A scathing critique of proposals to geoengineer our way out of climate disaster, by the bestselling author of How to Blow Up a Pipline
Warming is about to hit one and a half degrees, perhaps two degrees soon after. What do we do then?
In the overshoot era, schemes abound for turning the heat down at a later date, by means of technologies for removing CO2 from the air or blocking sunlight. Such technologies are by no means safe: they come with immense risks. Like magical promises of future redemption, they provide reasons for continuing emissions in the present. But do they also hold some potentials? Can the catastrophe be reversed, masked or simply adapted to, once it is a fact? Or will any such roundabout measure rather make things worse? This book maps the new frontlines in the struggle for a liveable planet and insists on the climate revolution long overdue. In the end, no technologies can absolve us of its tasks.
"The Long Heat is a vital corrective to the public conversation about technology, ideology and the climate. If you still believe or hope that climate catastrophe can be averted through technological rather than political change, I urge you to read this book." —Sally Rooney, author of Normal People
Wim Carton is associate professor of sustainability science at Lund University, Sweden. He’s the author of over 20 academic articles and book chapters on climate politics. His work has appeared in top journals such as Nature Climate Change, WIRES Climate Change and Antipode.
Andreas Malm is associate professor of human ecology at Lund University, Sweden. He is the author of several acclaimed books, such as, with the Zetkin Collective, White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism. His book How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an international bestseller and has been turned into a feature film.
A scathing critique of proposals to geoengineer our way out of climate disaster, by the bestselling author of How to Blow Up a Pipline
Warming is about to hit one and a half degrees, perhaps two degrees soon after. What do we do then?
In the overshoot era, schemes abound for turning the heat down at a later date, by means of technologies for removing CO2 from the air or blocking sunlight. Such technologies are by no means safe: they come with immense risks. Like magical promises of future redemption, they provide reasons for continuing emissions in the present. But do they also hold some potentials? Can the catastrophe be reversed, masked or simply adapted to, once it is a fact? Or will any such roundabout measure rather make things worse? This book maps the new frontlines in the struggle for a liveable planet and insists on the climate revolution long overdue. In the end, no technologies can absolve us of its tasks.
Praise
"The Long Heat is a vital corrective to the public conversation about technology, ideology and the climate. If you still believe or hope that climate catastrophe can be averted through technological rather than political change, I urge you to read this book." —Sally Rooney, author of Normal People
Author
Wim Carton is associate professor of sustainability science at Lund University, Sweden. He’s the author of over 20 academic articles and book chapters on climate politics. His work has appeared in top journals such as Nature Climate Change, WIRES Climate Change and Antipode.
Andreas Malm is associate professor of human ecology at Lund University, Sweden. He is the author of several acclaimed books, such as, with the Zetkin Collective, White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism. His book How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an international bestseller and has been turned into a feature film.
