The Facts of the Matter: Looking Past Today’s Rhetoric on the Environment and Responsible Development

This book by David Parish certainly makes you think. In today's world we are bombarded with news from media that is largely based on what drives up their ratings than facts. It's so early to get swept away in the frenzy of some promise made by big business, big government or big social media site to bring about a meaningful and positive change in the world. They exploit our desire and need to do good to our fellow human beings, animals, in preserving global resources, etc. But how much of this is based on facts? How much is backed by science? That is the premise of this book. Rather than conforming to the social norms and following the herd, the author in this books wants us to decipher the message and fact check for ourselves to see if the message makes sense to us. The biggest campaign that our society has collective undertaken is that of slowing down global warming. Instead of working on better technologies and extracting all that we can from the resource we extract, we go about banning the extraction of resources in the name of reducing our carbon foot print. People switch to green energy not knowing how much resources are being used to make that technology green. We are thrilled about electric cars to reduce our consumption of fossil fuel and reduce carbon emission but ever stop to wonder how much of the same fossil fuel and it's derivatives we are using to make those high capacity batteries? 

We all want to do good in the world and help third and fourth world countries become self sufficient. By  banning extraction of resources these countries sit upon it's impossible to bring their living standards to acceptable levels. In need to raise their living conditions it's important for these countries to rely on their share of natural resources they have been blessed with and be able to exploit it. There has to be a fine balance between reducing your carbon footprint and letting exploitation of resources to benefit mankind.

Overall, this book is a thought provoking read and I recommend it for anyone who is up for some fact checking.

P.S: Feel free to leave comments if you think my review helps you in picking up your next read or just if it resonates with you.