Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World Hardcover – September 21, 2021

This is an extremely well written, informative, and hopeful book on climate communication. A decade ago I was doubtful that human caused climate change was anything to worry about even though it physically made sense that it was happening. I thought environmentalists were exaggerating and distorting the facts. In general I did not trust or respect environmentalists whom I thought were driven by leftist agendas. I studied the topic on my own by reading books and scientific articles on the topic, and I learned what climate scientists, not opinionated bloggers, said about the topic. I was especially impressed by a book by James Hansen.I came to realize that human caused global warming definitely was real and a serious problem. I think I was able to change my mind so easily because I never had a strong affiliation with a political tribe, I respected scientific expertise and my encounter with science deniers in other fields had inoculated me against their kind of rhetoric (it’s fairly universal). I’m an abstract thinker who loves pro-con-lists, and I prefer going in deep and I am not afraid of math, but I don’t think that’s typical. The backside of that is that it made me a pretty crappy and easily frustrated climate change communicator once I came around. I felt I needed to take action so I joined Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL), a bipartisan volunteer organization with good solutions and good practices. From CCL I learned how to communicate better. In this book Katherine Hayhoe praises CCL and use it as a model for how to approach climate change with respect to solutions and communication.In addition to climate change communication she gives a high level overview of why we know that global warming is happening (there are 26,500 lines of independent evidence for climate change), how fast it is happening (10 times faster than the last ice age warming), and how we know it isn’t natural. It’s a simple overview, not a deep dive. I thought her analogy about driving while looking in the rearview mirror as you hit a curve to be genius.She also discusses our cognitive biases, and why not to engage with the 7% who are dismissives, the abuse she’s been a victim of, and so called zombie arguments. Zombie arguments are dismissive arguments that have been thoroughly debunked over and over but won’t die because they fulfill an emotional need for those who are dismissive of climate change. She discusses the political divided in the US, the “blame and shame the consumer” tactic and the misguided “population control solution” and solutions aversion in general.She describes our situation lucidly. That there is no particular known limit that will doom us all. It is like smoking; you don’t get lung cancer after a certain amount of cigarettes, it’s just better to stop as soon as you can. She discusses solutions and the economy, including cap and trade and a price on carbon, and she states we don’t have to harm the economy to solve climate change, and a lot is already being done the world over. It is a mostly hopeful view. I was surprised to learn that if you take into account, production subsidies, tax breaks, land leases on public lands below market rates, and the cost of pollution, the IMF estimates that fossil fuel subsidies in the US top $600 billion per year, twenty times clean energy subsidies. That’s about $2,000.00 per person and year, or $8,000.00 per family per year. That’s a lot of money.Because of my experience with CCL I recognized a lot of what Katherine Hayhoe was saying in this book, but I still had a lot to learn, and besides the book is hopeful, and intelligently written and therefore a pleasure to read. She stresses that the most important thing we can do to solve climate change is to talk about it. I love this book and I highly recommend this book.

If you read just one book on climate change, I highly recommend Saving Us by Katharine Hayhoe. Hayhoe’s credentials as a climate scientist are impressive, as is her understanding of what makes human beings tick. These assets are brought together in a compelling way to explain the causes and results of climate change such that it can be grasped by those not trained in the sciences. If the book had stopped there with just a cause and effect analysis, it would have been one good contribution to the subject among several. But it didn’t stop there. Even more importantly, she devotes significant space to things the average person can do to influence change, including practical suggestions for engaging others who think it is either a hopeless problem about which we can do nothing, or who dismiss it as not a problem at all because it’s just another one of the earth’s cycles. The book’s final two sections are devoted to hope and healing, and in those she addresses things like the universal need for energy, and why we fear solutions because it might result in a change to our lifestyles.I appreciated that she is up-front in dealing with the seeming incongruities she faces: (1) as one who lives in Texas, a place not exactly known for a progressive stance on issues like climate change, (2) as one devoted to her Christian faith, a significant segment of which view human-caused climate change with considerable skepticism, and (3) as one who has achieved recognition in her field, and is often asked to participate at various scientific forums, and how she wrestles with the carbon footprint required to attend such events.Disclosure: one thing that attracted me to this book was an immediate recognition of the author’s surname, Hayhoe. This was a very prominent surname within the small Protestant sect in which I grew up, as did many of Katharine’s ancestors. I knew several of her great uncles and cousins quite well in my formative years. Therefore I was pleased to see that someone descended from “my tribe” addresses and refutes the all too common notion that climate change is not something about which Christians should be concerned.

