Review: Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
By Bill McKibben
New York: Henry Holt, 2019: 256 pp.
This is not a particularly ground-breaking or distinguished book, but it is a thoughtful and clearly-written summary of some of the pressing moral and technological problems we face in 2020. Primarily, according to McKibben, these are climate change, genetic engineering, and artificial intelligence. Although there are still a few evangelical deniers, most educated people would agree that his chosen issues represent significant challenges to our 21st-century world.
The title indicates a bleak point of view, but the book as a whole lays the groundwork for optimism. The practical information on how we could switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy in time to save the planet is inspiring and easy to grasp. He compares the effort needed to the building and transformation of American factories to win the second World War. He doesn’t evoke the slogan “We Can Do It,” but he makes it clear that we could if we mustered the collective will. An example of the energy makeover of a working-class Vermont home brings the necessary transformation for individual Americans into focus. The immediate reduction in energy costs for the family provides a strong, practical argument against the alternative: spending billions to confront damages from climate change and continuing to subsidize fossil-fuel industry millionaires.
If you are not already resolved to be informed and politically engaged this year, at least resolve to read Falter. It isn’t wise to continue to play a game without knowing what the stakes are. Human existence is too important to be played in the moment to the beat.
Bill McKibben’s website
