What do you think?
Rate this book
261 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 4, 2019
Io ho quattro figli che hanno appena cominciato a cercare la loro strada nella vita. Cosa devo dirgli? Come spiegargli quello che sta succedendo? Mi è insopportabile demotivarli, strappargli la fiducia nel futuro. È doloroso vedere il loro sguardo abbuiarsi quando leggono il giornale o guardano un video su YouTube che parla del declino del pianeta nei prossimi cent’anni. Provo una fitta allo stomaco quando mi chiedono: «Ci avete distrutto il pianeta?».
Andri Snær Magnason sceglie di arricchire quest’indagine penetrante e documentatissima aggiungendo sue memorie, riferimenti alla mitologia e alla religione e altro ancora; il tutto per sensibilizzare e renderci consapevoli dell’impatto che ogni giorno abbiamo sull’ambiente, ognuno di noi può e deve fare la propria parte per cercare quantomeno di salvare il salvabile.Snow White can’t buy six-packs
the dwarves are seven
seven chicken legs, seven cans of coke,
seven dirty dishes, seven dirty sheets,
seven filthy boxers, seven days a week
as usual she was going to toss
seven bottles of beer in her basket
but she changed her mind
bought herself a bottle of red wine
and seven poisoned apples.
in other words: all subsumed in a deafening buzz.while there is no shortage of books about climate change, ecosystemic catastrophe, global upheaval, or accelerating extinction rates, far too few (at least for english-language readers) offer perspectives from outside the anglo world. andri snær magnason's on time and water (um tímann og vatnið), while still addressing such subjects, is written in a vein all its own. the icelandic author (and former presidential candidate)'s new book contains a voice so unlike its stateside brethren. with an engaging (and seamless) blend of science, autobiography, travelogue, nature writing, history, and mythology, magnason's approach is less polemical and more philosophical, poetic, and pondering. on time and water, perhaps because of magnason's lifelong contemplation of glaciers, eyes the long game and, in doing so, offer a much more reflective treatise on climate change than more reactionary works. also, the portions with the dalai lama are simply superb. on time and water may well be one of the best (certainly best written) books in the climate change canon.
we are so hypnotized by progress and revolutions that our relationship with the future is characterized by irresponsibility. for us, a hundred years is like a whole eternity, a thing beyond imagination. one hundred years seems such a long time that we don't react when a scientist shows us that if things keep going at this rate, substantial disasters will have occurred by 2100. we shrug our shoulders, as if that doesn't concern us.