Field Notes from a Catastrophe
{{Short description|2006 book by Elizabeth Kolbert}}
{{Infobox book |
| name = Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change
| image = Field Notes from a Catastrophe.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = 1st edition cover.
| author = Elizabeth Kolbert
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Non-fiction
| publisher = Bloomsbury USA
| pub_date = 2006
| media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
| pages = 225 pp (2007 paperback edition)
| isbn = 1-59691-125-5
| dewey= 363.738/74 22
| congress= QC981.8.G56 K655 2006
| oclc= 62134789
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change is a non-fiction environmental science book by Elizabeth Kolbert that was published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2006. The book documents a series of scientific observations and political processes, bringing attention to the causes and effects of global climate change. In this book, Kolbert is able to make scientific developments accessible to a very wide audience.
Synopsis
Kolbert travels around the world where climate change is affecting the environment in significant ways. These locations include Alaska, Greenland, the Netherlands, and Iceland. The environmental effects that are apparent consist of rising sea levels, thawing permafrost, diminishing ice shelves, changes in migratory patterns, and increasingly devastating forest fires due to loss of precipitation. She also speaks with many leading scientists about their individual research and findings. Kolbert brings to attention the attempts of large corporations such as ExxonMobil and General Motors to influence politicians and discredit scientists. She also writes about America’s reluctance in the global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Leading this resistance, she explained, was the Bush administration, which was opposed to the Kyoto Protocol since it was ratified in 2005. Kolbert concludes the book by examining the events surrounding the events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and arguing that governments have the knowledge and technologies to prepare for such disasters but choose to ignore the signs until it is too late.{{Cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/books/16gosn.html|title = In Epoch of Man, Earth Takes a Beating|last = Gosnell|first = Mariana|date = 2006-03-16|access-date = 2015-03-21|newspaper = New York Times}}{{cite news| last = Hansen| first = Jim| title = The Threat to the Planet| newspaper = The New York Review of Books| date = July 13, 2006| url = https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2006/07/13/the-threat-to-the-planet/| access-date =June 24, 2023}}{{cite journal | jstor=40419670 | title=The Short Evolution of Climate-Change Literature | last1=Dolan | first1=Katie | journal=Conservation Biology | year=2010 | volume=24 | issue=1 | pages=356–357 | doi=10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01413.x }}{{cite journal | doi=10.1080/00207233.2011.578346 | title=Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change | year=2011 | last1=Manolas | first1=Evangelos I. | journal=International Journal of Environmental Studies | volume=68 | issue=3 | pages=406–408 | s2cid=96716395 }}{{cite journal | doi=10.2307/4452052 | jstor=4452052 | last1=Kormondy | first1=Edward J. | title=Reviewed work: Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, Elizabeth Kolbert | journal=The American Biology Teacher | year=2006 | volume=68 | issue=8 | page=508}}{{cite news| last = Asthana| first = Anushka| title = Feeling the heat| newspaper = The Guardian| location = United Kingdom| date = August 12, 2007| url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/aug/12/scienceandnature.features}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{wikiquote|Elizabeth Kolbert}}
- {{official|https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/field-notes-from-a-catastrophe-9781620409886/}}
- [http://elizabethkolbert.com Author's website]
- [https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert Kolbert's brief biography]. The New Yorker.
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6-DDflXin8 Field Notes from a Catastrophe]. Elizabeth Kolbert: University of Washington. Video. YouTube. 2009.
{{Elizabeth Kolbert}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Field Notes From A Catastrophe}}
Category:Environmental non-fiction books
Category:2006 non-fiction books
Category:2006 in the environment
Category:Climate change and the environment