Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis by Al Gore

Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis Reviews

• 
  Owlseyes

  Myth 1 Average global temperature (AGT) has increased over the last few years.
  
  Fact 1 Within error bounds, AGT has not increased since 1995 and has declined since 2002, despite an increase in atmospheric CO2 of 8% since 1995. *
  
  Swindle (noun): an act of swindling or a fraudulent transaction or scheme, anything deceptive; a fraud.
  ------
  
  Al Gore's green investments prompt conflict of interest row
  in:
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/200...
  
  Paris climate change agreement enters into force
  in:
  https://www.theguardian.com/environme...
  
  As Macron is about to take office, I'm wondering about the 2015 Paris Agreement and the present American Administration....
  9th May 2917
  
  *
  http://www.globalresearch.ca/copenhag...
  
  The CO2 is not the cause for global warming!
  9th May 2017
  
  Upates:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And voilá the decision: "Scoop: Trump is pulling U.S. out of Paris climate deal"**
  
  THINGS WILL HEAT UP NOW, FOR SURE; I AM VERY CURIOUS ABOUT GORE'S REACTION, YET TO BE KNOWN
  
  **
  https://www.axios.com/scoop-trump-is-...
• 
  Bobbi

  I liked this one because it helped me better understand both the fallout of global warming, say, desertification that squeezes out crop land, and clean energy options that can solve many problems.
  Gore's been accused of geekiness, but it helps here: He takes the time in this book to explain how PVs, carbon sequestration, geothermal power etc. actually work.
  I use it like a reference book, because I trust the information. (Some is dated.)
• 
  Guy

  This is not a perfect book, but it is an important book. A friend of mine described it as a sort of global warming overview -- almost everything of relevance to the subject is touched on somewhere inside. It is written for the general public, but it doesn't talk down to the reader, nor does it unduly simplify.
  
  If you think you know all about global warming, you should read this book as a completeness check. If you know you don't know all about global warming, you should read the book as an introductory course to provide yourself with the concepts, technology, and basic facts that will serve as a structure into and onto which you can bolt everything else you subsequently learn about ecology, geoengineering, peak oil (and other resources), sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and many other related issues.
  
  In fact, everyone should read this book. Unfortunately, relatively few will, and most of those who do won't be those who most need to do so. Why not? Oh, many reasons. I'm most familiar with the US, so I'll focus on it, but similar lists can be made in many other countries of the world. Here are the groups in the US who most need to read it (but won't), from the most powerful to the seemingly powerless:
  
  o Republican legislators should read it because they are blocking meaningful climate change legislation in Congress. But they won't read it because Gore's a Democrat and destroying Democrats in order to regain political power is far more important than learning how they might save a livable world for their children.
  
  o Conservative opinion makers in the media should read it because they are creating the global warming denier movement through their inaccurate and biased coverage. But either they won't read it for the same reason as Republican politicians, or because they no longer see it as their role to judge and assess truth or falsehood, or if they do read it they'll have ideological blinkers on and will primarily be cherrypicking for minor mistakes or things that can be taken out of context to discredit both the author and the subject.
  
  o Titans of the oil and gas and coal industries, and industrial agriculture and consumer goods companies, should read it because they are funding charlatans and think tanks to cast doubt on the existence of global warming. But they won't read it because it's not relevant to making more money and that's really all they care about (Hey, the rich will inherit the earth, right? Or at least, that small part of it that will still be habitable. So better get as rich as you can as quickly as possible...).
  
  o Ordinary Republican voters should read it because their votes are keeping just enough Republicans in Congress to make sure that nothing will be done to mitigate global warming. But they won't read it because they've been told by their political representatives, and the media personalities they watch and read and listen to, and in some cases by their preachers too, that Gore's a liar, and he's only out to make a buck through book sales and driving up the share prices of the wind and solar companies in which he has invested, and anyway global warming is a hoax the world is really cooling, and didn't God gave the Earth to Mankind to do as they wish, and why bother if the Rapture is just round the corner, and the Bible says nothing about global warming does it?
  
  o And lastly the vast numbers of Americans who don't vote should read it because in their case no decision is a decision in favor of the ruinous status quo. But they won't read it because when they aren't working in their dead-end jobs they are sitting in front of televisions an average of 5 hours a day, consuming ever greater mountains of junk food and rivers of soda, becoming more and more obese, and sinking deeper and deeper into debt... and frankly they just don't have the time or energy to think or learn about what their lifestyles are doing to the planet.
  
