The New Climate War

The Fight to Take Back Our Planet

By: Michael E. Mann

Narrated by: Tim Campbell

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

A renowned climate scientist shows how fossil fuel companies have waged a 30-year campaign to deflect blame and responsibility and delay action on climate change, and offers a battle plan for how we can save the planet.

Recycle. Fly less. Eat less meat. These are some of the ways that we've been told can slow climate change. But the inordinate emphasis on individual behavior is the result of a marketing campaign that has succeeded in placing the responsibility for fixing climate change squarely on the shoulders of individuals. 

Fossil fuel companies have followed the example of other industries deflecting blame (think "guns don't kill people, people kill people") or greenwashing (think of the beverage industry's "Crying Indian" commercials of the 1970s).

Meanwhile, they've blocked efforts to regulate or price carbon emissions, run PR campaigns aimed at discrediting viable alternatives, and have abdicated their responsibility in fixing the problem they've created. The result has been disastrous for our planet. 

In The New Climate War, Mann argues that all is not lost. He draws the battle lines between the people and the polluters - fossil fuel companies, right-wing plutocrats, and petrostates. And he outlines a plan for forcing our governments and corporations to wake up and make real change, including:  

• A common-sense, attainable approach to carbon pricing - and a revision of the well-intentioned but flawed currently proposed version of the Green New Deal; 
• Allowing renewable energy to compete fairly against fossil fuels 
• Debunking the false narratives and arguments that have worked their way into the climate debate and driven a wedge between even those who support climate change solutions 
• Combatting climate doomism and despair-mongering 

With immensely powerful vested interests aligned in defense of the fossil fuel status quo, the societal tipping point won't happen without the active participation of citizens everywhere aiding in the collective push forward. This book will reach, inform, and enable citizens everywhere to join this battle for our planet.

©2021 Michael E. Mann (P)2021 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"Fossil fuel companies have, for decades longer than I have been alive, been the largest contributors to the climate crisis that affects my generation today - all in pursuit of profits and growth. In The New Climate War, Michael Mann holds them to account, and shows us how we can take the bold steps we must all take together to win the battle to save this planet." (Greta Thunberg, climate activist)

"This book takes the reader behind the front lines into the decades long information war waged by the fossil fuel industry and those that share their interests. From his perspective as a leader in the battle for scientific reason, Michael Mann provides hope and a roadmap for all of us to address the systemic issues fueling climate change, and shows how we can come together to wage a new war in the fight for our future." (Leonardo DiCaprio, actor and environmental activist)

"Few people bear more scars from the climate wars than Michael Mann - and few have fought longer and harder for a basic, rational approach to dealing with this greatest of crises. Because of his persistence - and that of so many others - we are finally making progress!" (Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?)

A good overview of the status of Climate Politics

There is not a great deal of new information for those who have been following the issue closely but it is a great explanatory book for those who have not and might be wondering why more has not been done to address climate change. I found that the often sarcastic tone of the narrator took away from the power of the text. That level of snark might put off those who have not fully embraced the severity of the problem and the need for aggressive action to combat it.

Oddly Simplistic Thinking

Mann, quite unexpectedly, winds up sounding like a kind of one-trick pony, loudly and repetitively proclaiming the superiority of collective behaviors and policy change, while inexplicably going out of his way to minimize the importance of individual behavior and providing his own deflection campaign for individual irresponsibility. At times he sounds like a paid lobbyist for the beef industry or airline industries.

Very disappointing coming from one of the most distinguished scientists in the field of climate change.

Perhaps the smell of his backyard barbecues and the taste of well-cooked livestock overwhelms his critical thinking.

Name-calling and disparaging at its finest.

If you like "Hurray for my side, and if you don't agree with me then you are a science-denying tool of the evil fossile fuel industry . . . and probably a white male too (you jerk)!" then you will enjoy this book.

Forensic assessment of the climate war by General Mann

Climate denialists, alarmists and doomists are all forensically named, shamed and critiqued in this well written book by climate scientist and communicator Michael Mann. But the overriding message is clear - using existing technology - switching from fossil fuels to renewables offers a path that avoids worsening climate change. All that’s needed is focus from policy setters. Highly recommend.

important tale of where we are re climate

clearly and accessible written, tells of how the movement to prevent catastrophic climate change began so long ago, and how and why it was stopped in it tracks by huge amount of cash and a concerted effort on the part of massive corporations and multi billionaires. gives clear and hopeful path out of the current crisis from a perspective of the most recent and most respected scientific research.