Hell and High Water

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For other uses, see Hell and High Water (film).

Hell and High Water: Global Warming — the Solution and the Politics — and What We Should Do is a book by author, scientist, and former U.S. Department of Energy official Joseph J. Romm, published December 26, 2006 by William Morrow & Co. ISBN 0-06117-212-X. The author is "one of the world's leading experts on clean energy, advanced vehicles, energy security, and greenhouse gas mitigation."[1]

The book warns of dire consequences to the U.S. and the world if wide-scale environmental changes are not enacted by the U.S. government within the next decade. It reviews the evidence that the current initial global warming changes will lead to accelerated warming. According to Romm, the oceans, soils, Arctic permafrost, and rainforests may become sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The book claims that, without serious government action within the next ten years, sea levels will rise high enough to submerge numerous coastal communities and inland areas on both U.S. coasts and around the world by the year 2100.

Romm was interviewed on Fox News on January 31, 2007 about the book and the new IPCC Fourth Assessment Report climate report accessible here.

1 Summary of the book
2 The challenges and solutions identified by the book
3 Critical response
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Summary of the book

Part I, comprising the first four chapters of the book, reviews the science of climate change and the author's predictions of what will happen to the U.S. and the world if decisive action is not taken quickly.

Part II, comprising the next six chapters, discusses the politics and media issues that the author says are delaying such decisive action and also discusses the currently available technological solutions to global warming.

The book's conclusion calls on voters to demand immediate action. The conclusion is followed by over 50 pages comprised of extensive endnotes and an index.

[edit] The challenges and solutions identified by the book

The book claims that U.S. politicians who deny the science and have failed to take genuine action on conservation and alternative energy initiatives are following a disastrous course by delaying serious changes that he says are imminently needed. Romm also criticizes the media for what he says is sloppy reporting and an unwillingness to probe behind political rhetoric, which he says are lulling Americans into accepting continuing delays on implementing emmission-cutting technologies. The book posits that we have a window of opportunity of only about a decade to head off the most catastrophic effects of global warming and calls upon Americans to demand government action to require the use of emission-cutting technologies.

Romm writes that strategies to combat climate change with current technologies can significantly slow global warming and buy more time for the world to develop new technologies and take even stronger action. The book lays out a number of proposed solutions to avoiding a climate catastrophe, including:

capturing carbon dioxide from coal power plants and storing it underground;
building 1 million large wind turbines and 700 nuclear power plants;
launching massive energy efficiency programs for homes, office buildings, and heavy industry;
increasing the fuel efficiency of cars and light trucks to 60 miles per gallon while also equipping them with advanced plug-in hybrid technology; and
ceasing tropical deforestation and reversing the trend by planting trees.

The book states, "The IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report this year (2007) will present a much stronger consensus and a much clearer and darker picture of our likely future than the Third Assessment--but it will almost certainly still underestimate the likely impacts. The Fifth Assessment, due around 2013, should include many of the omitted feedbacks, like that of the [carbon emissions caused by] defrosting tundra, and validate the scenarios described on these pages...." (p. 94)

[edit] Critical response

The Toronto Star's January 1, 2007 review of the book says that Romm "convincingly shoots down the arguments of those who claim global warming is a hoax or some kind of natural cycle not associated with human activities." The review laments that the "'Denyers and Delayers' are winning the political battle in the United States, the world's highest emitter of greenhouse gases and a saboteur of Kyoto talks" and that the media's policy of "giving 'equal time' to Denyers gives the public the wrong impression about our understanding and level of certainty around global warming science." The review concludes, "The book itself is a short and easy read, not as intimidating as some other works, and it hits all the main points on the science and politics behind global warming, and the policy and technological solutions to minimize damage to the planet, economy and humanity."

On January 28, 2007, The Detroit Free Press's Freep.com wrote, "Joseph Romm's Hell and High Water is a great book for people who want to understand the complexities of global warming and, perhaps more important, what we could be doing about it other than wringing our hands or sticking our collective head in the sand."[2]

On March 12, 2007, Technology Review wrote, "His book provides an accurate summary of what is known about global warming and climate change, a sensible agenda for technology and policy, and a primer on how political disinformation has undermined climate science."[3]

On February 28, 2007, BooksPath Reviews wrote, Hell and High Water is nothing less than a wake-up call to the country. It is a searing critique of American environmental and energy policy and a passionate call to action by a writer with a unique command of the science and politics of climate change. Hell and High Water goes beyond ideological rhetoric to offer pragmatic solutions to avert the threat of global warming — solutions that must be taken seriously by every American.[4]

On February 21, 2007, Bill Moore at EV World.com wrote: "...it seemed every paragraph, every page revealed some new outrage that just got my dander up. If it doesn't do the same to you, I'll really be surprised."[5]

Green blog "Gristmill"[6] published January 14, 2007 notes, "Joseph Romm's Hell and High Water may be the most depressing book on global warming I've ever read.... My hope is that a lifetime spent in insider elite politics causes him to underestimate what a bottom-up grassroots movement can accomplish.... A coalition that supported real action on global warming, as part of movement that supported real solutions on these other issues too, would have a much better chance of winning than a single-issue group. It would have a broader base and could offer more immediate relief from problems; because global warming wouldn't be its only or even main issue, it would produce quicker results in the lives of ordinary people.... Technically, Romm is sound...." On January 15, the writer amended his statement as follows: "I referred to the book as 'depressing', but the tone is frank, not truly gloomy.... Romm... is known as a level-headed, optimistic analyst. His book is no exception -- he documents the problem and the (quite mainstream) solutions he endorses throughly and meticulously."[7]

Similarly, "The Oil Drum"[8] wrote on January 29, 2007, "Anyone who thinks 'liberal propaganda' when they hear that assertion needs to read Joseph Romm's just-out book, "Hell and High Water." It's well-documented, hard to refute and scary."

The Foreign Policy In Focus article of February 21, 2007 An Inconvenient Truth II cites the book with approval and references its analysis twice.[9]