Christiana Figueres

Tom Rivett-Carnac

In The Future We Choose, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac—who led negotiations for the United Nations during the historic Paris Agreement of 2015—have written a cautionary but optimistic book about the world’s changing climate and the fate of humanity. The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a regenerative world that has net-zero emissions. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head-on, with determination and optimism. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us what governments, corporations, and each of us can, and must, do to fend off disaster.

Surviving the Climate Crisis

The Future We Choose

Cory Forsyth

Scary, but also galvanizing and ultimately inspiring

The past year has produced so many unprecedented natural disasters -- heat waves, raging fires, hurricanes, torrential rainfalls and floods -- that it's no longer possible to not stand up and take notice of how, and how quickly, our climate is changing. This book helps move one from despair to optimism, from passive worry to action.

"In this cautionary but optimistic book, Figueres and Rivett-Carnac--the architects of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement--tackle arguably the most urgent and consequential challenge humankind has ever faced: the world's changing climate and the fate of humanity. In The Future We Choose, the authors outline two possible scenarios for the planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris targets for carbon dioxide emission reduction. In the other, they describe what it will take to create and live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head on, with determination and optimism. How we all of us address the climate crisis in the next thirty years will determine not only the world we will live in but also the world we will bequeath to our children and theirs. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us, in no uncertain terms, what governments, corporations, and each of us can and must do to fend off disaster"--

Rebecca

It’s not a climate change how to guide necessarily, and I don’t think it has to be. Instead, it’s a painting of two futures and a story telling about the impact of those futures. It’s optimistic, hopeful, and inspiring. This feels like the JFK speech about putting a man on the moon - overly optimistic, not entirely actionable, but a rallying cry that we can all internalize and work toward. 

Suffice to say, I never thought I would cry happy tears reading a book on climate change. But this book gave me hope and made me think that maybe we could pull this off after all.

Jake Anderson

A Los Angeles hotel with a haunting history. A missing young woman. A disturbing video followed by a shocking discovery. A cold-case mystery that has become an internet phenomenon--and for one determined journalist, a life-changing quest toward uncomfortable truths. Twenty-one-year-old Vancouver student Elisa Lam was last heard from on January 31, 2013, after she checked into downtown L.A.'s Cecil Hotel--a 600-room building with a nine-decade history of scandal and tragedy. The next day, Elisa vanished. A search of the hotel yielded nothing. More than a week later, complaints by guests of foul-smelling tap water led to a grim discovery: Elisa's nude body floating in a rooftop water tank, in an area extremely difficult to access without setting off alarms. The only apparent clue was a disturbing surveillance video of Elisa, uploaded to YouTube in hopes of public assistance. As the eerie elevator video went viral, so did the questions of its tens of millions of viewers. Was Elisa's death caused by murder, suicide, or paranormal activity? Was it connected to the Cecil's sinister reputation? And in that video, what accounted for Elisa's strange behavior? With the help of web sleuths and investigators from around the world, journalist Jake Anderson set out to uncover the facts behind a death that had become a macabre internet meme, as well as a magnet for conspiracy theorists. In poring through Elisa's revealing online journals and social media posts, Anderson realized he shared more in common with the young woman than he imagined. His search for justice and truth became a personal journey, a dangerous descent into one of America's quiet epidemics. Along the way, he exposed a botched investigation and previously unreported disclosures from inside sources who suggest there may have been a corporate conspiracy and a police cover-up. In Dark Waters, Anderson chronicles eye-opening discoveries about who Elisa Lam really was and what--or whom--she was running from, and presents shocking new evidence that may re-open one of the most chilling and obsessively followed true crime cases of the century.

The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam

Dark Waters

Kat A

Can agree with most other reviews about this book. It didn't have a solid theme or organization. Needs an editor. Overall it's a good first draft and has potential but the author really needs to figure out what message he wants to portray and stick with that. I gave it three stars because despite all this it was an easy and fast read and for the most part kept me engaged.

Ashling Brown

What is there to say about this book other than 'READ IT NOW.' 

I think this book's message and information are essential and should be taught all around the world. It's genuinely shocking and upsetting to me how ignorant some people are towards climate change and the effects it will have on future generations, so much so that I often don't talk about it due to getting upset easily over subjects I'm deeply passionate about!

This book was my first environmental, scientific book that I have ever read, and I am so glad that I picked it up. The information-packed inside this book was so important and eye-opening that I have managed to make multiple sustainable choices in my life since reading. 

"The hour is late, and the moment of consequence, so long delayed, is now upon us. Do we watch the world burn, or do we choose to do what is necessary to achieve a different future?"

I often put this book down and just sat staring at nothing, my brain filled with information that was entirely new for me. I thought a lot throughout reading this book, and I felt a lot after reading this book. I researched and changed parts of my life that I knew weren't sustainable or particularly good for the environment, and still, I'm thinking of more ways to change further and developed my life to be more sustainable. 

This book makes you think, and I loved that aspect of it. If you are looking to increase your knowledge and learn how you can make a difference, this book is for you.

Toni Anderson

National Readers' Choice Awards finalist in Romantic Suspense Danger once again laps at the shores of Barkley Sound, the Graveyard of the Pacific.... It may be summer, but schoolteacher Anna Silver's trip to the coastal town of Bamfield is anything but a vacation. She's on the run, desperate to stay one step ahead of her father's murderer and determined to track down the one man she's been told to trust: her father's old cell mate, Brent Carver. But when she finds him, she discovers not a kind, elderly artist but a dangerously hot alpha male with blood on his hands. Loyal to the core, Brent would never turn away his friend's daughter when she comes seeking help. He can't deny Anna his protection...just as he can't deny the instantaneous attraction he struggles to keep in check. But as their passion blazes out of control, a sadistic killer is on the hunt to stop Anna from uncovering his dark secrets.

Lynn Braden

Anna Silver's father contacts her with a cell phone message that he is in trouble and tells her that he has mailed proof of illegal activities in his current company to a place where she will know to find it. For her safety and protection, he sends her to his former cellmate, Brent Carver. Right after he gets the message off, Anna's father is killed by a subway train. Anna knows his death wasn't an accident, so she follows his instructions, putting her in touch with a man she hoped she'd never meet. Brent's loyalty to Anna's father doesn't allow him to turn her away when she comes seeking help, but it isn't long before he and Anna realize that the trouble stirred up by her father would put them both in mortal danger.

Dark Waters is what a romantic suspense book should be. There is a lot of action and adventure along with a dandy mystery for the reader to solve right along with the characters. The love story between the two protagonists is believable and steamy, while the characters search for clues and stay one step ahead of the enemy. There are some points in the story when the reader must suspend disbelief, but not enough to take away from the enjoyment of the story. Although some of the problems are resolved a bit quickly and the denouement is a little corny, overall Dark Waters is a very sound romantic suspense story with multiple layers that keep it interesting.

Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac--who led negotiations for the United Nations during the historic Paris Agreement of 2015--have written a cautionary but optimistic book about the world's changing climate and the fate of humanity. How all of us address the climate crisis in the next thirty years will determine not only the world we will live in but also the world we will bequeath to our children and theirs. The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world. They argue for confronting the climate crisis headon, with determination and optimism. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us, in no uncertain terms, what governments, corporations, and each of us can and must do to fend off disaster.

The Future We Choose Surviving the Climate Crisis

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