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by George Monbiot

(Doubleday Canada, 2006, 277 pages)

George Monbiot is a name you will see much more of in the coming years. He is a meticulous journalist with a strong streak of optimistic realism; a critical, calculating, and creative researcher who writes with the skilled voice of a man who is unyielding in his conclusions.

Heat is a succinct, intense book about a difficult topic, yet Monbiot’s style is thoroughly engaging from first to last page. He does us the great favour of investigating climate change on our behalf and voicing his well-considered and sometimes politically unpopular counterstrategies. This is a book that deserves to be read now.

My copy of Heat begins with a carefully targeted “Foreword to the Canadian edition,” wherein the British-based author scrutinizes our emission-reduction policies and unabashedly tells us exactly what he sees. Monbiot’s primary tenet is that carbon emissions from rich nations must be cut by 90 percent by 2030. While the author applauds Canada for a handful of specific environmental initiatives, he points to our country’s relatively poor position on global warming that necessitates striving for an even greater emission reduction of 94 percent. These numbers are so high, they might be considered ludicrous misprints and they are not.

In the highly readable style of an experienced and dedicated columnist, Monbiat assuredly demonstrates how selective new technologies when applied cunningly and universally will indeed allow for the survival of industrialized civilizations. To this end, the book is and must be a political one. Readers will find themselves compelled not only to change lifestyle habits but also to encourage choices in government most likely to facilitate change. There is no guesswork; Monbiot does the required legwork to allow us to take on climate change issues sooner, rather than later.

Heat is a manifesto for the people, the politicians, and the planet. Each argument and counterargument is well annotated. Beyond mere facts, the book offers well-constructed and thoroughly contemplative answers to the questions raised by Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth. It is the cumulative solution to thousands of incomplete policy papers that lie gathering dust on the desks of paid politicos too scared to look in the mirror. Because he believes that average citizens are, on the whole, most cognizant of the pending issues, Monbiot confidently offers us a chance to prove our inherent responsibility to the planet.

We would do well to read, think, and act accordingly.

Hélène Meurer is a writer and book reviewer who enjoys reading Monbiot’s opinions online at monbiot.com.

Source: alive #297, July 2007