The Climate Swerve

August 1, 2017
A clear argument that "confronting the full danger of nuclear and climate devastation enables us to sustain rather than destroy our species."Renowned psychiatrist Lifton (Witness to an Extreme Century, 2011, etc.), a winner of the National Book Award, explains his use of the term "swerve" to describe "a significant, if not always logical or clear, shift in the way people experience their world." In this instance, the shift reflects the recognition of the dangers posed by global warming. The author is best known for his study of how decent people come to accept an apocalyptic view of the future and even condone atrocities such as the bombing of Hiroshima. He compares the attempt to normalize the use of nuclear weapons to the current claim that climate change is a hoax. "Like global warming," writes Lifton, "those weapons raised doubts about the future of our species." Failing to accept the reality of global warming, Donald Trump and his corporate backers continue to encourage the reckless consumption of fossil fuels. The author points out that nuclear radiation is also an environmental issue even though the threats posed by nuclear weapons and global warming are significantly different. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused sudden "unprecedented slaughter and suffering," while the effects of climate change are incremental. However, in both instances, acceptance of existing political power structures has led to widespread failure to act in a timely fashion. The similarity between them is in the quality of the responses they evoke; they both reflect a dangerous human tendency to "suppress and distort our perceptions of their danger" by "normalizing" them. Lifton argues forcefully for a significant swerve in popular understanding of the catastrophic potential of global warming, and he cites the 1982 million-person anti-nuclear weapons march in New York City as an example of the level of response needed regarding climate change today. A powerful and well-reasoned call to action.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2017
Lifton, a revered historian, psychiatrist, and public intellectual who has long studied the devastating effects of nuclear war and testing, turns his eye to climate change in this bracing title. Drawing on his decades of experience studying the negative impacts (both physical and psychological) of war, especially the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the author uses insightful prose to take readers through what he coins the climate swerve, or humanity's evolving awareness of the serious impact of climate change. He calls out climate rejecters, or those who refuse to acknowledge the impact of global warming, as well as those scientists who choose to perpetuate the myth of climate-change denial for their own nefarious or baffling purposes. In short chapters, this slim title engages readers on everything from the long-term damage to the Marshall Islands from nuclear testing to the ethics of fossil-fuel extraction in our enlightened age. Thoughtful, intelligent, and deeply human, Lifton will not disappoint his fans and will hopefully draw new readers with this deeply informative work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)