Westporter David Pogue wants us to know we can adapt to the warmer days. Of his recent tome, How to Prepare for Climate Change (HPCC) he assures us: “There are things we can all do about it.”
In David's many books, shows, and TED talks, his explanations untangle the hairiest of snares. Likewise, he tackles this daunting subject with compelling solutions, quick-read prose, and, yes, wit. As well, David approaches HPCC in a matter-of-fact manner that is enabling rather than enervating.
Thoroughly researched, HPCC addresses every eco-concern imaginable and a smattering of others one couldn’t possibly fathom. (Hard to imagine he averages 7.5 hours of sleep each night. I would have guessed three, four tops, upon perusal of a single chapter.)
Consider some facts and advice on how to battle rising temps:
How Heat Affects Us
Heat dries us out, weakens us, impairs our thinking, makes us more argumentative. It also stresses our hearts, which might not be an immediately obvious side effect.
Ordinarily, a teaspoon’s worth of sweat, cumulatively evaporating from all over your body, can cool your bloodstream a full 2 degrees. (A liquid evaporating from any surface cools it down.)
But when it’s humid out, sweat doesn’t evaporate from your skin, because it has no place to evaporate to. The air around you doesn’t want it; it’s already saturated with water vapor. That’s why humidity magnifies the effects of heat waves.
He outlines its corporeal impact, such as (at the extreme):
Heatstroke. This is the final stage of heat injury. Your body can’t control its own temperature anymore. Your internal temp spikes above 104°. Congratulations: You’ve got hyperthermia (heatstroke).
And provides immediate adaptive solutions:
Designate a “cool room.” A typical basement stays at around 55° all year long, no matter how hot or cold it is above the ground. A basement is a great place to hang out when it’s baking outside.
Cool packs. Mattresses and couch cushions trap body heat. Fight back with refrigerated cold packs or even plastic water bottles, hot-water bottles, or buckwheat pillows you’ve chilled in the freezer.
Cool shower. A short, lukewarm or even cool shower can drop your body temperature in seconds. Let your body and hair air-dry. There’s nothing to stop you from taking a few of these showers a day.
Cool sheets. Chill your bedsheets in the freezer. They’ll feel amazing.
A born entertainer (Composer, Broadway music arranger), his writing entices readers to learn more about the issue (It’s 625 pages long, so there’s a lot to learn). At the book’s heart: not only will adaptive action help the individual, but it will also help all of us.
Though David’s a man with a million ideas, this book wasn’t one of them. He approached publisher Simon & Schuster with another book. He presented his extensive pitch, their collective synapses buzzed, and they asked him to write a book about prepping for climate change instead.
Just so happened, David loved the idea. In part because “I was eco-depressed.” He promptly ticked off the chapters, “How to reinforce your house, how to talk to kids, how to invest, how to insure, how gardening would change, where to live.” Then he says, “Neither title or outline changed from that minute.”
He also realized no one else had done it. Sure, there’s a bunch of lit writ about how to mitigate global warming, discussions on steps that corporations and businesses are taking to tamp their toxicity. But getting through our day alongside of it? Nothing.
He spent the next two years voraciously researching how to prepare for and live with an environment going rogue. The hardest part? “I didn’t know anything about it. I’m not an investment guy, a child psychiatrist, or an agriculture guru. It’s all based on expert interviews.” Including information culled from climate episodes he hosted for NOVA.
HPCC lets you know where to move (away from the coast), what to invest in (China’s snapping up arable land all over the world, so…), best ways to grab the attention of government officials (don’t use social media), treatments for depression and anxiety (there are therapists for that), and much, much… much more.
He also throws in interesting facts, such as:
In Phoenix, Arizona, where it can get over 120°F, people have learned to keep oven mitts in the car.
The melting ice sheets in Greenland are unlocking vast deposits of uranium, gold, and rare-earth metals; over 100 new mines are in development.
Starbucks is developing new, climate-resilient coffee beans.
New Orleans will spend the next 50 years constructing the most ambitious (and expensive) coastal-protection system in history.
No denying there’s worrisome stuff brewing. But David’s optimism and humor, judiciously speckled throughout, make contemplating this potential palatable. In fact, he concludes his 600-plus pages with a chapter entitled Where To Find Hope. And hope is our world’s most powerful medicine.
How to Prepare for Climate Change
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