Environmental Books - Andy Arthur.org

Field Notes from Catastrophe

Andy | May 2, 2011

In the summer months I spend a lot of time reading down at the Town Park in the evenings. Recently with the coming of Earth Day and because it seems like energy is such a big issue these days, I have been reading a lot about Climate Change.

Kolbert’s book tries to bring home the message of the enormity of the problem that has been unleashed by the excessive concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. She gives several examples of her experiences on trips to see sea ice melting and climates changing, and how pronounced these problems are becoming in some locations. She writes in alarm about forces, largely masked by environmental inertia that threaten the well being of humans and the planet alike.

Most of the book is delightful stories about her experiences. She reserves the last chapter to pass judgment on the progress we as a country are making on climate change. By being non-judgmental and non-political in most of the book, she provides some insight on what is really happening now and what is likely to happen in the future. The last chapter is largely scornful of what she believes the lack of action on climate change, something she believes is a tragic mistake to face generations to come.

Her message is hopeful if not a bit cynical. She is realistic but pragmatic. She does make a good case for getting on a pathway of Climate Emissions Control, and doing something rather then ignoring the increasingly obvious consequences of what we as a global society have unleashed by the often uncontrolled and uncaring burning of fossil fuels.

Merchants of Doubt

Andy | April 6, 2011

A local Climate Activist suggested I take a look at a new book that came out last year, known as Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. As somebody who has had a longtime interest in Climate Change and Energy Policy more generally, I was excited to find it at the Albany Public Library. I brought it home on a Friday night, and spent half the night reading it from cover to cover. Merchants of Doubt is the story of “How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming”. It details and follows the lives of some of the most well known scientific contrarians specifically, the late S. Fred Singer, Jim Tozzi, and Steven Milroy. These people spent most of their later career criticizing scientific reports, emphasizing uncertainty and cost of implementing reform.

The book is very critical of these contrarians, arguing that they have both mislead the public, the media, and policymakers. The book says due to the abuse of science, many Americans and policy makers make bad decisions. The book also argues that artificial delay and debate over policy response has had a negative effect both on environmental and human health, and increased the costs of resolving problems. Yet, are all these concerns expressed in the book with the scientific contrarians really legitimate? I find that conclusion hard to accept. In a pluralistic democracy, having more voices is a good thing. It is good to have debate and allow “popularizers” on both sides of political debates to take scientific research and make it easily accessible to the public. Science is much too technical for the layman to understand it unless an effort is made to make it accessible.

One can make a legitimate complaint when a “popularizer” distorts scientific reality in a way that is completely contrary to what widely accepted research says. It for example is not right for a “popularizer” to claim that Man-Made Climate Change is not happening at all whatsoever, when the evidence is clear to the contrary. It is however the moral obligation for the popularizer to put that scientific research in context, emphasizing what he or she believes is the proper political context for it to be considered in. Smoking causes cancer. Excessive sulfur dioxide emissions from large power plants causes acid rain. Climate Change and the associated disruptions is caused by excessive carbon dioxide by the mass burning of fossil fuels. These are all well established facts. It’s not a fact that we should use control greenhouse gases or sulfur dioxide emissions – that is a political choice.

There are many policy choices that ought to be debated. Just because science can predict a result does not mean we should necessarily adopt any one policy. Some may try to dodge reality because it’s easier then facing the facts, or admitting the true costs of one policy choice. That is a bad thing. However, nobody should act just because the science says one should do one thing. It’s unfortunate that Oreskes and Conway did not make it clear that while facts should not be debated, policy choices should. We should look at the science, weight costs, and decide on action or inaction. Regardless, it’s a interesting read, well worth your couple of hours time.

Oil on the Brain

Andy | July 7, 2010

Lisa Margonelli’s Oil on the Brain is a book that looks at the supply chain of gasoline from gas station to refinery to the oil well. While it briefly mentions natural gas wells and touches on other petroleum products, it’s main focus is on the supply of gasoline. It tells a straightforward, but unremarkable story. Most of the things you read about in the book, you already knew about from commonsense before you open the book.

You might suspect that such a book would take on an activist character and point out all of the evils of the oil industry. Or that the book would pass judgment on those who drive big gas guzzling cars. It does neither. It just lays out the struggles faced by the gas stations squeezed both by the oil companies and market forces, the difficulty of getting the fuel at a reasonable price just-in-time at the gas stations, the pollution problems at refineries, the all powerful NYMEX crude market that make people rich and broke in seconds, and the third world countries that suffer when poorly run oil wells pollute the landscape and leave them impoverished.

The thing is we all know such things. Most people are aware at some level the troublesome nature of petroleum, and how it pollutes. They realize that many of the refineries are older, polluting, and suffer many malfunctions that spew toxins into the air. Yet, modern society accept those costs are being acceptable. Non-environmentalists might not express such concern, but they hang over our heads and there is a certain public awareness.

Most interesting in the book was how Lisa Margonelli got exclusive access to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the NYMEX market, oil refineries, gas stations, and oil wells. She talked to the people, she captured the culture surrounding it. She didn’t villinize any one sector, but instead sought to shine light on this important industry that provides both energy and a major source of pollution.

An interesting book well worth a read.