I would bet a dime to a dollar trolls and dismissives will try to discredit KH's brilliant book. THE manual for how to communicate climate crisis.

I decided to read this book for two reasons. Firstly, it is good to read a range of authors with different views. Secondly the author and I share a Christian faith.There were some things I liked about this book – the author’s readiness to engage with hostile audiences is admirable. I liked her awareness of the needs of those outside the western prosperity bubble: like her, I have lived in a poor country. Also we agree on the bad effects of things like vehicle exhaust on human health. Finally I have no doubt of her sincerity – but people can be sincerely wrong.My criticisms of the book are fourfold.Firstly, the section on the causal link between climate change and greenhouse gases was weak. For me, and I think for many with a scientific background, the big question is not WHETHER the climate is changing but WHY. The author’s argument for blaming greenhouse gases could be characterised as “we cannot think of any other reason”. This won’t do. What if there is some factor or factors we haven’t thought of or have evaluated incorrectly?The whole basis of the scientific method is hypothesis testing, and the basis of hypothesis testing is falsifiable prediction. It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis that climate change is due primarily to greenhouse gases, but for me and many others it will remain just a hypothesis until shown to be otherwise. Meanwhile the history of successful climate change predictions is poor: Al Gore’s comments in the late noughties about the probability of an ice free arctic within the following few years look quaint alongside reports in the press in late 2021 that earlier-than-usual refreezing in the arctic has unexpectedly trapped a number of merchant vessels in the ice.Secondly the author exaggerates the present indications of climate change. For example, the latest IPCC report (AR6) states “There is low confidence in most reported long-term (multidecadal to centennial) trends in TC [Tropical Cyclone] frequency- or intensity-based metrics” (AR6 section 11.7.1.2 Observed trends). Despite this, the author boldly states that hurricanes are getting stronger worldwide. Similarly, her assertion that the climate is changing faster than at any other time in the last 55 million years is unverifiable and almost certainly wrong. The Younger Dryas event springs to mind. The trend in polar bear numbers is disputed but may now be rising. And so on…Thirdly, she allows the insulting term “denier” to creep in. Science needs sceptics and respectful treatment of opposing views. In similar terms she refers several times to sceptic’s “Zombie” arguments. This gets us nowhere. If those on opposite sides trash each other by implying ignorance or bad faith, and dismiss each other’s arguments out of hand we will get nowhere.Fourthly her vilification of the oil industry for producing fossil fuels is unfair. On page 149 she is trashing BP and on page 150 she talks about checking into her flight from Heathrow. Would she rather BP had not produced the half-ton of kerosene needed to get her home? It is like a smoker blaming Phillip Morris for making the cigarettes he or she just bought.No doubt those who accept the author’s views will like this book. If however she wants to persuade the knowledgeable sceptic, she needs to write a different one. This is important stuff. If Katharine’s understanding is wrong then reducing fossil fuel use is the very worst thing we could do if we (and especially the global poor) are going to have to adapt to climate change we cannot control.

If you are overwhelmed by climate change, and feel powerless to act, I highly recommend this book by Katharine Hayhoe.She’s not only a climate scientist but also:- a Canadian living in Texas- an evangelical Christian- a university professorShe’s learned how to speak to all kinds of people about the climate crisis in terms that resonate.I bought her book on a whim, when I was feeling particularly depressed about the climate crisis.Reading it has been a huge encouragement for me.She knows her science, but she also understands psychology (and how to get people onboard). 💯It’s a book about hope and practical action.

Try to imagine a state of the art climate change encyclopedia that was also fun and enjoyable to read - the kind you can’ put down - and you will be close to what Saving Us is. Close, but you will still be missing the fact that this book can be applied to all problems we face and leaves us with real hope. And it’s more than that too. Do yourself a favour - read and even re-read it! Thanks Katharine!

Kathryn Hahoe is science based and a great communicator. She takes all views seriously. She has crafted a masterful book about how we cna respond to the complex and divisive issues around climate change,