Hothouse Earth, An Inhabitant’s Guide, by Bill McGuire is a short, readable and informed explanation of the science underlying Climate Breakdown and Global Heating which is now over 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
“Our once stable climate is broken and the evidence is all around us”. [1] [2]
Bill McGuire is currently Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at UCL and a contributing author on the 2011 IPCC Report on climate change and extreme events, and is drawing on the latest science. [3] [4]
The predictions are alarming: 1.5C warming by the end of the decade is certain.
There is peer-reviewed research to indicate that 2.0C is unavoidable (pg xiv).
When it happens it will seriously threaten the stability of global society (p14).
According to Climate Action Tracker, business as usual would see a global average temperature rise of 2.7C by 2100 [5]
“But alarmist? No. There is no exaggeration of the dangers here. No hyperbole. All the material included and addressed in this book is rooted in hard science, underpinned by meticulous observation and careful modelling” (p159)
The book begins with a brief history of the earth’s climate from the earth’s formation through to the current day and the evidence of climate breakdown.
Sections with titles such as “The Heat that kills in hours”, “Scorched Earth”, “Rain Rain…”, “Dustbowl”, “Hungry World”, “March of the Mosquito” give an idea of the conditions that are discussed.
Is there anything that can be done?
McGuire says there are actions that can be taken :”Hothouse Earth does have a final chapter that addresses what we can do as individuals and collectively, but the book is mainly focused on the sort of world we are now pretty much committed to inhabiting. It is a bit of a grim read, but everything in it needs to be said.”
While not promoting an exclusively plant based diet, he is mindful of the impact of diet on the climate and the benefits of reducing meat intake:
We can all help reduce emissions from the other big non-natural source of methane by cutting way back on our meat feasting and thereby reducing the demand for livestock (p152)
An excellent measure to accompany widespread reforestation would be the progressive phasing out of beef and dairy farming. With beef and dairy accounting for nearly 15 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, the reforesting, where possible, of land currently used to rear beef and dairy cattle would provide a win-win situation. (p154)
Together, just twenty of the world’s biggest meat and dairy producers pump out more greenhouse gases than Germany or France, so one of the best things we can do, on a personal level, to help tackle the climate emergency, is to cut way back on our consumption of meat (especially beef) and dairy products (p154)
There is plenty more you can do. Drive an electric car or, event better, use public transport, walk or cycle; stop flying; switch to a green energy tariff; eat less meat; spread the word about the predicament we find ourselves in… (p160)
We may no longer be able to give dangerous climate breakdown the slip, but we still have the means to fend off a climate cataclysm that may threaten the very survival of human civilisation (p164)
In summary, an eye-opening and challenging book. The number and seriousness of the climate-related incidents listed in the book are deeply concerning.
It seems to me that the book is another compelling reason to take up a plant based diet when every kilogram of carbon kept in the ground counts, and certainly reducing meat and dairy is an effective step. But whatever we do must be done today.
[1] https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Bill-McGuire/Hothouse-Earth–An-Inhabitants-Guide/27151448, July 2022
[2] https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-2023-hottest-year-record
[3] https://billmcguire.substack.com
[4] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/earth-sciences/people/academic/prof-bill-mcguire
[5] https://climateactiontracker.org
