Carbon ideologies / William T. Vollmann.

Author
Vollmann, William T. [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • New York, New York : Viking, [2018]
  • ©2018
Description
2 volumes : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Availability

Available Online

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Engineering Library - Stacks TK1365.J3 V65 2018 Browse related items Request
  • Location has
  • Vol. 1-v. 2

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    • "No Immediate Danger, the first volume of Carbon Ideologies, [begins] by examining and quantifying the many causes of climate change, from industrial manufacturing and agricultural practices to fossil fuel extraction, economic demand for electric power, and the justifiable yearning of people all over the world to live in comfort. Turning to nuclear power first, Vollmann then recounts multiple visits that he made at significant personal risk over the course of seven years to the contaminated no-go zones and sad ghost towns of Fukushima, Japan, beginning shortly after the tsunami and reactor meltdowns of 2011. Equipped first only with a dosimeter and then with a scintillation counter, he measured radiation and interviewed tsunami victims, nuclear evacuees, anti-nuclear organizers and pro-nuclear utility workers."-- Provided by publisher.
    • "The second volume of William T. Vollmann's epic book about the factors and human actions that have led to global warming begins in the coal fields of West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky, where "America's best friend" is not merely a fuel, but a "heritage." Over the course of four years Vollmann finds hollowed out towns with coal-polluted streams and acidified drinking water; makes covert visits to mountaintop removal mines; and offers documented accounts of unpaid fines for federal health and safety violations and of miners who died because their bosses cut corners to make more money. To write about natural gas, Vollmann journeys to Greeley, Colorado, where he interviews anti-fracking activists, a city planner, and a homeowner with serious health issues from fracking. Turning to oil production, he speaks with, among others, the former CEO of Conoco and a vice president of the Bank of Oklahoma in charge of energy loans, and conducts furtive roadside interviews of guest workers performing oil-related contract labor in the United Arab Emirates. As with its predecessor, No Immediate Danger, this volume seeks to understand and listen, not to lay blame-except in a few corporate and political cases where outrage is clearly due. Vollmann is a carbon burner just like the rest of us; he describes and quantifies his own power use, then looks around him, trying to explain to the future why it was that we went against scientific consensus, continually increasing the demand for electric power and insisting that we had no good alternative." Provided by publisher.
    Notes
    "ABOUT NO GOOD ALTERNATIVE: An eye-opening look at the consequences of coal mining and oil and natural gas production--the second of a two volume work by award-winning author William T. Vollmann on the ideologies of energy production and the causes of climate change"--Penguinrandomhouse.com.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references.
    Contents
    • Volume 1. No immediate danger
    • volume 2. No good alternative.
    Other title(s)
    • No immediate danger
    • No good alternative
    ISBN
    • 9780399563492 ((hardcover : volume 1))
    • 0399563490 ((hardcover : volume 1))
    • 9780525558491 ((hardcover ; : volume 2))
    • 0525558497 ((hardcover ; : volume 2))
    • 9780525558514 ((paperback : v. 2))
    • 0525558519
    • 9780399563515 ((paperback : v. 2))
    • 0399563512
    LCCN
    2018013219
    OCLC
    1026358784
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