The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial by David Lipsky
“The Parrot and the Igloo” is a fantastic account of climate change denial. New York Times best-selling author David Lipsky takes the reader on a journey of science denial as it relates to climate change. Characterized by great story telling, Lipsky describes the history, players and the impact it has had on climate change. This insightful 490-page book is broken out into the following three parts: 1. Inventors, 2. Scientists, and 3. Deniers.
Positives:
1. Great science writing. Great use of metaphors and other literary devices to enhance the reader’s enjoyment.
2. The important topic of history of climate change denial.
3. The book is written in three separate parts and it could be read in any order you would like.
4. Dedicates an entire part to the scientists who discovered the world. “Edison’s plan, announced as he boxed up the Newark lab, reads as confident, innocent, and American as one of Jay Gatsby’s self-improvement schedules. He would produce “a minor invention every ten days, and a big thing every six months or so.””
5. Many interesting historical topics, like the history of the light. “The story of the light is about electricity finally stepping inside the house. It’s also about control. The telegraph snipped distance. The phonograph gave you a handle on time. The bulb offered programmable daylight, and electricity would cover the rest.”
6. Insights into the fascinating life of Nicola Tesla. “Tesla liked to claim he’d been born—Serbia, 1856—during a midnight electrical storm. As a boy, he built a small motor powered by sixteen Junebugs, glued and stitched into harness. (This invention ran until a schoolmate—an officer’s son Tesla described as “strange”—ate all the power sources.) As an adult, he tried to organize his life around the number three: waiters were instructed to approach no nearer than three feet; if he circled the block once, he needed to orbit it twice more; if he swam one lap in a pool, he had to splash out another twenty-six to make twenty-seven (three times three times three).”
7. Recounts the story behind the greenhouse effect. “Roger Revelle was in the Science section, with a discovery he’d remade. The title was “One Big Greenhouse.” The article totted up the residue of all Henry Ford’s cars, Tesla’s generators, Edison’s current. “Since the start of industrial revolution,” Time explained, “mankind has been burning fossil fuel,” adding its “carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.””
8. The history behind what gases was trapping solar energy. “Tyndall tested carbon dioxide; same result. The atmosphere did trap the sun’s heat. He knew which gases: water vapor and carbon dioxide.”
9. Interesting facts throughout the book. “And Venus, with an atmosphere sixty-six times as dense as ours, is about 97 percent carbon dioxide; it’s 850 degrees.”
10. Measurable impact described. “Between the fifties and nineties, pack ice had thinned 40 percent.”
11. The impact of ice cores to scientific models and the understanding of climate change. “When a scientist explains there’s more carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere than there’s been for eight hundred thousand years, they’re quoting ice cores.”
12. The impact of politics to climate change. “(Keeling’s memoir gives a clipped explanation: “Ronald Reagan had become President of the United States.”) Climate scientists were instructed to button their traps. “The new administration laid plans to cut funding for carbon dioxide studies in particular,” writes historian Spencer Weart. “Everything connected with the subject became politically sensitive.””
13. Marketing ploys. ““In general, words starting with an ‘R’ or ending with an ‘ity’ are good,” the magazine reported. So “‘reform’ and ‘accountability’ work, and ‘responsibility’ really works.” (“Listening” and “children,” on the other hand, offer a lock on female voters.) “Americans want a free and open discussion,” Luntz would write. “The words on these pages are tested—they work!””
14. The goals of disinformation. “The goal of the disinformation campaign wasn’t to win the debate. The goal was simply to keep the debate going.” Bonus, “Uncertainty; the canniest way to start an argument. “If more research was needed,” Mukherjee writes, “the issue was still mired in doubt.””
15. Science denial as it was applied to cigarette smoking. “The industry had found ways of “creating doubt about the health charge without actually denying it.””
16. A fascinating story of what happens when you fall into denial and the mixed rewards of trying to climb back out again.
17. Second hand smoke and its impact. “In 1972, the surgeon general’s first mention; time to consider waving secondhand smoke out of the public air. Next year, Arizona became the first state to ban cigarettes in elevators, libraries, and (less foggy steering) buses. The Civil Aeronautics Board ordered nonsmoking aisles on airplanes.”
18. The deniers! “But Dr. Singer did hit her bombmaker note. The American public, he wrote, was being “repeatedly terrorized” by the Environmental Protection Agency. And he got the important thing said—getting the necessary thing said would become Dr. Singer’s great skill. Secondhand smoke was “the most shocking distortion of scientific evidence yet.””
19. Reverend Moon and science denial. “The central heavenly instrument was the Washington Times. Ultra conservative, it would become reliably vicious on climate change. A place for Dr. S. Fred Singer to write columns with nothing-to-see-here, cigarette-scare titles. “Chilling Out on Warming,” “No Proof Man Causes Global Warming,” and the immortal “Climate Claims Wither under Luminous Lights of Science.””
20. Linus Pauling and pseudoscience. “Linus came to believe—who can say why?—that fatalities could be reduced 75 percent with vitamin C alone.”
21. DR. Singer and science denial. “When Dr. Singer published the “Top Five Environmental Policy Myths of 1995,” the Second Hand Smoke Scare was packaged and accounted for at central number three. Shandwick put together an “aggressive media interview schedule.” Local and national TV and radio. Dr. Singer especially enjoyed the call-in segments. The top slot on the myths list—flying out over all that aggressive media—went to Global Warming.”
22. An excellent Epilogue.
Negatives:
1. At 490 pages, this book requires an investment of your time.
2. This book focuses on the history of climate change denial and not on the practical solutions of it.
3. No links to sources.
4. Limited use of supplementary visual materials.
5. No formal bibliography.
In summary, this is a fantastic book that covers the evolution of the science denial of climate change. Lipsky is a talented author who makes great use of literary devices to describe the people who made our world; discovered there might be a problem and ultimately the people who lied about the problem. This book focuses on the history of climate change and science denial. Great science writing about a topic of utmost importance. I highly recommend it!
Further recommendations: “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need” by Bill Gates, “An Inconvenient Sequel” by Al Gore, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” by Naomi Klein, “Changing Planet, Changing Health” by Paul R. Epstein, MD, and Dan Feber, “The Crash Course” by Chris Marteson, “Storms of My Grandchildren” by James Hansen, “Warnings” by Mike Smith, “The Weather of the New Future” by Heidi Cullen, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars” by Michael E. Mann, “Clean Break” by Osha Gray Davidson, “Fool Me Twice” by Lawrence Otto, “Lies, Damned Lies, and Science” by Sherry Seethaler, “Reality Check” by Donald R. Prothero, and “Merchants of Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.
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