The Bookshelf: Sept. 21, 2016

Trib+Water is joining with respected books authority Kirkus Reviews to bring you select reviews of books of note in the field of water studies. For more book reviews and recommendations, visit Kirkus.com.

DANGEROUS YEARS: Climate Change, the Long Emergency, and the Way Forward

by David Orr

Orr observes that we’re almost certainly heading for a time of woe thanks to climate destabilization, projecting 50-50 odds that we’ll somehow figure out a way around the worst of the physical and social effects. “For perspective,” he writes, “no sane person would get in a car with those odds of a fatal accident.” ... As the author notes, though throughout most of history, “each generation left things more or less as they found them,” we live in a more fraught time of uncreative destruction. … while humanities scholars ought to have something to say about this, it seems a touch unhelpful to suggest wistfully that we need to be more thoughtful citizens who “broaden and deepen the local conversation on sustainability.”

For the full review, visit kirkus.com.