For fans of The Drowned World and World War Z, this "sobering and scary (and fascinating) novel-a look at where we're going if we don't quickly get our act together" (Bill McKibben, New York Times bestselling author) regarding climate change-unveils our potential terrifying future.
2084: Global warming has proven worse than even the most dire predictions scientists had made at the turn of the century. No country-and no one-has remained unscathed. Through interviews with scientists, political leaders, and citizens around the globe, this riveting fictional oral history describes in graphic detail the irreversible effects the Great Warming has had on humankind and the planet.
In short chapters about topics like sea level rise, drought, migration, war, and more, The 2084 Report brings global warming to life, revealing a new reality in which Rotterdam doesn't exist, Phoenix has no electricity, and Canada is part of the United States. From wars over limited resources to the en masse migrations of entire countries and the rising suicide rate, the characters describe other issues they are confronting in the world they share with the next two generations.
"If the existential threat of climate change keeps you up at night, James Lawrence Powell's The 2084 Report will make you want to do everything in your power to elect leaders who will combat global warming and save our planet" (Marie Claire). James Lawrence Powell graduated from Berea College with a degree in geology. He earned a PhD in geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has several honorary degrees, including Doctor of Science degrees from Berea College and from Oberlin College. He taught geology at Oberlin College for over twenty years and served as Acting President of Oberlin, President of Franklin and Marshall College, President of Reed College, President of the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, and President and Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. President Reagan and later, President George H. W. Bush, appointed him to the National Science Board, where he served for twelve years. Asteroid 1987 SH7 is named for him. In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). "'Relentless' might be the most appropriate term for this dark peek into the not-so-distant future when the effects of climate change are at their zenith. A group of surviving scientists, politicians, and citizens look back at a world of oceans rising, mass starvation, drought, and wars. A diverse group of bi- and trilingual voice talents brings a global and journalistic feel to the interview-style chapters that suggest that dikes breaking in Holland and nuclear disasters in China are just around the corner. In the afterword, the author, a geochemist, assures the listener that, although these predictions are presented in a fictional setting, the science and the possibilities are well researched and deadly serious. Relentless indeed."
