essays that didn't really do it for me. Theoretically, this is exactly what I'm looking for in environmental writing. It could have been either the relentlessly depressing tone or the possibly not quite still relevant stats or both.
The titular essay was nothing but a sad account of the extinction of the golden toad, what is thought to be the first recorded extinction directly tied to human-caused climate change. Topped off with descriptions of the loss of so many more amphibians from imperilled cloud forest ecosystems.
"Three Tipping Points" and "Digging up the Dead" were both interesting pieces, but reliant on a lot of science-y ecosystem models and stats respectively. "Three Tipping Points" included an overview of three doomsday models, i. collapse of the gulf stream, ii. collapse of the Amazon forest, and iii. methane release from the sea floor. I'm sure all three are still concerning climate change outcomes, but I'm not up enough on my climate science to say if they still have the same urgency or if the models are still accurate. But I do know that we only hear about the Amazon rainforest these days. Similarly, the stats on population and energy were fascinating in "Digging up the Dead", but here I'm a bit more certain that these stats are due for some updates.
These essays were pulled from The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, which was published in 2005 (18 years ago). It would be really interesting to see a revised version of the topics and stats from these essays. I think I'll cross off reading the full book and hold out for another book from Flannery to catch my eye.
The titular essay was nothing but a sad account of the extinction of the golden toad, what is thought to be the first recorded extinction directly tied to human-caused climate change. Topped off with descriptions of the loss of so many more amphibians from imperilled cloud forest ecosystems.
"Three Tipping Points" and "Digging up the Dead" were both interesting pieces, but reliant on a lot of science-y ecosystem models and stats respectively. "Three Tipping Points" included an overview of three doomsday models, i. collapse of the gulf stream, ii. collapse of the Amazon forest, and iii. methane release from the sea floor. I'm sure all three are still concerning climate change outcomes, but I'm not up enough on my climate science to say if they still have the same urgency or if the models are still accurate. But I do know that we only hear about the Amazon rainforest these days. Similarly, the stats on population and energy were fascinating in "Digging up the Dead", but here I'm a bit more certain that these stats are due for some updates.
These essays were pulled from The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, which was published in 2005 (18 years ago). It would be really interesting to see a revised version of the topics and stats from these essays. I think I'll cross off reading the full book and hold out for another book from Flannery to catch my eye.
September 22, 2022
"It's always devastating when you witness the extinction of a species. You are seeing the dismantling of ecosystems and irreparable genetic loss. It takes hundreds of thousands of years for such species to evolve"
I really wanted to love, I know Tim Flannery is an Australian icon, but man it was so depressing. I know that this is the reality that we live in and even more so depressing because this was first published in 2005 and its 2022 and nothing has gotten better but I just really dont like environment books that are all doom and gloom without having any real means of action other than a sentence that says "we need to reduce our greenhouse emissions". It doesnt help the situation, we need people to feel like they can make a difference rather than all this shit is gonna happen and we have fucked up so hard so whats the point- thats what it felt like. and I didnt like that this book made me feel like that because I really want to believe that there are still things we can turn around.
idea dump - not too many quotes from this one
the golden toad was the first species to become extinct because of climate change due to the rising fog because of rising sea temps. No moisture in the air, the frogs cant breathe.. ah just heartbreaking Also talked about the arctic reduction in biodiversity in just such a sad way
he also described the three tipping points. 1. the collapse of the gulf stream, 2. collapse of the amazon rainforests (projected to be 2040!!!) and 3. methane release from clathrates from the sea floor. All equally as terrifying and seemingly unavoidable
I really wanted to love, I know Tim Flannery is an Australian icon, but man it was so depressing. I know that this is the reality that we live in and even more so depressing because this was first published in 2005 and its 2022 and nothing has gotten better but I just really dont like environment books that are all doom and gloom without having any real means of action other than a sentence that says "we need to reduce our greenhouse emissions". It doesnt help the situation, we need people to feel like they can make a difference rather than all this shit is gonna happen and we have fucked up so hard so whats the point- thats what it felt like. and I didnt like that this book made me feel like that because I really want to believe that there are still things we can turn around.
idea dump - not too many quotes from this one
the golden toad was the first species to become extinct because of climate change due to the rising fog because of rising sea temps. No moisture in the air, the frogs cant breathe.. ah just heartbreaking Also talked about the arctic reduction in biodiversity in just such a sad way
he also described the three tipping points. 1. the collapse of the gulf stream, 2. collapse of the amazon rainforests (projected to be 2040!!!) and 3. methane release from clathrates from the sea floor. All equally as terrifying and seemingly unavoidable
December 7, 2024
A weak link in this collection. The age of the work certainly doesn’t help (it may have been more resonant in 2005 when the climate conversation was in a very different place); today, there exist numerous books on the subject that I’d recommend over this one. Not a “bad” book per say, just not additive in any significant way to the current conversation
May 22, 2024
The story of the golden toad is heartbreaking…I think my star rating has more to do with the length/structure rather than the content. It feels a little incomplete somehow. But I can’t articulate it very well right now so I will come back to this review another day! Please hold!
February 5, 2025
Bite-sized, accessible climate change stories that pack a punch. Had to give it 5 stars after I learned about the gastric-brooding frog 🐸
How climate change deniers exist, I’ll never understand. Just look at the world around you, man :/
How climate change deniers exist, I’ll never understand. Just look at the world around you, man :/
September 11, 2021
Tales of various extinctions and their very personal sadnesses. It's just the price we pay for how we live.
