Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2014 -

This is a very important book about a subject of urgent importance.  Through descriptions of personal encounters with people who are trying to cope with climate change, as well as those who areproducing climate change, veteran journalist Schapiro offers readers a tour through the various sources of carbon dioxide releases and the world of those who are negatively impacted by the costs of carbon emissions.  These range from the obvious sources, such as a coal-fired operation for producing electricity, to farmers who are trying to cope with climate change even while they are creating climate change by plowing the soilwhich releases stored-up carbon dioxideor by applying artificial fertilizer, which releases even more destructive gases.  Despite the grim prospects, Schapiro manages to convey the importance of taking actions to mitigate climate change without losing readers by inserting only dire warnings.  Instead, he produces a very readable book that includes important, but often unfamiliar, scientific information.  No other book manages to do what Schapiro has accomplished in terms of its combined traits; by providing both critique and solutions, he offers a readable narrative, useful information, and dire warningsall without being weighed down by a writer's negativity.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.

Most accessible books on environmental policy disregardif not disparagehow economics can help people understand and address environmental problems.  This volume is an excellent exception.  Helm (Univ. of Oxford) cares profoundly about the environment, but he also considers economics, along with science and politics, to understand why the environment is inadequately protected and how economic instrumentspollution taxes, marketable permits, and liability for damagescan mitigate environmental harms.  The book is multidisciplinary, describing threats to sustainability of natural capital and why its value is not captured in usual economic measures, such as GDP.  An economist (this reviewer confesses) can quibble about some definitions or shortcomings in the argument.  Those issues are small, however, compared to the value of the clarity Helm brings regarding the need to come up with some measure of economic price in order to give a sense of what most needs fixing when not everything can be fixed.  Although it is doubtful that his aggregate natural capital rule avoids having to invoke explicit intergenerational comparisons of utility, as he claims, a virtue of Helms book is that readers will glean useful insights from his methods to assess his prescriptions.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

In a book of incredible breadth, Sachs (Columbia Univ.) delivers a sobering account of the impact of human activity upon the balance of life on Earth.  Using metrics and diagrams from his own and others research, he offers an accessible entry into the literature on sustainable development.  However, readers should not expect to find theoretical analyses of the ultimate causes of the world economys unsustainable trajectory.  Instead, they will be exposed to empirical descriptions of the growing impact of human systems upon their natural environment and prescriptions to reverse current trends.  The author relies impressively upon economics, political science, demography, sociology, and ecology to illustrate situations of global poverty, environmental stress, and unequal economic opportunities.  Furthermore, Sachs draws from his experience as a UN adviser to express cautious optimism in the ability of the world to move toward the Sustainable Development Goals crafted in Rio in 2012.  Overall, Sachss book provides a basic but ambitious argument: to reverse current unsustainable trends, global warming must be mitigated, extreme poverty must end, gender imbalance must be corrected, and access to basic health care and education must be granted to all.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.

This book provides an excellent, accessible, and thorough primer on the policy issues surrounding nuclear power.  Lévêque (Mines ParisTech, France) begins with an overview of cost (including environmental cost of alternatives), discusses how to think about risk, analyzes safety regulation, and reviews international governance considerations, particularly nonproliferation.  The author reminds readers at the outset that little is simple and that there are fundamental uncertainties regarding every facet of nuclear power.  He carefully describes the incentives to produce clean energy safely and argues that those incentives need to be supplemented by policy.  The discussion is very evenhanded; costs and problems are neither exaggerated nor dismissed.  One of the author's insights is that private agreements among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group may have done more to restrict proliferation than better-known treaties.  One can quibble about some points made about the economics of risk, value of life, environmental taxes versus permits, and moral hazard in liability insurance.  Still, the books quality and clarity make it a worthy reference and a text highly recommended for courses in energy policy and safety regulation, and for readers interested in nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

Putting together the pieces of the climate-change puzzle, Klein (public intellectual and investigative journalist) argues that civilization is, literally, at the point of no return vis-à-vis the climateand that the threat is existential.  Klein explains the basic science of the climate change crisis and pins responsibility for it on a fuel-extraction industry that, driven by a grow-or-die imperative, pursues carbon reserves via ever dirtier methods of extractionand has no economic incentive to stop.  Though the situation is dire, an element of hope and optimism runs through this book.  Klein provides a road map to climate stabilization and sustainability.  She argues that the path forward requires populist action at the local level, and she gives numerous examples of what such action and policies look like.  Though some might read here a left-leaning political message, in fact habitability of the planet and survival of the species are post-political issues.  Klein leans away from market-oriented solutions.  Since climate change is a by-product of a market failureoveruse of a basic resource, the planetsolutions must come from outside the market (regulation, taxation, combinations of the two).  Klein's suggestions are appropriate, reasonable, and well researched.  Everyone aspiring to understand climate change should read this book, which could be the most important work of the 21st century.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

Harnessing power from the wind is one of the cleanest and most sustainable ways to generate electricity, as it produces no toxic pollution or global warming emissions.  Wind is also abundant, inexhaustible, and affordable, all of which make it a viable and large-scale alternative to fossil fuels.  However, despite its vast potential, there are environmental challenges associated with wind power generation.  For example, wind power must compete with conventional generation sources in terms of cost; wind power development may not make the most profitable use of land; and turbines may cause noise and aesthetic pollution.  Backwell, editor in chief of Recharge, a renewable energy news service, looks at governments, companies, and people competing for the control and harnessing of wind power.  The author explains the dynamic nature of the industry, which is reaching maturity and going global.  Not only does the book explore the main challenges behind wind power, it also shows a clear link between climate policy and the development of the wind industry.  The author makes a strong case that the disconnect between the climate and energy policy debate is the main reason for the unpredictable and inconsistent nature of support for the industry in the US, the EU, China, and Brazil.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.