The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming in Climate Change, Environment and Ecology

Oct 30, 2021 Jimmy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science, non-fiction, environment

The facts are undeniable. Climate change is just a collection of measurements. And those measurements are absolutely devastating. Doing something about it is vastly more important than borrowing money to give tax cuts to the rich. Alas, we seem unable to finish the job of correcting this problem. It is here now, it will be here tomorrow, and it will only get worse.

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Aug 30, 2025 Gustav Osberg rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: political-economy, environmental-science

A sobering read. Much of Wallace-Wells’s argument builds on worst-case scenarios, however, if these are even plausible trajectories, we are left with the uncomfortable task of imagining life on a planet 3–4 degrees warmer. What would such a world mean for politics, culture, and the future of human flourishing?

The book begins with the concept of “cascades”: Reinforcing feedback loops within the Earth system where one crisis triggers another. A forest fire, for instance, causing migration and furt A sobering read. Much of Wallace-Wells’s argument builds on worst-case scenarios, however, if these are even plausible trajectories, we are left with the uncomfortable task of imagining life on a planet 3–4 degrees warmer. What would such a world mean for politics, culture, and the future of human flourishing?

The book begins with the concept of “cascades”: Reinforcing feedback loops within the Earth system where one crisis triggers another. A forest fire, for instance, causing migration and further warming. These cascades unfold not only regionally but also at a planetary scale, destabilising systems that once felt solid and secure.

From there, Wallace-Wells dissects what he terms the “elements of chaos.” These range from heat death and sea-level rise to disease outbreaks, economic collapse, and conflict. While some of these appear more political than others, Wallace-Wells insists that all are political, partly because vulnerability is unevenly distributed. This is the fundamental injustice of the climate crisis: Most of those who contributed least will suffer most. Yet no country is safe, pointing to the US as a country that will be particularly impacted.

For me, the most thought-provoking section was Part III, “The Climate Kaleidoscope.” Here Wallace-Wells turns from impacts to responses, exploring the cultural, political, and psychological dimensions of warming. He asks why climate change has yet to reshape popular culture in proportion to its stakes; whether capitalism can survive decarbonisation, or, drawing on Andreas Malm, whether decarbonisation can survive capitalism. He examines our enduring faith in technology as a symbol of our modern faith in human ingenuity. He then ventures into philosophical territory. What happens to our sense of time and meaning if the guiding story of modernity, that of progress (today translated as sustainable development), becomes untenable?
The book concludes with a discussion of ethics in an age of collapse. How do we sustain meaning without succumbing to nihilism or retreating into fatalism and its prophets? Wallace-Wells suggests that the answer lies not in resignation but in renewed political engagement, informed by values such as compassion and solidarity. ...more

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Nov 09, 2019 Greg rated it it was amazing

A great, well researched account of what’s happening already and what is to come. I got a little lost near the end when he starts talking about philosophy and ideology, but it was just a little bump along a great ride

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