New Climate Change Book to Check Out

  Throughout this semester we have read a good number of books and stories about climate change and I wanted to look into another that we might consider in our endeavor to continue fighting the climate crisis. I came across the book What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis by Malcolm Harris. The article from the New York Times not only shares information about the book and its main points and features, but also a brief description of Malcolm Harris. I have never heard of this man or book before. Harris is author of books about the History of California and the “angst of the millennial generation.” He falls more in the left crowd politically and often the right do not agree with his ideas. In this book there are three paths that he suggests or rather explores as the title suggests. The book has suggested policy proposals to combat climate change in a way that goes for the economy. This may look like “market incentives” or “central economic planning.” The article suggests an interesting idea of Marketcrafters, who are people that believe that governmental funding and tax breaks will help combat the oil industry and make prices lower. I feel like this is over complicated in its explanation in the article and would need to read the book to find out more. 

The second part of the plan goes along with more renewable energy and forcing it into the system with government run plants. Is this a crazy idea? Perhaps, but It could make a real difference if the grid changes because of more hydro or solar power. This will make fossil fuels less needed and create less emissions in the process. The third idea suggested in this article about the book is a communist revolution. This is enough for me to be interested and wanting to know more. What might the author mean by this? What is he hiding behind those strong words? It is like the book How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the title is big and bold, but is ironically different from the actual content of the book. 

This recent novel by Malcolm Harris might be something to consider for those who are looking for a new climate crisis book to read. For those who are interested in the book and want to know more about how to purchase it, I found a link to amazon that has the hardcover for $27.