Tim Flannery (1) (1956–)

I only had one problem with this collection of Australian exploration fragments...each snippet of diary or memoir left me wanting more.

This is a well-chosen collection of accounts from diverse viewpoints. I especially liked the rare Aboriginal account, seeing how different in tone they were from the typical European story-telling template.

I always knew the Australian outback was an unforgiving environment, but these accounts brought this home in a more personal way. Likewise, I knew that show more Aborigines had been treated badly, but was viscerally shocked at one of the few accounts from a woman and her casual description of the abduction of an Aboriginal woman - presumably for a servant. You can't just steal people!

The final account was well chosen - the end of an era for several reasons. The book has left me with much to think on and much to explore. show less

In a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging

Tim Flannery is the auditor of our filth. Atmosphere of Hope is 75% revolting statistics detailing how we have and continue to mess up the ecosphere. The numbers are so huge that any attempt at remediation would take a planetwide initiative of such massive proportions, duration and expense as to be impossible. Sequestering carbon dioxide by the gigagtonne is required, but not doable. Two key governments, in Canada and Australia, are led by show more climate change deniers of the Don’t Worry Be Happy dysfunction. And now that the UN is inviting corporates to the table, no effective global solutions are possible.

Flannery is a judge on the Virgin Earth Challenge panel, so he sees a constant flow of ideas and proposals. They all seem to require a complete change of modus operandi, like all the cement produced worldwide seeded with biochar to make it carbon negative. At 80% of global production, we could sequester one gigagtonne. Negative carbon plastics could sequester another gigatonne, but only if we made all plastics this way and quintupled production. Now consider we need to sequester 18 gigatonnes per year just reduce atmospheric CO2 by one part per million. We’re currently pushing the rate up from 400ppm.

And this is just CO2 in the atmosphere.

Atmosphere of Hope is a quick read, a compendium of bite-sized facts and figures, detailing the situation in mid 2015. The sections on remediation are interesting and the concepts innovative, but there is always the uncomfortable feeling that two wrongs don’t make a right. Pumping metallic microparticles into the stratosphere is almost certainly the wrong way to fix the mess.

In They Might Be Giants, Holmes explains we weren’t booted from the Garden of Eden; we never left. But we are guests here, and extremely rude ones. First thing we have to do is stop insulting the hostess and wrecking the house. Until we do that, all the convoluted remediation schemes will just continue to be hope.

David Wineberg show less

Why do kangaroos hop? It sounds like the start to a marsupial joke. Tim Flannery wants to tell you the punch line. Chasing Kangaroos is a fun exploration into the evolution of kangaroos all the way up to the extinction of Australia's megaflora. Flannery will explain the journey of kangaroos across the planet as Europeans brought them to places like London and Hawaii. Royalty wanted them as exotic pets to roam their palace grounds. Flannery's style of explanation makes every kangaroo-related show more subject matter interesting and entertaining. I found myself pondering facts like the footbones of animals, kangaroo chromosomes, why some kangaroos do not hop, why some kangaroos live in trees, and how they are related to the possum. I know more about the male anatomy of a kangaroo than I ever wanted to know. For male readers, heads up. Flannery will urge you to trace your own male anatomy for evidence of ancestral evolution of the scrotum before the penis. You're welcome.
At the end of Chasing Kangaroos Flannery ends on a hopeful note, speculating that some species previously thought extinct might actually still be around. show less

Climate Change is a frustrating issue: not because of any doubt about its veracity, but because "sensible politicians" (if that is a possible combination of words) pay lip service but, with a knowing smile, tell us that the economy must come first... second, third and fourth. We have known about the dangers of our love of fossil fuels for decades and yet, the financial situation always makes now the wrong time to deal with the problem.

The frustration comes from the fact that, whatever show more progress is made, it is never enough. The great danger with this is that people are then easily persuaded that loony greens will never be satiated: it isn't worth doing anything because we're still going to die. This book is a useful antidote to that attitude.

DON'T think that Tim Flannery lets us off lightly, he makes it clear that we must do more but, he is generous with his praise for what we have done. He also has a saintly faith in human beings. He is convinced, and convincing, in his belief that humans always come to the right decision in the end, and often, just in time.

The best part of the book is the final chapter which talks of the people taking action and dragging their governments with them. There is a useful list of contact organisations for the newly activated climate fighter and one is left with a real sense of hope for our continued habitation of this beautiful planet... but ONLY if we all fight for it! show less