Virtual Lancaster

The Burning Question is…a bold new book, written by an honorary
research fellow at Lancaster University, which seeks to challenge the
world’s attitude to burning fuel – and will have its official launch this week.

Mike Berners-Lee, who also runs
award-winning, climate change business ‘Small World Consulting’ from
the Lancaster Environment Centre, has co-penned the book,  published last week, with Guardian journalist Duncan Clark.

An
official launch will be hosted by Environment Centre on Friday 26th April. Mike will give a short
presentation about the book and there will be time for questions and
discussion. Refreshments will be provided.

With testimonials from a high-ranking collection of experts including
former Vice President of the United States Al Gore (“fascinating,
important and highly recommended”), Eden Project founder Sir Tim Smit
(“Terrific”) and The Last Generation author Fred Pearce (“Brilliant”),
the book has already achieved its fair share of praise and kudos.

Despite
all efforts to save energy and create more fuel efficiency, carbon
emissions are still soaring sky high, warn the authors, and, so far,
green warriors at all levels, have failed to reduce global warming, or
even make a noticeable dent in our emissions curve.

The Burning
Question argues that the only way to tackle this is to demand that the
world leaves its abundance of fossil fuel-rich reserves, worth trillions
of dollars, in the ground.

It then takes a feet-on-the-ground
look at this as a possibility, examines the barriers, and then explores,
in real terms, the potential side effects.

Would the carbon bubble burst with a bang? Would the economy sink? Would oil giants crash?

Or could it be a smooth transition to a green future?

 “This
transition will only happen if the world wakes up,” argues author Mike
Berners Lee, who lives in Kendal. “The book is written in a way that
broadens people’s understanding and then gets right to the heart of the
big issues on climate change.

“We hope people will gain a proper
understanding of what’s going on and that big concepts, not widely and
properly understood, will be brought to light.

“We want readers
to feel this ‘tells it like it is’, doesn’t shy away from the problem
and that, despite all this, there are still grounds for hope.”

And
to that end, the book concludes with a realistic call to action which
focuses on what we can all do as individuals – the ripple effect.

“With a big global issue such as this, the problem is what individuals can actually do?” adds Mike. “We are all so critical.

 Why
are we so asleep about this? It’s perceived as an abstract problem of
the future. We have been receptive to sabotage of the truth. We now need
to pursue what’s true.

“Here we are trying to present some
joined up thinking – science, politics, technology, psychology,
sociology and behavioural activity.”

The book, which also
examines some of the myths surrounding climate change and so-called
energy efficiency, was a year in the making.

It follows hot on
the heels of Mike’s first highly acclaimed green bestseller How Bad Are
Bananas? which examined the carbon footprint in detail.

• The paperback book is available, priced £9.99, from Amazon and good bookshops now

• Please let Helen Boulton
(h.boultonATlancaster.ac.uk) know if you would like to attend the launch event.