It sure is old school to read books all the time--everyone knows social media is where it's at in my business. It's hard to find real estate books---either the "educators" (AKA seminar providers) don't feel an urge to write, make more money doing seminars, or don't figure their audience would read a book, if they did write one. It's probably all of the above. Sobering thing is that the major seminar folks are the same people (or descendants therefrom) who were doing seminars in the 80's. Says a lot about the industry. My point? I did get a little off track there--old age setting in. It's more fun to read books about non-real estate topics and relate the content to real estate. That's also often disturbing-- on so many levels.
The latest "green" book underway is The Age of Global Warming, A History. Author is Rupert Darwall, another UK author (US is way behind on this sort of thing).
Darwall basically runs through the last 50+ years of climate concern from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) to the present politics as usual approach of ACTING like positive things are happening when they aren't. It's a dark tale because we (as in humans) haven't really come very far.
The science is better and more people are concerned about the future, but the institutional/governmental elements within our society cannot get beyond short term political and financial priorities. Change is always left till later on someone else's watch. AND it always seems that those individuals who surrendered to their venality escape the unpleasant consequences that might one day deter their successors from making similar misguided choices---those go on and on.
Ironically, I started college in 1965, so have been around for much of the time span of the book. Most of that period I was either an environmental scientist or former environmental scientist. As it turns out, science is not high on list of factors that drive decisions regarding climate change. It's like we're all careening down a narrow mountain road in a car of questionable quality being driven by someone who has never been at the wheel before, has dismal eyesight, but who is an expert at forecasting oil futures.
Makes perfect sense, if you want to go over the side!
I've got a about a quarter of the book to go, but will share my impression that as climate change data points increasingly toward more drastic effects in shorter and shorter time frames, the political inertia hardly changes. There's either a belief in miracles or a cynical fatalism reigns supreme among our alleged leaders. Don't get me started on the "press".
