Sunlight and Seaweed: An Argument for How to Feed, Power and Clean Up the World by Tim Flannery

Sunlight and Seaweed: An Argument for How to Feed, Power and Clean Up the World Reviews

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  Text Publishing

  ‘This book offers a welcome ray of hope.’
  Organic Grocer
  
  ‘While global environmental challenges are immense, he [Flannery] argues here, they are not insurmountable…Flannery has a great ability to distil complex subject matter into something you can wrap your head around.’
  North & South
  
  ‘Flannery has a great ability to distil complex subject matter into something you can wrap your head around.’
  North & South
  
  ‘This man is a national treasure, and we should heed his every word.’
  Sunday Telegraph
  
  ‘It is difficult to overstate the importance of this concise, convincingly argued view of our world’s prospects for its survival and improvement over the next 33 years…Every one of this slim treatise’s 127 pages packs a punch, and its timely content deserves to be read by all of us.’
  Books + Publishing
  
  ‘Accessible and engaging..An enlightening and uplifting view of the future.’
  Readings
  
  ‘Sunlight and Seaweed is the beginning of a new way of helping the planet we live on.’
  AU Review
  
  ‘Sunlight and Seaweed also offers an excellent model for how best to communicate the challenges posed by climate change without turning readers off with unrelieved messages of doom.’
  Sydney Morning Herald
  
  ‘This new book is among [Flannery’s] best…Wonderfully thought provoking…Well informed and sobering.’
  Australian
  
  ‘Tim Flannery addresses complex issues and make them clear and accessible. His compelling book both seriously informs and entertains…This is a fascinating, exciting and inspirational read.’
  Toowoomba Chronicle
  
  ‘It is a joy to be guided through the science by someone who understands it and can explain it…Flannery commands his subject, but he can also be read for style alone...Flannery’s message in Sunlight and Seaweed is urgent and his spare prose reflects this.’
  Newtown Review of Books
  
  ‘Flannery has written in easy-to-understand language and he sets out a positive path for this planet’s future.’
  Weekly Times
  
  ‘In a summer in which heat records are sure to be broken, Tim Flannery dives into the clean technologies that just might sustain the world of our children and grandchildren: giant kelp farms that can do the work of forests, taking carbon dioxide out and deacidifying seawater,and concentrated sunlight stored to power homes and cities. Flannery offers some kernel of hope for us hopeless humans.’
  Sydney Morning Herald
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  Gabriel Thomas

  More of an extended essay than a book; however, still an important essay. The argument put forth is backed by well justified and clear scientific data, as per Flannery's speciality.
  Excellent ideas and resource for environmental scientists, science communicators, educators and enthusiasts.
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  Adam Johnson

  This book is a nice quick read through, essentially the benefits that a particular solar technology (Concentrated Solar Thermal, or CST) could yield, as well as the hopes for farming giant kelp. It's a galloping read, though one that will likely date quickly.
  
  For instance, the optimism around CST seems slightly misplaced even 2 years after the book is published, with far less new development of the technology than seems inevitable on reading the book.
  
  But, ultimately, none of this matters. The book is a welcome story of how relatively simple steps can make an outsized impact on climate change.
  
  And this is where the book's problem lies. It is focused heavily on decarbonisation, and makes explicit the fact that this has consequences for the broader environment. Flannery is well aware of the broader environment challenges confronting humanity, but they are mentioned and quickly moved past with technology that focuses on carbon, almost at the expense of everything else. Again, Flannery clearly wanted a highly focused book, and it starkly demonstrates where we end up as humanity when we focus on carbon rather than the social structures that underpin neverending consumption.
  
  A good book to read. A quick book to read, and one that introduces ideas worth thinking about.
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  Rian

  Good communication. Very optimistic however, sloppy on contentious social issues, no engagement with the predominant economic causes of the many problems he describes (capitalism). Lots of assumptions about markets, profit, market actors and incentives and so on. In fact an underlying belief in the power of capital to save the planet seems to be the ideology at play, so probably falls in the neoliberal sustainable development genre.
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  Lee Belbin

  This is an up-to-date look at some positive options to address climate change. I found the comments on concentrated solar interesting. The giant kelp option also looked like a good option. In both cases, there are problems to be solved, but nothing seriously hard. Let's keep our fingers crossed, and put our money where our children will have a future.
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  Spencer Wright

  This book surprised me. It invigorated and excited me to learn about new technologies and how those would tie into my biotechnology studies. It also, somehow, managed to give me hope for the future during these bleak times. I can't recommend it enough.
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  Joady Weatherup

  A great antidote for the depression and powerlessness I can feel when thinking of the state of the planet.
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  Linda

  Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST)
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  Steph

  Love love love
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  Millicent

  An interesting high level overview of current environmental issues and the positives and negatives of the range of possible solutions. Would love more detail but really enjoyed.
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  Harrison Saich

  Ah, here is the aforementioned hope.
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  Sahar Izadi

  An easy read. Tim Flannery explains some important issues that we are facing now and suggest solutions. Some of his solutions might be too optimistic, but that is what I liked about this book.
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  Shoshannah

  Inspiring! Makes me want to start a seaweed farm.
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  Anika Molesworth

  I love people who write about solutions! And Tim Flannery does it so well.
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  Shirelle Weetman-Jones

  Must read
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  Melissa

  Fascinating read. Mind blown by the advancing technology that is giving us hope for a better, cleaner future.