Good for people who like: hopeful science, new technologies, varied approaches.

39 Ways to Save the Planet is an easy to follow and optimistic overview of ways humanity is fighting climate change, written by Tom Heap, and based on his BBC Radio podcast of the same name. Each chapter focuses on one project which has potential to reduce humanity’s carbon footprint. Sections of the book are split between the areas of energy, nature, farming, society, transport, buildings and industry, and waste. There is an inspiring forward by Arnold Schwarzenegger, which is a great start to a great book.

<i>With so much writing on the climate crisis focused on the crisis, this book is focused on the solutions the people can get behind.</i>

Though there are other important areas of environmental concern, reducing the release of carbon and capturing the excess in the atmosphere due to human development is a vital part of the puzzle, and honing in on this huge area helps keep this book focussed.

Each chapter focuses on a different individual or team. It’s inspiring seeing what people from various industries have a achieved and contributed to environmental projects. This is not a book for finding ways to help the environment as an individual, but it’s a great place to learn about some of the lesser known projects going on, as well as read a summary of projects you may have heard of.

Definitely one to read for a healthy dose of optimism, and maybe even for inspiration to get involved, join the conversation, and come up with new ideas to help the planet. A concise overview of 39 fascinating projects, and a book which is easy to dip in and out of with its concise chapters and sections. A helpful antidote to the reality of climate change.

This book was reviewed by Cathy.

With thanks to Ebury Publishing (Penguin Random House) and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Shelves: Non-Fiction; Environmental Science; October 2021

Written in the style of self-help books, Tom Heap offers 39 ways to fight climate change that is easy to follow with people from all walks of life and in different parts of the world. We have been too familiar with the term “net-zero” and this book was published close to the date of COP26 in Glasgow several months ago, so perhaps it was also meant to take momentum on that occasion as well. Many of us might not really realise the gravity of climate change, and this book is a really fun way to get to know how laypeople could also contribute to the efforts to reach net-zero by 2050.

Tom Heap divides his book into several sections, namely: Energy, Nature, Farming, Society, Transport, Buildings and Industry, and Waste. And by the end of each of the 39 chapters, the author adds a box – still, in the style of self-help – which contains the summary of the chapter using three factors: Desirable Destination, How to get there, and Fringe benefits. Tom Heap is quite an optimist in believing that we could reach net-zero by 2050, so he only offers positive solutions here and leaves us from the discussion on the possibility of climate disasters or how climate change has been impacting our lives so far. It sounds a bit like a toxic positivity, but we could also see that the sole focus of this book is to familiarise us with solutions.

What I particularly like about Tom Heap’s discussion is how he introduces us to people who have been fighting climate change around the world, yet their efforts are still largely unnoticed. Mostly the publication on climate change remains focused on the efforts of policymakers and large key players in the industry, but Tom Heap highlights the works of individuals in various sectors from academia, engineers, anthropologists, and even local farmers who innovate with their farming methods. There are many examples brought from the global south as well, such as Arief Rabik from Indonesia who through his role as the director of Environmental Bamboo Foundation aims to aims to create economic viability for the use of bamboo agroforestry to sequester CO2 and restore degraded tropical forest lands in dozens of countries.

Another interesting example is the work of CAMFED – the Campaign for Female Education – across sub-Saharan Africa to promote education for girls. The author highlights the story of Esnath Divasoni from Zimbabwe, who thanks to the bursary from CAMFED managed to finish her education until she graduated from university despite the fact that she came from a poor family. He notes that an educated woman has more of everything from skills, knowledge, choices of career, wealth, and probably freer in deciding whether she wants to have children or not, as compared to less-educated women. It’s an undeniable fact that with fewer humans, there will be fewer carbon emissions, and thus helping avoid the climate crisis. Most of the time books addressing climate change issues only take into account the science, engineering, and business parts, so an intriguing analysis on how society could behave to address the climate crisis is a commendable part of this book.

I don’t know the philosophy behind the number 39 in this book, perhaps it’s just a way to simplify the points that the author tries to emphasise here. Climate change is a clock-ticking issue, and the popular uptake is that it’s homework for the government and the industry to solve. But using a different approach, the author tries to show here that even individuals could also take part in fighting the climate crisis using simple ways or changing daily habits, such as eating plant-based foods more often and investing in solar panels as an alternative to the fossil-fueled electricity. The practical ways are also helpful for policymakers if they happen to read this book to raise climate issues in parliaments. And besides that, the book also emphasises the fact that many solutions are already scientifically available and some of them are already in the market, yet the economies of scale might have to wait until the general public has become more aware of climate change.

In 39 Ways to Save the Planet, Tom Heap explores a variety of ways in which the world’s carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced. The text is split into seven areas: energy, nature, farming, society, transport, buildings and industry, waste. Topics covered range from the familiar, such as solar and wind energy, through to the more less well known, such as the proposed reintroduction of grazing animals to the Arctic tundra and the benefits of sea grass as a carbon store. Likewise, although I was already familiar with many of the facts within the book (beef production accounts for an estimated 10% of all global carbon emissions), there was also much here that was new to be (rice production is astoundingly un-environmentally friendly).

The author’s approach is one of optimism, emphasising that the science is already out there and we do, as a species, have the tools and ability to successfully address the climate crisis. Whether the initiatives here can be scaled up to the degree required - and within the tight timescales needed – to prevent the planet tipping into irreparable climate change, only time will tell. Given the fact that such decisions lie in the hands of politicians and capitalist society, I cannot say I am optimistic.

A thought-provoking read. Recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and BBC Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An utterly fascinating read. So many logical solutions to our climate crisis. Can we force our MPs to read it?

This is a great reference book to look into if you are interested in things that have already been done to make our planet greener and better. There are 39 ideas presented and described how they are done. I found several of them extremely interesting, although I am sure all of them are good choices. This book really makes you think about better options, and I hope people who invent new things or decide about these things will look into these ideas.