Introduction

This book responds to American apathy toward the escalating global environmental crisis. Every day, we read about new evidence of alarming environmental destruction. Staggering consumption in the global north and devastating poverty in the global south besieges biodiversity. ¹ Every twenty minutes a species becomes extinct, ² leading Richard Leakey to call this the Sixth Extinction. ³ The “cumulative effects” of the “extraction and conversion of both fossil fuels and nonfossil energies, industrial production, and rapid urbanization” have caused “destabilizing global biospheric change.” ⁴ The Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica, a harbinger of climate change, has shrunk 85 percent since 1995 (the year when Larsen A collapsed into the ocean). ⁵ Glacial melting contributes to sea-level rise that will likely reach 0.8–2.0 meters by 2100. ⁶ At the low end, this will flood thirteen thousand square miles of the United States, ⁷ including New York City’s 520 miles of waterfront. ⁸ Already vulnerable coastal communities can expect more storms like Hurricane Katrina. ⁹ Preparation for and cleanup after these storms will cost billions. ¹⁰ Meanwhile, the Southwest United States will experience “mega droughts” much more prolonged than the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, as part of a “permanent drying” beginning in 2050. ¹¹ March 2012 was the warmest March on record for the United States and other countries, breaking fifteen thousand heat records. ¹² The summer of 2012 brought extreme droughts that were natural disasters—devastating crops and water supplies. By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will face a scarcity of fresh, clean drinking water. Already, a child dies every eight seconds from waterborne illness. ¹³ The impacts of thirst will be felt soonest in “hot stains,” regions already running out of drinking water, such as Northern China, large swaths of Africa, Australia and the Midwestern United States. ¹⁴