Field Notes From a Catastrophe, Elizabeth Kolbert
Field Notes From a Catastrophe, Elizabeth Kolbert
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Field Notes From a Catastrophe
Man, Nature and Climate Change

Author: Elizabeth Kolbert

Narrator: Hope Davis

Abridged: 4 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/07/2006


Synopsis

Americans have been warned since the late 1970s that the buildup of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere threatens to melt the polar ice sheets and irreversibly change our climate. With little done since then to alter this dangerous path, the world has reached a critical threshold. By the end of the century, it will likely be hotter than at any point in the last two million years, and the sweeping consequences of this change will determine the future of life on earth for generations to come.

Taking listeners from the melting Alaskan permafrost to storm-torn New Orleans, acclaimed journalist Elizabeth Kolbert approaches this monumental problem from every angle. She interviews researchers and environmentalists, explains the science, draws frightening parallels to lost civilizations and presents the moving tales of people who are watching their worlds disappear. Growing out of an award-winning three-part series for the New Yorker, Field Notes from a Catastrophe brings the environment into the consciousness of the American people and asks what, if anything, can be done to save our planet.

About Elizabeth Kolbert

Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change and The Sixth Extinction, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. She has also been awarded two National Magazine Awards for her writing at The New Yorker, where she has been a staff writer since 1999, and the Blake-Dodd Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with her husband and children.

About Hope Davis

Hope Davis' filmography includes The Matador, The Weather Man, Proof, Dumas, American Splendor (Golden Globe Nomination), The Secret Lives of Dentists, About Schmidt, Hearts of Atlantis, Mumford, The Imposters, Arlington Road, Next Stop Wonderland, The Myth of Fingerprints and Daytrippers. Stage credits include Midsummer Night's Dream, Spinning Into Butter, Ivanov and Two Shakespearean Actors. Off-Broadway in The Food Chain, The Iceman Cometh and Speed the Plow. Voted Best Actress in 2003 by the New York Film Critics.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jamie on August 22, 2017

It’s impressive how well Kolbert avoids doom and gloom. Neither does she understate the issue. She navigates the polemic (that’s been made false polemic), debunks the myths, observes from ground zero, outlines plans of action. It’s an excellent primer, well-researched and grounded. But ultimately, y......more

Goodreads review by Phillip on September 03, 2024

Elizabeth Kolbert is someone fighting an uphill battle to get the public and their leaders to realize climate change is a real threat to our civilization. The evidence that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power sources is scientifically sound but the oil industry remains steadfast in prote......more

Goodreads review by Noah on April 08, 2009

This book seems poorly-proportioned. It spends too many pages shoring up the existence of anthropogenic climate change and not enough time talking about the implications. Anyone open to the scientific premise isn't going to need 100 pages of proof before getting into the interesting part. Between as......more

Goodreads review by Hákon on March 17, 2022

Field Notes from a Catastrophe was first published 2006 so it's 16 years old by now, and it does show. A lot of things have happened, and not so much has happened. It was an interesting read as one could expect from a book by Elizabeth Kolbert. She is a good writer. There is no doubt about that in m......more


Quotes

"A Silent Spring for our time."-T.C. Boyle

"Kolbert's calmly persuasive reposting stands out for its sobering clarity ...This unbiased overview is a model for writing about an urgent environmental crisis."
-Publishers Weekly (starred reveiw)