“Fire and Flood: a People's History of Climate Change (from 1979 to the present)”
Eugene Linden. New York: Penguin Books, 2022
Reviewer John Giehl, Master Gardener

Around 1870 Mark Twain observed “The weather: everybody talks about it but nobody does anything about it”. Could he ever imagine the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015? The sole U.N. document ever to be signed by each/ every of the world's 196 nations! Hmm.

Who should read this book? Future Jeopardy contestants? Someone that has noted the uptick in natural disasters (a world record 40 category- fives in 2008 alone)? Anyone who wonders/ worries if the earth will remain habitable for children yet to be born?

This book presents textbook potential. While twenty chapters and almost 300 pages, it is organized into six sections/ parts: I) setting the stage, II) the 1980s, III) the 1990s, IV) the new millennium, V) 2010s- things get real, VI) Where do we go from here?

Within each of the four decades salient considerations are addressed: the reality, the science, reaction by business/ industrial/ financial interests, public awareness/ opinion, political/ governmental stance. Reference is made to literature in a dozen disciplines: geophysics, astronomy, climatology, oceanography, cosmology, paleontology, seismology, macro/microeconomics, biology, chemistry, medicine, meteorology, agriculture, history, space science, political science…whew.

The book is thick in facts/ concepts. Were this breakfast food it suggests crunchy chewy granola rather than soggy candied cereal. It is not light breezy summer beach read. The non-academic reader might wish there were headings, subheadings, summary, and/ or a study guide while the visual learner might wish there were graphs, charts, diagrams, and tables. There is no use of technical footnotes, citations are made within the text body. Lastly, it provides a comprehensive index and a list of suggested further reading.

The text is a who's who of prominent players/ personalities and chock full of interesting research findings, factoids, back stories, and anecdotes. Asides include discussion of the casualty/ property insurance industry, the political/ economic clout of the energy industry. There is enlightening explanation of the relationship between ice shelf melt, warming oceans and the jet stream. The diminished arctic/ tropic temp contrast apparently affects the jet stream in slower atmospheric waves of greater amplitude. Weather extremes therein are more frequent, severe, and of greater duration. For example, drought and storm are more intense, and last longer.

Chronology/ Milestones:

• 1965 LBJ asks if humans are conducting an “experiment with the atmosphere”?
• 1973 term “global warming” coined by Wallace Broecker.
• 1975 National Academy Sciences (NAS) reports possibility of “climate change.” However, is this change human- caused or a natural normal climate cycle?
• 1977 Jimmy Carter convenes an environmental commission.
• 1979 NAS shares findings that increase in CO2 will elevate global temperature by the year 2000.
• 1987 ozone layer hole discovered over Antarctica.
• Also 1987 drilling off Greenland reveals that climate can change, contrary to conventional understanding, both globally and rapidly. As CO2 doubles global temp will rise 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit. For every one degree global crop production decreases ten percent.
• During 1990s nations dithered, remaining committed to traditional energy.

Despite our awakening the tale for next two decades is mixed bag. Fossil fuel is available/ cheap/ plentiful. Development of replacement renewable sources of energy viewed intermittently as eventually necessary, not yet unfeasible.

As you prepare for your upcoming appearance on Jeopardy. Imagine your double Jeopardy round comes down to one category, “Climate” … Questions please:

1) Covers ¼ the earth's surface retaining methane (28x potency of CO2). What is permafrost?

2) Florida coastline recedes 2k – 10k feet inland. What happens if sea level rises 1 more foot?

3) Causes 8.7 million deaths per year, shortens lifespan 1 year. What is hidden pollution cost?

4) GM. By 2035 what auto maker promises a 100% EV fleet?

5) 800,000 people. How many climate refugees fled to Greece in just one year?

6) By 2045. What is California's deadline for zero emission/ carbon neutral state?

Lastly, the book asks we remain wary of fake news, alternate facts, conspiracy theory, and social media as “authoritative sources” for climate information.