Title : Global Warming: A Real Threat
Language : English
Paperback : 134 pages
ISBN-10 : 1532085990
ISBN-13 : 978-1532085994
Item Weight : 11.2 ounces
Dimensions : 8.25 x 0.29 x 11 inches
Global Warming: A Real Threat by Duncan Ewing is an engrossing look into the dangers of global warming but ultimately does not offer any new insights.
What hasn’t been said yet about global warming? The topic has been thoroughly discussed and dissected over the years, and in the most recent and alarming development, it has also become politicized. Suddenly, the subject is no longer just about how to fight global warming. It has also become about whether or not global warming is even really happening.
Author Duncan Ewing is firmly in the camp of “global warming is totally a real thing” (on account of, you know, all the scientific evidence supporting it). In his book Global Warming: A Real Threat, he presents his case and it’s, to put it simply, devastating. Increasing temperatures in normally temperate climes, natural disasters occurring around the world, animals being driven to extinction–it’s a grim picture he paints, and it’s made even grimmer by the realization that this is the reality that we are facing today.
The book isn’t all doom and gloom, however. Ewing does take pains to outline exactly what can be done so the planet can stand a chance of surviving the crisis currently engulfing it. It’s all the usual stuff: reduce, reuse, recycle, etc. etc.,–and this is ultimately what weakens the book. All his prescriptions for how people can live more mindful lives that limit the damage they can cause to the environment are already well-known. In fact, they’re the same actions that scientists have been recommending for years; yet somehow, most people are all still dancing along the edge of extinction like they’re not slowly killing the planet with every thoughtless action and damning inaction.
So, the actual question that should be asked is this: What can be done to make people truly believe the threat of climate change is real? Then, an excellent follow-up question to that would be: What can be done to make people actually care about what’s happening? Unfortunately, these aren’t the questions that Ewing explores in detail within his book, so it ends up feeling lacking in the end. The author’s eloquence on his chosen subject has to go up against the general apathy of readers, and it’s just too bad that it’s these same readers who ultimately have the deciding power to choose for themselves whether to think of Ewing as a truthsayer or an alarmist.
What’s to be done then about the circumstances with which the author finds himself in? Well, one can start by reading his book. Yes, the truths he tells have been told many times before, but repetition hasn’t diminished their power in any way. It’s an undeniable fact that the planet is hurtling towards the precipice of disaster, and Ewing is but one of the many voices that are calling out a warning that everyone should listen to. At the end of the day, the author has done his part in helping save the world. Now, it’s up to the readers to decide what they will do.
Duncan Ewing’s Global Warming: A Real Threat may not have all the answers that one is looking for, but it definitely encourages readers to start asking the right questions.