cover image The Age of Consequences: A Chronicle of Concern & Hope

The Age of Consequences: A Chronicle of Concern & Hope

Courtney White. Counterpoint (PGW, dist.), $26 (297p) ISBN 978-1-61902-454-0

Echoing the official United Nations report on global climate change released in March 2014, White, an environmental activist and cofounder of the nonprofit Quivira Coalition, warns that the planet faces a severe environmental crisis. He argues, using alarming research, that corporate greed has depleted the Earth’s once-abundant resources “at an unsustainable rate,” noting that half the planet’s oil has been burned in less than a century. White laments that American presidents have said all the right things but done nothing, despite UN reports confirming that climate change is largely man-made and that increased greenhouse gas emissions can undermine civilization itself. His sincere, and often humorous, narrative spans America and Europe, covering the recent Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico and the threat posed to Venice by rising sea levels. White’s considerable insight emphasizes the need to save “a diminished world” before the point of no return. [em](Jan.) [/em]