The Carbon Almanac: It's Not Too Late (2024)

This is a book for you and me. A book to dip into and out of for reference and reassurance about the facts. A book to go to when we want the numbers and the underlying reasons for the impending catastrophe that, collectively, we seem hell-bent on doing too little about until it’s too late.

A modern day climate-focused Pears’ Cyclopædia ( for those who remember), it is, as it says on the tin, the current facts and figures along with the sources (of the information and, should you wish to compare, the disinformation) written in an authoritative yet easily digestible form. All the more impressive, I think, given the urgency and speed with which it was put together by a large team of authors and contributors working alongside the human dynamo that is Seth Godin. Do I have any gripes? Maybe consistency in chemical nomenclature and use of SI units throughout would have been nice but, hey, I’m a Chemist.

The Carbon Almanac is where we can go to find out the history and current magnitude of the climate change issues in numbers and stories. Without talking down to the reader, it explains the underlying science and the ‘whys and wherefores’ of the contributory proportions of the various activities and processes that are compromising our sustainable future on this planet.

Human nature being what it is, each and every one of us needs to have a clearer understanding of ‘the problem’ and this is a great tool for addressing that task. We’re also encouraged to consider how we can best connect and contribute to the shift of mindset we will all need to make, wherever we live in the world and whatever our circ*mstances, to help the transformation to a sustainable future in a timely manner. Thinking that all this may have been better grappled with 50 years ago gets us nowhere. Let’s start today. The lay-reader who has hitherto perhaps payed only scant attention to the problem may gain enough wisdom from TCA to step up with their own contribution to the effort we’ll all need to put in to navigate our way out of this mess and avoid irreparable and irreversible damage.

Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution (or, rather, solutions). The changes in mindset and lifestyle that everyone will be making over the coming century need to be widely understood and supported.

This book provides a unique compendium of information and suggestions that can facilitate each and every reader’s participation in the sea change of opinion and outlook ahead.

Many thanks to the authors & publishers for access to this e-ARC in exchange for my review. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

The Carbon Almanac is the easiest way to get up to speed on the fundamentals of climate change without feeling left behind, out of touch, or stupid. Or at least that’s what it’s done for me, and I thought I knew plenty about climate change to begin with.

The beginners section gave me a way to talk about climate change in a way that others will easily understand and appreciate. The science section helped me dig into the basic truths underlying why we should care about climate change (and made me feel much smarter than I did before I started). My favorite section of all was the solutions section - a compendium of hopeful, fascinating ways we can solve the core problems driving climate change today.

But the real impact the book had on me was the realization that even if every person with the resources and energy to tackle their own carbon footprint did so, we’d still have a huge problem on our hands. The most important and valuable solutions are systemic. And so how we show up as voters, business leaders, elected officials, and activists matters more than anything.

Thanks to the Carbon Almanac, I no longer talk in terms of carbon footprint, I talk in terms of systems change. And the easy-to-digest format made it fun to read along the way.

This book is definetely a light read for people to understand how climate change is affecting our live. The concept is simply written and easy to understand. Many of examples are relateable and something you can feel it right now. But, I think if they can deep dive more into govt policy analysis & private companies' contributon toward climate action - this would be a perfect reading.

Super mooi boek met super veel info en data. Voor iedere pagina zou je een hele infographic moeten maken en die verspreiden over heel de wereld.

There are multiple things we don’t yet know about climate change, but there’s plenty that we do. And I find it incredible how a collective mind could bring them together in a clear and concise way. As a visual learner I appreciate charts and visuals that bring across what I can do through understanding impact and seeing solutions.

This is not a regular book, more of an encyclopedia with a twist. I can look up questions that were on the back of my mind, but never articulated, and the twist is - I can find what I can do about it. It is about the real cost of materials such as plastic, and its impact.
This is the kind of book and the level of explanation that I was missing, never satisfied with the search results that were either superfluous or too detailed.

This book gives me hope - there’s a lot that WE can do

I have been of the opinion that if you have the vision, the direction you would be able to make a difference. As of today, I thought I had been doing my part in my own way however this book opened my eyes and my mind, with easy to understand illustrations, examples, factual material and each with a reference.

Best part is, it also has a kids version which is directed to our upcoming generation. The generation, which actually would need to bear the pain of this generation’s wrongdoing.

