Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet by Michael Bloomberg and Carl Pope.

3/5 rating. 262 pages.

Book #31 of 2021. Read April 10, 2021.

There is a kind of fatal masochism in the relish that environmentalists have for doom and gloom books, facts, and figures about combating climate change. I read often about how we are failing in a million ways – and boy are we! But the fascinating thing is that with at least hundreds of books and experts touting our failures, a large portion of the world’s population has not been spurred into action. While the pessimistic views are certainly important to take into account as a sober reminder of where we are at, and how far we have to go, I think it is equally important to promote a beacon of hope for us to strive for.

Carl and Michael do a lovely job of talking about our successes thus far by small groups, cities, and even a few (very environmentally-focused) national governments. More than just giving us some kudos, this book talks about the importance of attacking the challenge of climate change through a multi-part effort where each solution can fix a small aspect of the larger problem.

One of the biggest obstacles at this point I think, is that we’ve been sold this lie that we need a single solution that will fix everything. Since when have humans done anything that way? We are great at breaking down problems into little, solvable chunks, and then moving on to the next problem. This must be our plan of action. And while we have a long way to go, there are people all over the world working towards these solutions.

As the authors say: “We can stop global warming. Not by slowing down economies but by speeding them up. Not by depending on national governments but by empowering cities, businesses, and citizens. Not by scaring people about the future but by showing them the immediate benefits of taking action. If we accomplish this, we will be healthier and wealthier. We’ll live longer and better lives. We’ll have less poverty and political instability. And while we’re at it, we’ll pass on to our children and theirs a brighter future.”

Quotes:

“The changing climate should be seen as a series of discrete, manageable problems that can be attacked from all angles simultaneously.”

“Telling people that they might possibly save the Earth from distant and uncertain harm is not a great way to convince them to support a particular policy. But what happens when you tell people that they can definitely, right now, reduce the number of asthma attacks suffered by children, save their own families and friends from respiratory disease, extend their own life expectancy, cut their own energy bills, make it easier for them to get around town, improve their quality of life, increase the number of jobs in their community, and strengthen our national energy security – all while increasing the long-term stability of the global climate?”

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

“Most of the things that make cities better, cleaner, healthier, and more economically productive places also reduce carbon emissions.”

“”If this seems overly optimistic, bear in mind that over the past decade Congress has not passed a single bill that takes direct aim at climate change. Yet at the same time, the United States has led the world in reducing emissions. That progress has been driven by cities, businesses, and citizens – and none of them intend to let up now.”

“According to the World Health Organization, seven million people die from air pollution each year. That’s about as many people as live in the cities of Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco combined – all dying because of the air they breathe. That tragic toll makes air pollution one of the biggest risk factors for death globally, contributing to one in every eight premature deaths each year. And much of that pollution is caused by the same fossil fuels that are warming our planet – especially coal.”

“Coal pollution was prematurely killing 13,200 Americans a year – 36 people a day – through respiratory disease, lung cancer, and other illnesses. Another 20,000 Americans had heart attacks related to coal pollution every year, and 217,000 had asthma attacks. The financial toll in annual health costs exceeded $100 billion.”

“The average U.S. coal plant is more than fifty years old, which is well past the originally anticipated life expectancy. Upgrading pollution controls and installing scrubbers (which remove particles from exhaust) is almost always more expensive than simply replacing plants with clean energy options. Yet utilities prefer to keep old plants open, sticking ratepayers with the bill.”

“A big reason so many buildings remain inefficient is that landlords often don’t pay the heating or electric bills; tenants do. So while tenants would prefer a more energy-efficient building with lower utility bills, landlords have little reason to make the capital investment. As a result, buildings remain more costly to operate, and more carbon-intensive, than they need to be.”

“In the same way that homeowners take out fifteen- and thirty-year mortgages to pay for homes they can’t afford to buy outright, building owners should be able to finance sustainable investments.”

“The soot produced by biomass cooking is estimated to kill 4 million people every year – more than malaria or tuberculosis.”

“We waste one-third to one-half of all the fruits and vegetables we produce. A desire for standardized, cosmetic produce for marketing purposes drives much of this loss.”

“Americans throw an appalling amount of produce away each year – about 50 million tons (in addition to the 10 million tons that rot in the field). That’s worth more than 1 percent of our total GDP – $218 billion, about nine times as much as our government spends on humanitarian foreign aid.”

“So for every dollar that governments use to encourage the development and use of renewable energy, they spend over four dollars to encourage the development and use of fossil fuels.”

“If we simply restored half of the mangroves we have lost since 1980, we would store 6 billion tons of CO2, equal to total U.S. emissions each year. (We would also protect almost 2 million hectares of heavily populated tropical coastline from typhoons).”

“A big part of fighting climate change comes down to simply making the systems that guide our lives work better.”

“The best way to reach skeptics is for more people to tell climate success stories. How taking action improves our lives in the here and now. How it makes us healthier. How it extends our life span. How it saves us money. How it makes it easier for us to get around. How it helps connect those in poverty with job opportunities. How it helps us compete in the world. How it strengthens our economy. How it helps create jobs. We will never win hearts and minds simply by trying to convince people to stop eating meat or give up their cars, but we can win them by demonstrating how fighting climate change is good for them, their families, and their communities.”

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