  But you know who might read this book? Young people. Not young children, but say from about 12 onwards, especially if they are guided by thoughtful teachers in their schools. And some of those children will go home to their Republican or non-voting parents and ask them why they aren't doing anything to save the world. Most of them will get slapped down, one way or another, but some won't. And maybe, just maybe, that will make a difference.
  
  So, if you know a teacher who hasn't read this book, or a young person whose parents probably either don't vote or vote Republican, think about giving them a copy of "Our Choice" this holiday season. It's a very democratic (with a small "d") thing to do.
• 
  Olivia

  This book is great for young readers who want to help stop global warming.
  Gore explains what we can do to decrease the amount of greenhouse gasses in the air. As it may seem this book is for the adults who want to undo what they've done, I say it's not. Al Gore's "Our Choice: How We Can Solve the Climate Crisis" is great and gives you great ideas for changing the world.
• 
  Kathrynn

  I enjoyed Mr. Gore's An Inconvenient Truth so much I grabbed this one off the shelf as soon as I saw it. Another winner and eye opener for me.
  
  Our Choice spun right off of An Inconvenient Truth in that the format, style, pictures, graphics are excellent. What Our Choice did was dive right into...well... our choices on how to protect the environment. Mr. Gore explains older technology and why what we thought would be great didn't turn out that way. He mentions ideas he once sponsored and how--at the time--he thought they were excellent, but as time proved them not so great he had to acknowledge that fact. He introduces new technology and expands on potential energy saving methods. I found it all fascinating. Answered many of my questions as to why wind energy isn't around more. Why geothermal? Why aren't others hooking up to their own energy sources? CHP. How our electric companies reward for using more energy and punish for reusing excess energy. Vehicles! Only 6% of the energy goes into making them go. Most is wasted and burned off. That needs to change.
  
  Also, throughout the book, Mr. Gore pointed out how other countries were doing much more than the United States on protecting the environment. This was very upsetting to me. The United States has taken a back seat on the environment and I was shocked to learn that we pay China over 50 billion dollars a year on interest only for loans they make to us so we can buy oil from the middle east.
  
  I was shocked to learn that when President Obama was elected the oil companies added an enormous amount of lobbyists to their payrolls. I was shocked to learn the oil companies are controlling Congress using similar strategies as the Tobacco Industry years ago. "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt!" I was shocked and very disappointed to read how President's Bush and Reagan set up road blocks on finding better, cleaner ways to create energy.
  
  There is a picture of a home design that could greatly decrease our need for energy. Having white roofs! How the sun reflecting from the ice or white roofs can help.
  
  Neat ideas. Google Meter Reading that can show individuals how much energy they are using RIGHT NOW. Other great ideas that can be done NOW and thought about long term down the road.
  
  Excellent book.
• 
  Nina

  Since I was assigned to read this book in class, I didn't know what to expect from it. My general impression is that this book couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a textbook or a coffee table book. The information is sound, but for the most part it is dryly accounted (à la textbook style). The photographs are lovely, but inserted in such a way that they are distracting to the reader - actually, there are way too many distractions: inset quotes, tables, charts, and images that force you to break away from the copy mid-sentence. Aesthetics aside, if you are interested in how different sources of energy function and how our world can or would be affected by them, this could be an interesting read, but I do not recommend it for the casually interested reader (like myself).
• 
  Dara Salley

  I really wanted to like this book. I like Al Gore and his message. This book, however, was dull. There is no way to get around it. It's full of gorgeous images and graphics but it's basically a partisan science textbook.
  
  I'll say this for the book though, it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. I'm generally a doom-and-gloom environmentalist who feels that there is no hope for humanity. Gore is very persuasive in his argument for hope through science. Only time will tell. In the meantime I'm going to keep the science lectures restricted to schoolwork.
• 
  Maryc

  Really accessible information, very informative, lots of photos. Written more like a magazine.
  
• 
  Jennifer

  This book was a very compelling, holistic look at the current climate/waste/pollution problem that our planet is experiencing and ways that we can work together to fix the problem. The book had great graphics and explanations of all different types of energy sources and how we harness the energy, as well as facts on how sustainable and efficient the energy is.
  
