The Carbon War
by Jeremy Legget,
Routledge, 1999, $16.95
ISBN 0-415-93101-0
Jeremy Leggett started his professional career as a university lecturer on oil exploration/discovery, later (in 1988) he became convinced of the danger of global warming, and took a job as international lobbyist for Greenpeace. This required him to be involved in all stages of the IPCC’s (International Panel on Climate Change’s) negotiation of its first two reports, 1990 and 1995, and the Kyoto negotiations. The Carbon War says little, except in passing about the dangers in global warming, or the technologies (or indeed policies) the might help alleviate it. Instead it provides a blow-by-blow account of the negotiations involved in producing the IPCC reports, and Kyoto agreement. Like sausages being made, this is a fascinating although unpleasant sight.
The Carbon War documents just how hard the fossil fuel industry, particularly those contributing to the anodynely named Global Climate Coalition, and Global Climate Council, with their allies in the American and other Governments, worked to ensure that our worst fears would be realized. |