#30: David Pogue, How to Prepare for Climate Change: A Practical Guide to Surviving the Chaos

[kareila]

David Pogue, the well known technical author and pundit, has written a book full of practical advice on how to prepare for the coming decades of extreme weather in the United States, which as someone who lives in tornado country, is largely the sort of advice I was already familiar with. But fully half the chapters are devoted to surviving specific types of climate threats, and I ended up mostly skipping those. And I don't know how many people will be willing to uproot their lives and follow the advice to move north of the 42nd parallel to avoid rising temperatures.

I did appreciate the parts of the book that acknowledged the prevalence of anxiety and depression caused by the inevitability of climate change, and gave examples of opportunities to organize for political and practical action. But I was disappointed to visit the website recommended as a resource for finding therapists for treating climate-motivated mental health issues, only to discover that there were no listings for the entire southeastern US.

The parts of the book I'm most likely to revisit are the ones describing various recommended home improvement projects, especially those involving alternate sources of electrical power during grid outages, which definitely seem to already be happening more frequently.