  "The conversion of all questions of truth into questions of power...has attacked the very heart of the distinction between true and false." -Theodor Adorno
  
  "Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not to his own facts." -Senator Pat Moynihan
  
  "The growing popularity of electricity compared with other forms of energy is due not only to the ease with which it can be used but also to the versatility of the electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure to handle a variety of different energy sources to power electric turbines. That is because, with some exceptions-- solar photovoltaic energy and fuel cells--for example--most forms of electricity production utilize energy to rapidly turn the blades of a turbine in order to spin copper coils or magnets in relation to one another, thereby producing electrical current. Coal, gas, and oil are all burned to make steam that is pressurized to turn the turbines. Windmills and hydroelectric dams turn the blades directly."
  
  "China and Taiwan have made major commitments to become the world's leaders in thr production of photovoltaics. By contrast, even though photovoltaics were developed in the United States, only one of the 10 leading manufacturers is now based in the United States." [case in point---we don't make a damn thing anymore...]
  
  "Unfortunately, largely because modern agriculture is so petroleum intensive, net greenhouse gas emissions from corn-based ethanol turn out to be almost equal to the emissions from gasoline.
  Moreover, since the resulting ethanol contains only two thirds of the energy in a gallon of gasoline, vehicles using ethanol blended fuel get reductions in the number of miles per gallon proportional to the ethanol content in the fuel."
  
  "One of the principal benefits of this second generation process is that the feedstock plants [like switchgrass] flourish on land that is unsuitable for food crops--thereby eliminating the geopolitically and environmentally problematic competition between food crops and fuel crops--and can also be planted on degraded lands that have been abandoned by farmers, where they reinvigorate the fertility of the soil as they grow. Moreover, most of these fuel crops require no petroleum-intensive fertilizers, cultivation, or replanting (they are perennials)."
  
  "One reason the U.S. is still growing faster in population than other developed countries is that the U.S. has the greatest disparity between the rich and the poor of any advanced nation, and poor families with less access to health care and high-quality education have higher fertility rates."
  
  "The four factors to stabilize population: (1) the widespread education of girls (2) the social and political empowerment of women to participate in the decisions of their families, communities, and nations (3) high child-survival rates, leading parents to feel confident that most or all of their children will survive into adulthood (4) the ability of women to determine the number and spacing of their children."
  
  "But a wide variety of experts agree that the principal barrier to the wider use of CHP (combined heat and power) in the United States is that electric utilities actively block its use through a variety of discriminatory practices designed to maximize their profits and avoid competition from lower-cost energy generated by their customers on-site."
  
  "California and a few other states have decoupled the profit opportunities for utilities from the constant pressure to sell more energy. California's plan enables energy utilities to share in thr savings CHP and other energy-efficient programs make possible for residential and commercial customers."
  
  "The first mass-market electric hybrid, Toyota's Prius, still employs a nickel-metal hydride battery. However, both the Chevrolet Voltage plug-in hybrid and the new all-electric Prius expected to be sold to fleet owners in 2010 are based on a lithium-ion design."
  
  "In communicating the urgency of the climate crisis, it is important to use relevant, everyday language and to link the virtue of solving the crisis to the shared values and aspirational goals that have proved in our past to sustain long-term collective commitments."
  
  "In fairness to the economists who created GDP, they never intended for it to become widely used as a measure of general well-being. They were focusing, in the national accounts, on domestic production. However, others soon began using GDP as a way of measuring the overall health of a nation's economy, when that is not the purpose for which the measurement was intended."
  
  Forty years ago, Robert F. Kennedy reminded Americans that measures like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and gross national product fail to consider the integrity of our environment, the health of our families, and the quality of our education. As he put it, he gross national product 'measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.'
• 
  Ider Bayar

  The self described "recovering politician" sure has magic touch to words. Reading this right after "An Inconvenient Truth," I saw huge improvement in impact. Gore is truly an inspiration to the climate movement.
  
  The book is well structured, telling a seamless story of what is wrong, why we need to do something, and how to do it. It may be outdated but it still serves as an incredibly useful guide on climate change. There is almost nothing it does not touch. I realized many drawbacks of what I previously thought to be overwhelmingly good solutions. Today, many of the chapters are now either reality or close to it. I could've easily mistook this as a 2018 book if it weren't for the dates and the final chapter.
  
  The conclusion to this incredibly vivid book (with a lot of visual aid) is the most bittersweet chapter I have ever read. His narration from the future describing the optimistic trajectory of the climate movement from 2009 was both encouraging and heartbreaking to read. We have failed on many fronts. We have not come close to what he wanted us to have 10 years ago. This is both a source of sadness and motivation for me personally.
  
