Book Review: Six Degrees - Our Future on a Hotter Planet by Mark Lynas

Six Degrees Our Future on a Hotter Planet by Mark Lynas

ISBN: 978-1426202131 (446 pages)

National Geographic (2008)

Book Review by Dawn “Belladonna” Thomas

I have been interested in global warming so when a friend recommended this book I thought I would check it out. The book is written in a way that it is possible to see what earth would happen if global warming is not contained. It shows what changes will occur by a degree at a time. There is a tipping point that we all should be concerned with. If we cannot make the changes necessary before this point is reached, there may be no stopping global warming.

The book begins at one degree. I was amazed to read the changes and losses that the earth has already suffered and we are not even at the one degree mark yet. The first loss is an amphibian in Costa Rica’s Monteverde’s Cloud Forest known as a golden toad. This toad could only be found in this area and the last time that anyone has seen one was May 15, 1989. That is an eye opening fact that with depleted natural resources nature is suffering. Another change noted is the condition of the world’s coral reefs. As the waters get warmer the algae that lives in the coral dies off. When the algae die off the coral then dies off since it doesn’t get the sugar the algae produced that it needs to survive.

At the second degree the number of monsoons will decrease in China. This will cause less water to flow into the rivers. There is a reference to a heat wave in Europe occurring in 2003. In this event there were 22,000 to 35,000 people thought to have died. The number of heatstroke victims in Paris alone rose to 10,000. This heat event could occur more frequently in the earth warms two degrees.

At the third degree mark, the earth goes through big changes. There would be monsoons in China. There would be droughts in Amazonia, Australia, and famines in Africa and India. That would mean the end of the Amazon rain forest. Australia would be the driest continent and there would be increased wildfire. The world three degrees warmer would also set the stage for the possibility of super hurricanes. These storms would be more intense the any of the hurricanes we have seen since the ocean waters would be a lot warmer than they are now.

At the fourth degree the global sea levels would be about two feet higher than they are today. This would cause the Nile River to flood. Major cities like Mumbai to Shanghai, Boston, New York and New Jersey to London and Venice. The great ice sheets in Antarctica. The rising seas would cause the ice to begin to thin. Once these sheets melt it threatens the continent.

At the fifth degree a new planet is forming. All the ice at both poles would have melted. This would cause the sea levels to rise to unusually high levels and force people to move further inland. The tropics would become uninhabitable with the heat. More area covered by water would cause extra heat in the atmosphere. With the warmer sea waters comes the possibility of the escape of methane pockets. This would create large tsunamis.

At the sixth degree the oceans would begin to be oily. The methane gas pockets that started in the fifth degree have been building. Once it reaches a saturation point there would be enough explosive possibility to destroy what is left of the planet. The methane air clouds created by eruptions in the ocean become another type of explosive. If these explosions do take place there would be mass extinctions.

For anyone interested in global warming this is definitely a book to be read. After reading this book, I am looking at ways to change my way of life. I am also spreading the word as much as I can.