"Pleasingly readable and engaging" - 'The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet' Review
Recycle more.
Fly less.
Go vegan.
Purge plastic.
At times, the myriad of ways we are encouraged to change our behaviour to help combat the climate crisis feels overwhelming, like we are all being individually blamed for the state of our planet while the worst culprits avoid proper scrutiny. Author Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric science at Penn State University, argues that this is exactly what is happening in the current “climate wars.”
In ‘The New Climate War’, published in January 2021, Mann offers readers a rousing polemic against the cynical tactics of fossil fuel companies, petrostates, and right-wing plutocrats who are all too eager to place the blame of climate change on you and me, now that outright denial is increasingly difficult to justify.
Mann expertly lays out the dubious history of such tactics; from “Guns Don’t Kill People, People Do” to tobacco companies claiming cigarettes as “torches of freedom” that definitely don’t cause lung cancer.
He deconstructs the “Crying Indian” public service advert, one that inspired a whole generation of Americans to pick up their litter. Yet rather than it being an earnest plea to “Keep America Beautiful”, Mann reveals that the campaign was actually a cynical manipulation by beverage companies to shift the blame onto individuals who litter, rather than accept legislation that would adversely affect their bottom line.
Mann argues that the same tactics are now being waged by those who wish to delay, deflect or deny the realities of climate change, such as big oil companies.
However, Mann is not a “doomist”; he takes aim at journalists such as David Wallace-Wells, author of ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’, which Mann calls “climate doom porn.” Mann is optimistic and simply asks that the governments of the world listen to the science and take the measures needed to prevent runaway global warming.
For an ostensibly academic work, the book is pleasingly readable and engaging, Mann’s clear frustration at our inactivity nicely balanced by his pithy wit and humour.
However, as the chapter on the “Crying Indian” advert shows, the book can feel somewhat America-centric. Mann speaks of the advert as if we all know it, when the reality is most non-Americans will have never even heard of it, let alone seen it.
Also, Mann’s legitimate concerns about the rise of anonymous Twitter bots & trolls takes up far more room than it really should. While combating fake news and misinformation is indeed an important issue, there is a sense that he takes criticism from obviously bad faith actors a little too personally. Given his excoriating views on big oil companies, it’s also odd that Mann is quite lukewarm towards the - some would say - uncontroversial idea that rampant capitalism is largely responsible for climate change.
However, these minor criticisms don’t detract from his core message, and his description of the sordid history of disingenuous ad campaigns is illuminating. Amid the doomists and deniers, ‘The New Climate War’ offers an optimistic, can-do vision for how we can fight back.
The New Climate War: the fight to take back our planet by Michael E. Mann is published by Scribe (£16.99) It is available paperback.