  Comparing his view on capitalism to Naomi Klein's similar book "This Changes Everything," I saw an interesting difference. The latter argues that capitalism is one of the root causes of climate change, and that one has to be sacrificed. Gore sees them as conflicting yet compatible issuss. Klein was more convincing. The biggest oxymoron I have read in this book was the unironically written "sustainable capitalism."
  
  I am now even even even more determined to contribute to the effort. Thank you, Al Gore. I have never said this before to anyone else - you are my hero. You deserved the presidency more than anyone else.
• 
  Stefanie

  This is a book that I started to read when it came out about 10 years ago. The libary then wanted it back (overdue, bla, bla, bla). Now when I got my reading joy back, I decided to go to the books I left unread (oh, fancy!) and wanted to go back to.
  
  You can tell that this book is almost ten years old. Some facts feels a bit old, but when the book came out it was fresh. It is clearly aimed at an USA audience, but it does contain useful information regardless were you live.It goes through energy, ways to produce it, their challenges, etc. Also politics and networks get their parts.
  
  There are newer books out there (even if they are not that new either anymore), but this book is packed with information and fact, maybe a Little too much, told in a way that makes it easier to take in.
  
  Recommend?
  
  Yes. If you don't feel like Reading this book, read the last chapter. It contains Al Gore's hopes for the future as they were in 2009. Small spoiler: Copenhagen. ... (ouch)
  
  (Read in Swedish)
• 
  SPANTA628

  I wish it really were OURS; I wish it really were a COLLECTIVE effort and awareness; I hope soon it is. I CANNOT even understand how climate change STILL remains a topic of debate in terms of its existence- it's outrageous! Oh wait, thaaaaaaat's right- America is fueled (sorry, I can't resist a pun) by BIG OIL/BIG BUSINESS/ CORPORATE INTERESTS. It's embarrassing; America should be the leader of the fight against climate change, not the major reason for it. UNITED (CORPORATE) $TATE$ OF AMURIKA yal
• 
  Paolo Aguas

  Overall it’s a very solid book in the sense that it explains everything in detail and it has a lot of nice graphics and photos that helps the reader understand the scientific information. But here’s where the problem is for me the book does tend to become too scientific that a regular person like me may find it difficult to fully understand. I mean yes I understand that it’s a book about Global Warming and what we can do and such but I feel that maybe it could have been made more simple. But that is just my opinion. Overall it’s a good book and anyone should give it a read.
• 
  John Winkelman

  This is a 10-year-old, comprehensive look at the perils of the effect humans are having on the rapid assault on the livability of our planet. At times it seems over dramatic, but it provides a ton logical explanations for the concern, and more importantly, it offers realistic solutions that only need strong will and returnable investment for those who understand the long game. Unfortunately we are barely closer to those solutions today and the gap between reason and reality seems even larger.
• 
  Thomas

  Al Gore provides a thorough overview of the climate crises and outlines some possible solutions that needed to have been undertaken. This was ten years ago and the problems have gotten worse and progress toward solutions have been horrifyingly neglected. This is a thorough discussion worth reading.
  
• 
  Madi

  page 16 "The key first step toward a solution is this: we must make a choice. By we, I mean our global civilization. And therein lies, as Shakespeare named it, "the rub" - because it seems absurd to imagine that we as a species are capable of making a conscious collective decision. And yet that is the task we are now confronting."
• 
  Lorenzo

  Para tener más de 10 años, sigue siendo un libro relevante en la forma en que habla de la crisis climática. Sin embargo, su gran problema es que pone demasiado énfasis en soluciones tecnológicas para enfrentar esta crisis, en lugar de señalar los cambios sistémicos y a nivel estado que realmente se necesitan.
• 
  Jennifer

  Great book for getting the message out there about climate change and what we can do as individuals as well as a whole to combat this. I didn't realise when I got this book however that it is aimed at a slightly younger age group.
• 
  Jody

  In depth explanations of where greenhouse gasses come from and all of the various means we have to reduce output. Even though this book is ten years old, it is still valuable and hopeful. Al Gore is a good man.
• 
  Andrea Athos

  Das Buch sollte jeder lesen.
• 
  Pawel Szymczak

  Czy grozi nam katastrofa klimatyczna? Grozi. W tej książce są na to dowody.
• 
  Joe Beeson

  good book, summary=tax carbon
• 
  Charlie

  Unbelievable what people will call groundbreaking. Don't even know where to start with this one.
• 
  Jordan Bender

  3.5
• 
  Ryan Burnett

  This should be required reading in every High School in the country.
• 
  Isabella

  Our choice: A plan to solve the climate crisis is a non-fiction book available in multiple versions including a
  paperback version and as an
  eBook that can be purchased as an app in the iTunes store for $6.49. The eBook version of Our choice is published by Push Pop Press and is essentially an interactive and enhanced digital version of the print version about global warming, and issues surrounding it such as sustainability and renewable energy. The digital version of Our choice includes video, audio, animations, graphs and interactive objects.
  
  This book has interactive objects, such as the interactive infographics and the interactive wind generator, and could be classified as an interactive eBook.
  Itzkovitch (2012) identifies an interactive eBook as providing “interaction with the content and storyline, and therefore offer a unique experience each time”. Although Our choice doesn’t inherently offer a unique experience each time, it does align with
  other elements identified for an interactive eBook. The interactive elements in this book provide the reader with a fun and engaging way to learn and interact with the information.
  
  Like anything Our choice has both positive and negatives aspects, but ultimately it is an informative digital text that provides the reader with information and access to a range of multimedia and interactive tools that offers a fun and engaging way to extend ones knowledge of global warming. This resource would particular useful for year 7 Science students, due to the easy to understand format and content, in understanding renewable and non-renewable resources (
  ACSSU116) as part of the Australian National Curriculum.
  
  The eBook starts with an introduction by Al Gore and a tutorial on how to effectively use the features of the eBook which includes icons that denote an interactive feature; such as a hand icon for an interactive infographic, a globe icon for the GPS location of an image, a play icon for video, a speaker icon for audio and an image itself was an indication that by tapping it would enlarge. These icons were easy to recognise and use. The main feature of the book is a visual table of contents, which allows the reader to easily navigate and view chapters.
  
  A fun element in the book is the wind generator in chapter 4, which demonstrates how wind energy would be distributed and what happens to the excess energy, using the ‘wind’ created by the reader from blowing into the microphone. This is a fun and interactive way to exhibit wind energy distribution that engages the reader and enhances their experience more than say an animation might.
  
  One issue I found particularly annoying was that some of the images, in particular the non-interactive graphs and data, became out of focus when they were enlarged. Although the images were ok in their original size some of the data was ineligible and when enlarged it was out of focus. This was particularly true for the Nuclear power around the world image in Chapter 8.
  
  Overall Our choice was entertaining, informative and easy to use. The positive aspects outweighed the negative by a mile and the interactive eBook would provide a much more engaging experience for readers than the traditional version. No special skills were required to read Our choice although it was only available through iTunes meaning Android uses miss out and an iPad, iPhone or iTouch is required.
  
  References:
  Itzkovitch, A. (2012). Interactive eBook apps: The reinvention of reading and interactivity. Uxmag.com. Retrieved from
  http://uxmag.com/articles/interactive-eBook-apps-the-reinvention-of-reading-and-interactivity
  
• 
  Serena

  Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis by Al Gore is not what readers will expect. The foreword is read by Al Gore himself, but the remainder of the audio is narrated by Cynthia Nixon and John Slattery in alternating chapters. Many will expect this volume to talk about how to save the planet, but some may mistakenly think that this is a practical guide for the average American. Upon listening to the audio, however, readers will quickly realize that it is geared at providing larger scale solutions to the climate crisis. However, it would be wrong to assume this book is only for policymakers, scientists, and other societal players because without support from individuals these initiatives will not come to pass.
  
  Our Choice is a comprehensive look at the most viable solutions available to combat and reverse climate change, and it examines each solution from a variety of perspectives to determine which would be the best investment. The book is about not only learning to conserve energy, but also about learning to use waste energy to supplant energy needs and make processes more efficient. From deforestation in developing nations to population growth, Gore discusses many of the pressing issues facing the sustainability of the globe. Although many of the developed nations have contributed most to the carbon emissions and developing nations find it unfair that they should adhere to caps when they have not had enough time to develop their industries, Gore makes the case that we all live on the same planet and regardless of who caused the most damage the time has passed for the blame game. It is now time for humans to look beyond nations, cultures, and societies to save our home.
  
  Read the rest of the review:
  http://savvyverseandwit.com/2010/06/o...