Comment

Nov 11, 2015ghreads rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This book is about the need for the world economy to steer towards a low-carbon future in order to avoid climate catastrophe. It examines the effects of the Alberta Oil Sands on the value of the Canadian dollar and on the rest of the Albertan and Canadian economies. And it discusses pipelines, rail tankers, the current shifts in supply and demand, the drop in the price of oil and its effects on the Canadian dollar. The author then turns his attention to the future – the effects on our economy of the unavoidable climate change we have already created. In this light, he looks at agriculture, water resources, hydro power and the opening of Arctic shipping routes. He also discusses personal investment opportunities. An over-arching message of the book is the utter folly of Steven Harper’s promotion of the Oil Sands as the focal point of the Canadian economy, his denial of climate change and his short-sighted view of the country’s economic future. The book was written before the 2015 election and it highlights how critically important it was to remove Harper from power. Rubin obviously understands the economics of fossil fuels and much of the climate change issue but, in my view, he misses the point on many other environmental and social issues. He doesn't always see the big picture. In his discussion of the benefits to Canadian agriculture to be realized by climate change – especially the ability to grow corn on the prairies – he talks about big agri-business and genetic modification in a positive tone and he doesn’t mention the large carbon footprint of conventional big agriculture. I find some of the ideas presented here to be quite frightening. Likewise, his discussion of our water resources and the Arctic shipping routes. The information presented is very interesting and very accurate but I would have preferred to see it examined from a different philosophical perspective. The book is well organized and the writing is reasonably good but I found it a bit repetitive. It is worth reading for the analysis of the fossil fuel industry and climate change and their effects on the Canadian economy but the later sections dealing with the future should be read critically.