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The Parrot and the Igloo by David Lipsky

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The Parrot and the Igloo

Climate and the Science of Denial

by David Lipsky

Narrator Mike Chamberlain

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Length 18 hours 45 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“Climate science and climate change denial is hot right now. But scientists have been warning us about climate change and global warming for over 100 years. Author David Llipsky chronicles the rise of industrialization in the 1900s and the resulting increase in carbon emissions. He notes that scientists very early on determined rising global temperatures were directly caused by industrial pollution. By the 1950s, it was commonly understood by politicians, scientists and the general public that global warming was the reality and the reason behind it was carbon. Then the backlash began and climate deniers began spreading lies and disinformation about climate change and whether it was even real. This is a wildly entertaining and sometimes exasperating book. Lipsky does a masterful job telling the story of how we got to where we are now: With half of the population convinced the climate crisis is real and the other half equally convinced it is a hoax.”
— Rachel • Quail Ridge Books

Summary

In 1956, the New York Times prophesied that once global warming really kicked in, we could see parrots in the Antarctic. In 2010, when science deniers had control of the climate story, Senator James Inhofe and his family built an igloo on the Washington Mall and plunked a sign on top: AL GORE'S NEW HOME: HONK IF YOU LOVE CLIMATE CHANGE. In The Parrot and the Igloo, bestselling author David Lipsky tells the astonishing story of how we moved from one extreme (the correct one) to the other.

The story begins with a tale of three inventors—Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla—who made our technological world, not knowing what they had set into motion. Then there are the scientists who sounded the alarm once they identified carbon dioxide as the culprit of our warming planet. And we meet the hucksters, zealots, and crackpots who lied about that science and misled the public in ever more outrageous ways. Lipsky masterfully traces the evolution of climate denial, exposing how it grew out of early efforts to build a network of untruth about products like aspirin and cigarettes.

Featuring an indelible cast of heroes and villains, mavericks and swindlers, The Parrot and the Igloo delivers a real-life tragicomedy—one that captures the extraordinary dance of science, money, and the American character.

Science & Technology Nonfiction Environment & Nature