Losing Earth summary

Chapter 1: The Geneva Climate Conference

Losing Earth by Nathaniel Rich Nathaniel Rich chronicles the critical decade from 1979 to 1989, showing how close humanity came to solving climate change before political and corporate interests intervened. Climate change is a scientific fact that we've understood since the late 1970s. So why in the ensuing decades have we done so little to slow its steady progress and how this effort was hobbled by big business? Based on in -depth research, they explain how a coordinated effort between politicians and the fossil fuel industry birthed modern climate denialism and put us on the path to an ecological crisis.

The tale told here is so shocking and so important that the New York Times magazine devoted an entire issue to Nathaniel Rich's original reporting. Now this expanded and updated account provides even more insights about how we got here and where we're headed.

Chapter 2: Early Legislative Stumbling Blocks

The site Geneva, Switzerland, dozens of prominent scientists from all the world's major powers have gathered for the first world climate conference. Their message is clear, industrial activity is drastically elevating the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. If humanity wants to avoid disaster, we need to act now. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

It could almost be a headline from this morning's news. But this event didn't happen yesterday or even last year. It happened in 1979. The truth is we've long understood the threat of man -made climate change.

For decades, scientists have known of the causes, the disastrous effects, and how to avoid them. But despite their efforts, we have failed to make the necessary changes. The key message here is, scientists have demanded action on climate change for longer than you think. We can trace the modern push to stop climate change back to 1979.

This was the year Rafe Pomerance, an environmentalist working for Friends of the Earth, stumbled upon a startling report. It was put out by the Jasons, a scientific think tank led by geophysicist Gordon MacDonald. The report claimed that human activity was on track to doubling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It predicted that this change would set off a greenhouse effect, raising global temperatures, and causing widespread ecological disruption.

It was a nightmare scenario but based on solid arguments. Alarmed, Pomerance contacted MacDonald. The two decided to use their connections in government to push for drastic change to avoid this fate. Over the next few months, they met with everyone they could in Washington.

They talked with congressmen, the National Security Council, even senior staff of the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy. The response was reassuring. The officials seemed to take the threat seriously. By July, Jule Charney, a leading meteorologist, organized a conference of top scientific minds to address the issue.

And at the conference, NASA scientist Jim Hansen presented detailed computer models, confirming the predictions made by Pomerance and MacDonald. The result of this collaboration was a final report, sometimes called the Charney report, titled Carbon Dioxide and Climate, a scientific assessment. It synthesized all known variables into a clear narrative. If nothing changed, the world's average temperature would go up three degrees.

The results would be disastrous.