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A groundbreaking, vital examination of a powerful—and extremely controversial—stopgap solution to looming climate catastrophe
“It would be great if humanity could forgo solar geoengineering and get climate change under control before the world goes off the rails. But I no longer believe in this possibility.”
Earth stands at a tipping point. As we fail to curtail emissions fast enough, our planet stares down a cascade of imminent, catastrophic, and irreversible disaster triggered by climate change. Yet a potent technology already exists to buy us more time: solar geoengineering. Through methods such as atmospheric aerosols, human-generated cirrus clouds, and solar sails, we humans can—at least in the short term—slow the Earth’s warming. Should we?
Award-winning science writer Thomas Ramge’s Dimming the Sun is his provocative, informative, urgent, and necessary exploration of this intriguing stopgap solution. Ramge shows us how the science works, what the risks are—both geophysical and political—and how the international community might come together to agree on and regulate a safe and effective plan for geoengineering. And while he identifies the unknowns about the technology that remain, he believes this very uncertainty demands our full attention. With time to avert the worst of climate change rapidly running out, he makes a forceful case that the most responsible course of action is to dramatically increase research on solar geoengineering now—before it’s too late.
“Peterson helps us see the motives and ideas behind eugenics as deeply embedded in the history of racism, imperialism, and colonialism. This book could not be more timely.”—James E. Strick, author of Sparks of Life: Darwinism and the Victorian Debates Over Spontaneous Generation
“Indispensable. This formidable history of eugenics helps us understand its continued importance in the modern discussion—from the American roots of Nazi atrocity to the continued use of eugenic practices today. It should be required reading.”—John Slattery, PhD, Executive Director, Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law, Duquesne University
“Reckoning with the eugenic past in all its complexity is a task for our times. In The Shortest History of Eugenics, Erik L. Peterson provides a concise survey that nevertheless gives that complexity its due, explaining how scientific ideas, medical techniques, economic incentives, and political ideologies combined to such ruinous effect, with legacies that persist right up to the present.”—Gregory Radick, author of Disputed Inheritance and professor of history and philosophy of science, University of Leeds
“A straight-talking, rollicking, and comprehensive romp through the history of eugenics. If you're new to the subject, this is an excellent place to start.”—Subhadra Das, author of Uncivilised: Ten Lies That Made the West
“Concise and informative, The Shortest History of Eugenics clearly shows that ideas about (white) race betterment both preceded and followed the few decades we often describe as the eugenics era. The belief in the existence of inner essences that makes us who we are and in the societal need to control reproduction is still alive and well, and Peterson’s book is a vivid reminder of how these beliefs have resulted in past horrors that we had better avoid in the future. A tour-de-force.”—Kostas Kampourakis, author of Understanding Evolution
