‘Hopeful and very readable.’ Photo: Book cover of Nomad Century: How to survive the climate upheaval, by Gaia Vince
Nomad Century: How to survive the climate upheaval, by Gaia Vince
Author: Gaia Vince. Review by Moragh Bradshaw.
This book is subtitled ‘How to survive the climate upheaval’. Given the state of the world my grandson will inherit, I decided to buy it for him as an antidote to the economics he will soon begin studying. I ended up borrowing it myself.
The author is a research fellow, broadcaster and science writer (described as one of the finest). It is an important book, at times challengingly pessimistic, but ultimately hopeful and very readable. It is full of interesting facts and thought-provoking examples, and is well backed up with pages of references.
Populations have migrated for millennia, moving from hot areas to cooler ones, and from cold areas to warmer climes, where food could be obtained. Migrants can bring fresh blood and new ideas to their new homes, but how can they all be fed? Today there is enough food for all of us – if it is distributed fairly. The USA produces eight times as much food as it needs.
The main gist of the book is that fire, drought and floods – the climate crisis – are going to make large parts of the world uninhabitable before the end of this century. Many people are already moving, or will have to move. In the past there were fewer barriers to movement, and the current punitive policy to migrants is not helping. The book tells of a scheme in Italy where migrants were provided with accommodation and food, and helped to learn a new language, provided they worked in much-needed occupations like construction or caring.
The first chapters of the book cover the way parts of the world will become uninhabitable, and those countries likely to become more habitable – generally, places where arable crops will thrive and where there could be space for more population. Canada and Russia are included as examples of places that could take more people and, with warmer temperatures, grow more arable crops.
Gaia Vince considers that people would be housed in cities, and she shows how these could be built, and how they could be fed. This is likely to necessitate a more plant-based diet – meat will be a treat, as it is for many today. We also learn where the energy to power all this could come from. Solar power, says Gaia Vince, harvested well, provides enough for everyone. A vast solar plant is under construction in northern Australia, energy from which will be transported by cable to needy Singapore.
The book ends with the challenging message: ‘Migration is inevitable, often necessary, and should be facilitated… we know the science, we have the technology… it would be costly in the short term, but we have the money and spend it freely on other things… People will move in their millions – right now, we have a chance to make it work.’
Happily, my grandson wants the book back.
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