The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
by James Howard Kunstler
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Book Summary Information
Author: James Howard KunstlerAfterword: James Howard Kunstler
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-03-02
ISBN: 0802142494
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Reviews of The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
Book Review: Really not funny anymore
Summary: 5 Stars
James Howard Kunstler has written some very insightful and important books over the years covering expansive topics like American cities and the 'geography of nowhere', the American addiction to cars and the lifestyle it serves, and now this, perhaps the final chapter.
The Long Emergency is named after what the author believes is a coming massive depression of sorts. The era of cheap energy is coming to an end as we've reached 'peak oil' and we start down the road of dwindling cheap energy supplies and the consequences of our decisions to build America in the fashion we have. He runs through the history of cheap energy and its impact on the society, pointing to nearly every facet of American life and geography as having been affected and indeed dictated by the availability of cheap oil and natural gas and the dependencies on cars and trucks to rule the way we live. Attention is given to the world stage, to the various natural resources both past, present, and future, and the serious, serious, serious problems we're facing (such as the entire society collapsing).
The last chapter is dedicated to what the country COULD look like if we do not take serious steps to curtail the downward spiral. (By the way, by all accounts, we're not taking the right steps soon enough). It reads like a final warning, and it's absolutely grim. Kuntsler paints a picture of a USA with farming as its chief industry again. Things would need to re-localized. Our current mode of living, in its basic form in terms of distance and dependence on cheap energy is going to break down, and it won't be pretty. And while the country is owned and operated by big business, whose priority is hardly to ensure the survival of mankind, heck, why bother? If I have to return to an 18th or 19th century mode of living when I'm 60, say, no thanks.
With that, since reading this very important, insightful, and quite (appropriately) bleak book, I've taken on a heavy carbon existence in my own personal attempt to speed up the end of the earth and mankind's parasitic, meaningless existence on it. Not content to wait for nuclear war, it seems more likely that a few degrees shift in global temperature may be enough to wipe out quite a few folks, so why wait? In addition to running my air conditioners even in the winter, buying only heavily packaged foods, and telling everyone I know to buy an SUV, I've also opened my own coal power plant and am personally trying to catch all of the local fish in the sea. The Long Emergency need not be so long, let's get on with it.
Highly recommended.
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Summary of The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
A controversial hit that sparked debate among businessmen, environmentalists, and bloggers, The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler is an eye-opening look at the unprecedented challenges we face in the years ahead, as oil runs out and the global systems built on it are forced to change radically.
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