One Simple Book To Understand Climate Change – Backstage Climate By Rajan Mehata

Why Do We Need to Understand Climate Change?

We need a simple book to understand Climate Change, as its high time that the climate awareness becomes a mass movement. August 2024 began with devastating news from the Indian state of Kerala. A series of landslides in Wayanad completely washed away the villages of Punjirimattom, Mundakkai, Chooralmala, and Vellarimala. This disaster was one of the deadliest in Kerala’s history, with reports of over 420 fatalities, 397 injuries, and more than 118 people still missing.

While this major calamity caught headlines, the overall climate situation is even worse. According to a new report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India witnessed an alarming escalation of extreme weather events in 2023. The country experienced such events on a staggering 318 out of 365 days, impacting all states and union territories. The consequences were devastating: 3,287 lives lost, 2.21 million hectares of crops damaged, and 124,813 animals killed. Sadly, the situation is no different in other parts of the world.

Our home, our planet, is on fire. Earth, whom we call our mother, is in distress. Should we wait for governments and non-governmental agencies to take action? Don’t we have our own responsibility toward our planet? We certainly do. Today it might be Wayanad; last winter, it was Canada—and it could be us any day!

The first step to solving a problem is to accept and understand it. Perhaps we’ve “progressed” too much; now it’s time to balance it out, as our ancient texts like the Mahabharata have been teaching us, by tending to our environment. This is why I recommend this book to understand climate change. It not only explains the science and politics behind it but also shows how our small actions can significantly impact our environment for the better. Its already too late, at least now we should act so that we don’t reach a point of no return!

Reading Insights

These natural disasters are deeply saddening, and their frequency is increasing. I’ve often been curious about the reasons behind them, but Climate Change as a subject always felt vast and intimidating. The beauty of this book is its simple language. Individual chapters are short, most taking 10 to 12 minutes to finish.

It took me about 5.5 to 6 hours to complete the book. You’ll rarely need to refer to a dictionary while reading. One particular feature is that you can choose to read only specific parts, like the science behind climate change. The author has made it engaging with illustrations and a few mythological anecdotes. While it’s not meant to be entertaining, this book satisfies all your curiosities about Climate Change.

About Backstage Climate (From Amazon)

Backstage Climate aims to demystify this grim reality—the science, politics, and economics behind climate change. It also provides a glimpse of the policies, technology, and solutions that can help us avoid a climate crisis. Awareness is the first step towards change, and this book attempts to explain global warming and climate change in a simple and interesting manner. Going slightly beyond mere awareness, it helps readers connect the dots and develop a perspective on the reasons, impact, and solutions that can help us avoid a climate crisis.

Rajan Mehta is a serial tech entrepreneur who previously held senior positions at companies like Motorola and Nortel. He recently took a sabbatical to study climate change at Harvard and is currently building Climate Action Labs to research and promote initiatives that can help avoid a climate crisis.

My Favourite Quotes

Get This Book Here

You can buy here Backstage Climate: The Science And Politics Behind Climate Change