The Long Emergency

Summary

James Kunstler's The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century made a huge impression on readers - and one hopes, on policy makers - when it was first published last year. Just now in paperback, it is even more compelling in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which, in addition to causing massive destruction, slowed down oil and gas production out of the Gulf of Mexico. And with the growing demand India and China are putting on the world's oil supply, and the ongoing concerns of an influenza pandemic, we are witnessing many of Kunstler's predications come true at a startlingly fast rate. In The Long Emergency, he delivers a lucid and straightforward glimpse at the global changes that lie ahead of us. It is a controversial hit that sparked debate among businessmen, environmentalists, and bloggers, an eye-opening look at the unprecedented challenges we face in the years ahead, as oil runs out and the global systems built on it are forced to change radically.