Thanks to The Carbon Almanac - I no longer have to talk in generic Carbon footprint terms, but can now talk in terms of a systematic change we all need to bring in - as it’s not too late.

Its Not Too Late

that made me sit up and think we need to take some action.

the book is amazingly simple in the way it lays out facts with ample graphics. and then gives you the direction which will help you save the planet.

they also have a kids version of the book at thecarbonalmanac.com/kids

amazing book on climate change and actionable ideas for saving the planet

Did you know…

Bad News

* Climate change has secondary impacts in every aspect of our lives: flooded homes and roads, inflation, loss of precious beaches, diseases, famines… (pp. 28-29)
634 million people (~2x US population) risk climate-related flooding (p. 34)
* Flying adds 6x atmospheric carbon per person as the same trip done by train (p. 37)
* Despite years of pretending they didn’t know, Exxon released a memo (excerpts reproduced on pages 46-47) on November 12, 1982 outlining the consequences of human-caused climate change and identifying fossil fuel industries as the major cause
* Methane traps 80 times as much heat as CO2; nitrous oxides trap 270 times as much (p. 51)
* We use 8x energy and produce 7x emissions to support 3x the population of 1950 (p. 72)
* Plastic produces 6x its weight in CO2 over its lifetime (pp. 78, 79); plastics manufacturing also causes massive deforestation (preventing capture of 6.5 million metric tons per year of carbon) and emits gigatons of CO2. Only 9 percent of discarded plastic is recycled; 12 percent is incinerated, further worsening carbon impact (p. 34).

Good News

* Only 8 percent of Norway’s 2021 new-vehicle sales were powered by fossil fuels (p. 101)
* We improved air and water quality and slashed food waste during the pandemic (pp. 113-114)—so we can replicate that success through behavior changes
* Switching from chemiculture to organic could cut crop losses by about half—as they were before most farmers switched to chemical pesticides (p. 120)
* Trees, wetlands, and coral reefs embody biodiversity; a single tree can host 2.3 million organisms; coral reefs contain 25 percent of marine species; peat bogs (wetlands) capture twice the carbon of forests (pp. 136-140)
* Tools such as “border carbon adjustments” (p. 163) and counting GNP to factor in environmental and social costs and benefits (Robert F. Kennedy quote, p. 117) could eliminate the competitive advantage of poor carbon habits and help businesses actively mitigating their environmental and carbon impact
* Primitive solar continues to power the Vanguard I satellite, launched in 1960 (p. 178)
* Humans first harnessed tidal power in 687 A.D.; it was widely used in 18th-century England (pp. 182-183)
* 25 percent of all US fossil fuel hubs are ideally suited to green energy (which provided 90 percent of new capacity in 2020)—thus offering retraining opportunities for thousands of miners (p. 196)
* We could probably eliminate world hunger by using the 1/3 of all food that’s thrown away uneaten (p. 201)
* Drip irrigation cuts water 60 percent while increasing crop yield 90 percent over open-channel irrigation (p. 204)
* Cross-laminated wood buildings have many superiorities over steel (p. 223)
* Solarizing all US K-12 schools could replace 18 coal plants (p. 245)
* Above all, humans have risen to overcome all sorts of “insurmountable” crises (p. 326); this book proves we have the know-how—let’s find the will to do it!

You’ll find or extrapolate hundreds more takeaways in The Carbon Almanac, spearheaded by Seth Godin and written by 300+ volunteers. Forthcoming in July from Penguin/Random House. It’s a readable and comprehensive single-volume guide to…

1. Why atmospheric carbon must be addressed

2. The many ingenious solutions—and a refreshing willingness to confront the new problems these solutions (from bioplastics to mass-scale solar) sometimes bring

3. The impact of lifestyle choices, such as using an electric bicycle instead of a car for the short trips that represent more than half of our car travel (p. 166), changing our fashion habits (p. 162), planting trees (p. 155, in numerous suggestions to switch your primary search engine Ecosia, and in the collective’s pledge to replace 10x as many trees as are consumed to produce the book, p. 226), and eating less meat (pp. 76, 200, 203)—and the potential impacts of our activism (I love that the glossary, p. 312, defines “activist” as “You”—and the long list of activist organizations to get involved with).

