Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rollercoaster ride , 8 Nov 2007
In his 2006 book Heat, George Monbiot set out a bold and inspiring vision of how Britain could reduce its carbon emissions by 90% by 2030, thereby keeping runaway temperature rises at bay and mitigating the worst effects of climate change. The only problem with Monbiot's tightly argued and highly convincing call to action is that it demands a prompt and sweeping response at government level and beyond, which can seem awfully remote and disempowering to the ordinary individual wondering what he or she can do personally to make a difference.
Cue veteran green campaigner George Marshall to enter the climate change fray with Carbon Detox, an irreverent, humorous and immensely readable guide to getting to grips with this thorny issue on a personal level. Replacing piles of dull statistics with vivid metaphors for understanding climate change - a rollercoaster ride we are about to embark on and cannot climb off - Marshall skilfully conveys the nature and urgency of the problem. He also excels at revealing Humankind's seemingly limitless capacity for denial, drawing an analogy with the tobacco industry-sponsored campaign of the 1950s to expose the phoney contemporary industry of climate change scepticism. And through an incisive analysis of personality types borrowed from the field of marketing, Marshall offers some clever ideas for those seeking to convince sceptical friends, family and colleagues.
But Carbon Detox's ultimate purpose is to serve as a step by step guide to taking positive action on climate change. Having explored the 'plastic bag fetish' - whereby we often unwittingly glorify trivial actions to make it look as if we are doing something positive while missing the bigger picture - Marshall introduces the beautifully simple analogy of weight-watching to show how we can count our 'carbos' - the kilos of CO2 gas we burn each year - and set about cutting our personal carbon emissions to a level that doesn't compromise the lives of others. And where Carbon Detox really hits home is in successfully illustrating that, rather than being a penance, by treading more lightly on the earth we can feel happier, smarter and more in control of our lives - surely a worthwhile goal for all.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Your Evil Carbon Twin, and other stories, 26 Nov 2007
OK, so we know the science, but how do we get action? We need to tackle full-on the psychology of denial out there, and to talk to different types of people on their own terms. We need new ways of talking about climate change, new stories and new metaphors. In this readable, informal, down-to-earth and straight-talking new book, George Marshall makes great strides into this territory. There's no other book on climate change quite like it. Read it to find out why you should say no to sackcloth, how to side-step the bystander effect, and how to relate to your Evil Carbon Twin. Then pass it on.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"IT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH IT WILL MAKE YOU CRY", 25 Oct 2007
The climate crisis is an absolute emergency, yet all of us who've been working towards personal, social, and political change know how stuck in a rut we are with our methods communicating the urgency of the situation. George Marshall's approach is hilariously and utterly original, irreverant and inspiring, and a must-read, must give to loved-ones. It's a movement building book, and it speaks, in it's self-help genre format, to a wide, diverse audience, not just environmentalists (who actually herein get a bit of a boot). We'll be hearing a lot more from this man! Make this book a success and we'll be contributing to solutions....
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