BETTING THE EARTH: HOW WE CAN STILE WIN THE BIGGEST GAMBLE OF ALL TIME

摘要

I first learned of Betting the Earth when the Gonzaga Law School chapter of the Federalist Society invited me to debate its author, John Kunich. I later learned that the Gonzaga debate was part of Kunich's in formal tour of Federalist Society chapters across the country. Because cli mate change seems to have a macabre sense of humor, our event ended up being cancelled due to a large snow storm. "Global warming debate cancelled due to blizzard" was the inevitable headline announcing that the event would be rescheduled. This sort of cheap rhetoric is not surprising. However, what did surprise me is that Kunich is not a climate change de nier (or what the influential climate change writer Joe Romm memorably calls "climate zombies"). Betting the Earth is not an anti-scientific denial of climate change. Indeed, Kunich notes that part of his motivation for writing the book is to help overcome what he sees as the dangerous politi cization of the study of and response to climate change. Noting that there are no "easy answers" to the "important questions about our planet's well being," Betting the Earth does not set out concrete proposals to address climate change (307).