4. The way all these factors and many more intersect and interact, presenting a holistic analysis a bite at a time

Besides 40+ pages of information and action resources within the book, each article has an info/sources page on https://thecarbonalmanac.org—which keeps that single volume to a manageable size while encouraging interested readers to drill much deeper. That also allows the content to be updated easily: As a long-time opponent of nuclear power, I wrote to Godin challenging the nuclear fission article’s implication that there have been only three accidents, vs. the actual 100+. While it was too late to change the book text, he immediately posted a correction at the top of that web page, https://thecarbonalmanac.org/093

I’d scheduled my review expecting a mid-June release date. That’s been pushed back a month. I urge you to 1) preorder your copy from your favorite independent bookstore (a chance to make a lifestyle change and support your local economy), 2) get involved in the launch promotion: https://seths.blog/joining-the-almana..., and 3) sign up for the Carbon Almanac Network’s Daily Difference newsletter (at the bottom of thecarbonalmanac.org home page).

Overwhelming, well written and researched with viable actions of how we can fight climate change. Let’s stop supporting the fossil fuel industry and save the planet!

Just got mine today.skimmed it and its really amazing
Gonna buy some copies for friends and family

As expected, the book bounced around from topic to topic which made it more of a 'pick up every once in a while' book than a 'sit down and read' book. I learned a good amount, and it was pretty comprehensive, but I didn't love it and might not be recommending it for the following reasons:
- Ratio of doomerism to optimism is too high. There are multiple sections explaining all the bad that can/will happen and not enough talking about how we can and will solve this.
- Too many mentions of personal responsibility. It keeps reminding the reader and telling us that we should be doing XYZ personally to make our little impact, even though it also acknowledges that the big things need to be a combination of policy, investment, innovation, and action from governments and businesses. A little too preachy for me..
- It takes a while to get to any of the positive stuff and lays out alllllll the negatives first.

Planning on reading Regeneration soon, which is a similar format (almost textbook style) so will see if that is preferred. For new people, I'd still recommend Bill Gates's book to start.

There is useful information but the presentation and organization is confusing.
Maybe that's a big difference between an Almanac and a Book.

The audiobook version of this was a bit difficult to follow. They read out lots of charts and data that should not be in an audiobook.

Love how everything is compiled together in one place and sticks to the facts. Sometimes this felt a bit random and it didn't flow like a book, and more like an encyclopedia. I'm also hyper critical because I'm heavily involved in this space. Read this book and get involved!

The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a "me" problem to a "we" problem.

The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book uses cartoons, quotes, illustrations, tables, histories, and articles to lay out carbon's impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, human health, and best and worst-case scenarios. Visually engaging and built to share, The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source for facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

This isn't what the oil companies, marketers, activists, or politicians want you to believe. This is what's really happening, right now. Our planet is in trouble, and no one concerned group, corporation, country, or hemisphere can address this on its own. Self-interest only increases the problem. We are in this together. And it's not too late for concerted, collective action for change.

The number one reason this book receives five stars from me is the structure of the composition. Over 300 contributors came together to create this resource, but instead of writing lengthy and weighty chapters that bog down the reader, the entire book is made up of short essay style writings that are comprehensive but digestible. If you are an advanced student of climatology this book is probably not worth your time, but if you are less experienced the graphics, writing, and overall nature of the book is easily accessible.

The second reason the book is a five star resource for me is because of the wide range of topics and the honest nature of the writing. I appreciate the fact that the contributors and authors didn't not just focus on one aspect of the carbon issue. Rather they touch and educate about a variety of topics all the while being realistic about the viability of the solutions available. We must address climate change but we must be realistic about how we can address it.

Finally, I very much appreciate the amount of resources included in this book. Whether the graphics, the links to other books, groups, and podcasts, or the resources for educators this book is a tremendous jumping off point for the conversation about climate and the impact of carbon.

Damn, this is a tough one. Not that the Almanac doesn't have a tremendous amount of informative and credible information on the climate crisis, its development over time, historical precedent, data-based projections, and organizational efforts to combat it—it does. The burden is that a majority of the information is sharply discouraging.