August 25, 2022
An extract from The Weather Makers, this book collects 7 of its essays. A Warning from the Golden Toad shows the downfall of earth's ecosystem, the golden toad story is heartbreaking.
April 17, 2023
This was really depressing. Might have cried a bit at the part where the golden toad went extinct.
January 26, 2025
An easy to understand explanation of climate change and a powerful example of its effects with the story of the Golden Toad, but the ending was very abrupt with no conclusion.
February 1, 2025
achieves exactly what it sets out to
May 30, 2025
scary but at least it wasn't philosophy
Read
July 26, 2025Read on the way to and from work at the end of the week.
June 4, 2025
Heart breaking. Left me in tears. It's all stuff I technically *knew* but being forced to confront that knowledge of runaway tipping points and the horrifying present and near future, in such clear and accessible language, is always so so hard. That's why many of us spend so much time living in a state of soft denial. They should have made this mandatory reading in schools. It's never too late, they still should.
It's always hard reading climate literature even from 20 years ago. You're contronted with the hopes and lies we were fed as kids that even now, such a short time later, seem woefully naive -- because things are already so, so much worse. The idealism of the early 00s and the fever dream of green capitalism! Tim hoping BP will be a "climate leader" -- fossil fuel giants now make record profits whilst renewable investment has DECREASED. CO2 sequestration being a potential solution -- this was never anything but delaying tactics of the greenwashing lobby. The UK reducing its carbon footprint -- now we know that was all simply outsourced to Chinese manufacturing while UK consumption rocketed. Tim's "future" predicted damage to the Gulf Stream, the Amazonian tipping points -- these are happening. Right now.
What I didn't know and did shock me, was reading about the mass die offs and bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef that was visible and widely reported since the 90s. ScoMo's infamous coal speech happened in...what 2016? Australia is still enslaved to the mining lobby, which has so much blood on its hands it's impossible to even begin comprehending it. And meanwhile, people remain utterly content and ignorant. Buying plushy koalas and echidnas, whilst the real koalas and echidnas burn to death. Celebrating the Aussie "great outdoors lifestyle" while the ocean boils and the last great old growth forests are turned into woodchips and an army of speedboats take tourists snorkeling to see the last dying clownfish on the last living piece of coral. But we Australians love nature and don't you know!!!
(This is a generalisation. There are so many dedicated Australian activitists and leaders in this space, who I admire. And Aboriginal communities are still resisting having their lands colonised and stolen, although they nurtured the land for 60,000 years while Europeans have ravaged it in 250.)
I've made a personal commitment to open myself up to grief more. To lean into it and learn from what it's teaching me. About the urgency to act drastically on the climate crisis. Grief doesn't diminish joy. They can work in concert. Even when that means I'm sobbing over that last little lonely frog.
It's always hard reading climate literature even from 20 years ago. You're contronted with the hopes and lies we were fed as kids that even now, such a short time later, seem woefully naive -- because things are already so, so much worse. The idealism of the early 00s and the fever dream of green capitalism! Tim hoping BP will be a "climate leader" -- fossil fuel giants now make record profits whilst renewable investment has DECREASED. CO2 sequestration being a potential solution -- this was never anything but delaying tactics of the greenwashing lobby. The UK reducing its carbon footprint -- now we know that was all simply outsourced to Chinese manufacturing while UK consumption rocketed. Tim's "future" predicted damage to the Gulf Stream, the Amazonian tipping points -- these are happening. Right now.
What I didn't know and did shock me, was reading about the mass die offs and bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef that was visible and widely reported since the 90s. ScoMo's infamous coal speech happened in...what 2016? Australia is still enslaved to the mining lobby, which has so much blood on its hands it's impossible to even begin comprehending it. And meanwhile, people remain utterly content and ignorant. Buying plushy koalas and echidnas, whilst the real koalas and echidnas burn to death. Celebrating the Aussie "great outdoors lifestyle" while the ocean boils and the last great old growth forests are turned into woodchips and an army of speedboats take tourists snorkeling to see the last dying clownfish on the last living piece of coral. But we Australians love nature and don't you know!!!
(This is a generalisation. There are so many dedicated Australian activitists and leaders in this space, who I admire. And Aboriginal communities are still resisting having their lands colonised and stolen, although they nurtured the land for 60,000 years while Europeans have ravaged it in 250.)
I've made a personal commitment to open myself up to grief more. To lean into it and learn from what it's teaching me. About the urgency to act drastically on the climate crisis. Grief doesn't diminish joy. They can work in concert. Even when that means I'm sobbing over that last little lonely frog.
September 2, 2024
Interessante und gut proportionierte Take-Home-messages zum Klimawandel. Die doch schon früh spürbaren Auswirkungen werden an einigen passend ausgewählten Fallbeispielen gezeigt, an denen man sieht, dass der Klimawandel schon frühe Opfer forderte. Da die ganzen Essais nun aber doch schon um die 20 Jahre alt sind, sind vor allem die Passagen, die mit statistischen Angaben gefüttert sind nicht mehr so aktuell.
August 25, 2024
Field notes from the coning Great Extinction.
January 9, 2022
feeling so good ab life rn !!! #sooooo happy to be alive. life is so good!!! totally not dwelling on the fact that the earth is ab to die xxx
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews