THE HAMMER OF THOR… AND LIZ AND BARBRA AND GEORGE AND KAMALA
Lately, I’ve returned to my roots in investigative journalism. I’m trying to get to the bottom to a recurrent episode of collective madness where every four years a marauding posse of celebrities, media figures, and supreme court justices go rampaging through the political landscape w...
This web site contains links to Eugene Linden's essays, articles and books on a wide range of topics ranging from environment to social and economic issues. There are articles on the science and dynamics of climate change and the possible social, economic, and environmental effects of global warming (including some of the first national articles on rapid climate change). Other environmental articles deal with endangered animals, the biodiversity crisis, threats to water supplies, global deforestation, and the politics of environment. The site also contains links to Linden's writings on social issues ranging from the plight of indigenous peoples to dynamics of financial markets. Some writings look forward offering future predictions about how such factors as the wage gap, population pressures, migration, and the rise of religious fanaticism might bring increased instability and drastic change.
The American Meteorological Society names Fire and Flood its book of the year for 2023, awarding it the Louis J Batton Author's Award.
"Eugene Linden wrote his first story on climate change, for Time magazine, in 1988; it was just the beginning of his investigative work, exploring all ramifications of this impending disaster. Fire and Flood represents his definitive case for the prosecution as to how and why we have arrived at our current dire pass, closing with his argument that the same forces that have confused the public’s mind and slowed the policy response are poised to pivot with astonishing speed, as long-term risks have become present-day realities and the cliff’s edge is now within view.
Starting with the 1980s, Linden tells the story, decade by decade, by looking at four clocks that move at different speeds: the reality of climate change itself; the scientific consensus about it, which always lags reality; public opinion and political will, which lag farther still; and, arguably, most importantly, business and finance. Reality marches on at its own pace, but the public will and even the science are downstream from the money, and Fire and Flood shows how devilishly effective monied climate-change deniers have been at slowing and even reversing the progress of our collective awakening. When a threat means certain but future disaster, but addressing it means losing present-tense profit, capitalism's response has been sadly predictable.
Now, however, the seasons of fire and flood have crossed the threshold into plain view. Linden focuses on the insurance industry as one loud canary in the coal mine: fire and flood zones in Florida and California, among other regions, are now seeing what many call climate redlining. The whole system is teetering on the brink, and the odds of another housing collapse, for starters, are much higher than most people understand. There is a path back from the cliff, but we must pick up the pace. Fire and Flood shows us why, and how." From Catalog Copy
My article on John Perlin's masterpiece, A Forest Journey, was published by TIME. The book offers an orignal view on the rise and fall of civilliztions, and the book had an epic journey of its own since it was first published. One message of my piece is that even a masterpiece has a rough time staying in print today.
This web site contains links to Eugene Linden's essays, articles and books on a wide range of topics ranging from environment to social and economic issues. There are articles on the science and dynamics of climate change and the possible social, economic, and environmental effects of global warming (including some of the first national articles on rapid climate change). Other environmental articles deal with endangered animals, the biodiversity crisis, threats to water supplies, global deforestation, and the politics of environment. The site also contains links to Linden's writings on social issues ranging from the plight of indigenous peoples to dynamics of financial markets. Some writings look forward offering future predictions about how such factors as the wage gap, population pressures, migration, and the rise of religious fanaticism might bring increased instability and drastic change.
