Turned Out Nice: How the British Isles will Change as the World Heats Up

by Marek Kohn (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2011

  $3.28

  Marek Kohn's Turned Out Nice is nothing less than a portrait of Britain (and Ireland) a hundred years in the future, based on scientific evidence surrounding climate change that is available to us now. Beautifully written, and imbued with a love of these islands' unique landscapes, it will change they way you think about the climate and global warming. It is not an alarmist tract. Kohn is a fiercely honest writer and a biologist by training. He makes it clear that some parts of Britain will be more like the nicer regions of today's Mediterranean. But we will pay a price for this good fortune. Our parks will be arid brown fields; private automobile use will probably be unheard of; water will be severely rationed; significant stretches of our beloved coastline will have been sacrificed to the sea. Floods on these coasts and in certain river valleys will make them uninhabitable. Some of our flora and fauna will have vanished; exotic animals and pests will flourish. Vast numbers of marginalised human migrants will be here. Surveillance and restriction of our movements will be taken for granted. Walking in what is left of 'nature' will be nearly impossible. Terrible summer fires in our upland areas will be commonplace. As the severe flooding in Somerset shows, Turned Out Nice is more relevant than ever: it is a report from the near future that we cannot afford to ignore.

• Used

  Paperback
  2010

  $5.85

  This book is a precise and fiercely honest projection of what we know about climate change into the future of one small corner of the planet: the islands of Britain and Ireland. Kohn looks closely at six landscapes and one city to show how our world will have altered over the course of the century. These islands will, compared with the parched Mediterranean lands, let alone a devastated Africa, be fairly benign places to live. But we will have paid a terrible price for our relative good fortune. Our parks will be arid brown fields; private automobile use unheard of; water will be severely rationed; significant stretches of our beloved coastline will have been sacrificed to the sea. Some of our flora and fauna will have vanished; exotic animals and pests will flourish. Vast numbers of marginalized human migrants will be here. Surveillance and restriction of our movements will be taken for granted. Walking in what is left of 'nature' will be nearly impossible. Terrible summer fires in our upland areas will be commonplace. This is a report from the near future that we cannot afford to ignore.