Book Review: Six Degrees by Mark Lynas

Six Degrees: Our Future On A Hotter Planet by Mark Lynas.
Published by Harper Perennial. 346 pages. Price £8.99

The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that the global temperature is set to rise by between 1 and 6 degrees C by 2100 (Depending on how seriously we take the threat of climate change).

But what would 6 degrees (or, for that matter, 1 or 2) actually mean for us? Mark Lynas, a UK based environmentalist, author, and journalist, attempts to answer that question having trawled through many of the available scientific papers on the subject.

He devotes one chapter to each degree of warming, and concludes the book with a chapter called Choosing Our Future. By contrast to it's source material, the book itself is very accessible, reading a bit like a globe-trotting travelogue, as it shows you what the effects of global warming will have for different regions of the world.

As you might expect, the book does get a bit grim. By the time, you get to the end of 6th chapter you are left in no doubt that the planet would be in a hell of a mess by 2100 if we hit 6 C. In fact, for those who comfort themselves with the fact that Man may wipe itself out with climate change but Life will eventually recover, this provides no comfort at all: The pace of change will be too much for most plants and animals to adapt to - Evolution takes a lot longer than a century.

Something else that becomes clear is that we definitely don't want to pass the 2 degree mark. The reason for that is that it would risk runaway warming due to the various tipping points it could trigger. This would inevitably take us to the dreaded 6 degrees anyway. Maybe this is why the world's governments have  agreed to a 2 degree limit?

If you're interested in what climate change will do, how soon we'll feel the effects, and who will be effected, this is the book for you. The science is largely based on climate models (which have generally been tested against historical climate records) and geological evidence, so it's not just speculation.

It's well written but, as I've suggested, it's a difficult read for anyone who cares about their kids' future. I give it 8 out of 10.