The book is appealingly formatted so that a single page or a spread investigates or comments on a body of facts or a single issue (i.e., recycling), and subsequent pages do the same for other relevant issues. Many good pull quotes on those pages as well. But holy-moly, there are so many shocking developments regarding the melting of glaciers and the ice-caps, severe deforestation and carbon release, catastrophic storms, fires—eeeeee!

There is a Solutions section showing many science-based ways to combat these horrors, and the organizations behind them, and how individuals, like you and me, can help. Getting the daily email from the organization is helpful to motivate small changes. But big changes are needed.

I also had some trouble with the wealth of info in the charts and graphs, with percentages and ratios and data, data, data. I don't have a science background, nor a facility for math, but luckily, the info is usually presented in a context that makes it more comprehensible for folks like me. So, if we are to have a future, or anybody's kids are, take heed.

***.5

As the title suggests, this is more of a reference book than an attempt to provide any sort of narrative. There's lots of good information, exploring a variety of topics related to climate change, with clear summaries of the major issues and why they are important, backed by loads of data.

Unfortunately, that's where the positives end. Each section is quite short, and hence barely scratches the surface before jumping on to the next. Which wouldn't be so bad, but there is no real organization, and there's a huge amount of overlap. Rather than assemble the contributions from the various authors and sources, they are just stapled together, with the inevitable duplication of information multiple times, as well as some contradictions. Which would be fine if the goal was to examine the issue from multiple viewpoints, but completely at odds with the "this is what you need to know" approach.

The format is also terrible for an audiobook. Despite Emily Woo Zeller's heroic efforts to breathe life into reading tables of statistics, it's just not the right medium. Still, she should win some sort of prize for the attempt.

The book is supplemented by an extensive website, including some excellent resources including recommendations for further reading: https://thecarbonalmanac.org/resources/

I thought I knew quite a lot about the climate crisis. I’ve been concerned about the changing climate for more than a decade and I’ve consistently done what I can to reduce my family’s carbon footprint.

As books have come along about climate change and sustainable economics, I’ve made sure I’ve read them to keep myself up to date with the latest thinking. Many however have been quite hard to digest as they’ve clearly been written for academic impact within the scientific / economic / governance community.

The Carbon Almanac is different. It’s a single source repository of climate facts and data, thoughtfully put together so that anyone can get up to speed, regardless of where they are in their carbon emission reduction journey.

It breaks down the science into easily digestible language and includes ample further reading and resources for when you want to find out more.

Every day there are deflection stories in the media, attempting to downplay the crisis and/or renewable energy alternatives. Having read this, I feel far more equipped to debate with the climate sceptics I come across in day to day life.

Of all the books I’ve read on the topic to date, this is one of the, if not the, best. It’s helped me see how much more I can do to effect positive change.

Full disclosure, I didn't have a hand in writing this book, but I am a volunteer to help get the word out about it. So why am I doing that?

We need to be having honest, science-backed conversations about climate change that open hearts and minds about the possibilities rather than shutting people down and hardening them into their corners. We need to get very clear on where we need to "agree to disagree" so that we can move quickly to where we can work collaboratively together to create systems change.

Right now, the media is mostly ignoring climate change or focusing on doom and gloom rather than solutions (at least here in the US). This book is about the science of what's going on with the climate crisis in a very wide variety of situations, and the opportunities we still have to address the challenge.

You don't have to read it from cover to cover. You can start with an area that's of particular interest to you (Food waste? Water preservation? Renewable energy? eBikes? it's all there) and learn what's possible now moving forward. Then join the conversation online and get involved. We need you. It's not too late, but we don't have time to waste. Everyone is welcome.

#thecarbonalmanac

Before any of us should ever state opinions on anything, we should at least be willing to survey and hopefully acquaint ourselves with the facts on the subject. The Carbon Almanac is simply unparalleled in its sensibility, approachability, and thoroughness. It tackles all the major topics on the subject of climate change, focusing the vast majority of its sensible prose, understandable and informative charts and graphs, innovative diagrams and insightful cartoons on sharing the latest facts on carbon emissions and numerous other related issues. Anyone can "get the gist" of climate change challenges and their surrounding facts, and feel confident that the area of interest/concern has been well researched and documented, after reading this book.

It's an outstanding resource that encourages the reader to over and over "open it and turn to a page" or use its index or 'back of the book' as well as ancillary online resources to find out more. From those facts, there are numerous pathways for one to take on, or better yet, join together with others, to connect individual and systemic actions and further activities to help humanity make progress toward mitigating and solving these most urgent problems facing us - everywhere and forever.

The Carbon Almanac is a comprehensive guide to climate change that provides well-known facts and a plan for collective action. The book is a collaboration between writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. And with all that, it lays out the impact of carbon on the weather, economy, health, energy, etc., using best and worst-case scenarios.

The book is visually engaging and uses several formats to present information in an easy-to-understand way. The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source of facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

Overall, I found the book to be an informative and engaging read. It provides a lot of information about climate change in an accessible format. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about climate change and what we can do to help.

This book gives us hope that each of us can make an impact

I’ve always felt I could do more, but others suggested that one person can’t make a difference. When I came across The Carbon Almanac what struck me was a global team of volunteers and experts in their fields wanted to show each of us that WE CAN make a difference - each one of us, making choices in our lives.

The book is easy to read using facts, (with links to the sources for further reading), diagrams, cartoons, stories and case studies that give us simple actionable things we can do in our everyday lives at home, at work and in our community.

There is hope. We can affect change. You can start today by learning more and making a choice about what type of world you want for our children. I’d love for you to feel hope to start making a difference today too.

Climate change is something that I am extremely passionate about. This book is the best book on climate change that I’ve ever read. I love how it is formatted with visuals such as charts and graphs along with lists, which makes this book very easy to digest. I also love how this book isn’t a “we’re all doomed” narrative but rather it focuses on education and has a positive outlook on climate change if we take X steps and proceeds to mention all of the work that has been done on climate change already. However it doesn’t brush lightly the seriousness of climate change and that there is much more work that needs to be done. This book gives me hope and a thirst to continue learning about the most pressing issue issue that we as a humanity are facing.

The Carbon Almanac is easily on my top 3 reads for the last five years. I used to hear a lot about climate change and the urgency to act. It felt like a topic that could be mostly addressed by scientists.

The change that is to happen has to be systemic, and we're all potential changemakers. Shifting our daily approach is at a micro-level, but drip by drip I know I can contribute a lot.

The book puts an emphasis on facts, to be aligned with the challenges to go for. Having a shared picture of the current reality is already a good step before planting the right seed and implementing the numerous changes to make our world better.

Did not finish - February 2023.

Checked it out from the library after hearing a bit about it on a podcast, but realized almanacs in general are not a very enjoyable format for me in this age of the internet - websites are a much more effective way to organize browsable information than an almanac. They're not really meant to be read cover to cover? But this is not really a reference book so much as an educational book, so maybe it should have better flow since it is less likely someone is using it to look things up as a targeted search?

Well, it's thorough, I'll give it that. The book is very mixed, with some really serious authors and some who seemed to just want to tick all the boxes of good opinions one is supposed to have. If you can ignore the smug tone when they are talking about which marginalised identities are affected most by the end of the f*cking world, it does at least give you all the facts you need to have, and that can't be a bad thing. Not an easy read, but worth the effort, I think.

An excellent read that covers so many different subject areas. Being written in a format of bite-sized one page chunks makes it an accessible book for all. Despite it being over 300 pages long it barely scratches the surface but provides many access points for those that want to delve deeper ... let's be clear, that should be all of us. A book to share around in the hope it inspires all to make ongoing positive climate and environmental changes in their lives.

I have been feeling helpless and overwhelmed by climate change and reading this book is the first step in educating myself on the topic.
The second step is taking action. Which is why I started a digital book club JUST to read this book. Let's learn together!

This book includes an extraordinary collection of facts, figures, and insights into the challenges we face along with solutions to deal with the topic of climate change. This is a must read for anyone looking for a comprehensive education on this important topic.

Much gratitude to Seth Godin for being a champion of this publication.

I gave this book as a gift to my husband, but he's reading so much of it to me that I feel like a second-hand reader.
The book is fabulous with easy to understand, connect and convey messages. Give it as a gift. It's also a larger book, so it's a statement piece when left out on a table to invite more conversations.

I found “The Carbon Almanac” to be a valuable and eye-opening read. The collaborative nature of the book provides a well-rounded view of the climate crisis, with plenty of actionable advice. It’s a great reference for anyone interested in making a positive impact on the environment. Highly recommend!