Rating: 
Summary: An excellent exposé of the fossil fuels industry
Review: "The Heat is On" is a well-researched, detailed description of how the coal and oil industries are trying (and succeeding) to confuse the issue of global warming today. In this frightening exposé, Ross Gelbspan shows how the fossil fuel industries are spending millions of dollars to confuse the public through misleading advertising and PR tactics in order to protect their financial interests. The story behind this campaign of lies is astounding.Try a little experiment: talk to several people about global warming. Just bring it up in the conversation, and watch their reaction. I did, and I found that most people laughed, or said, "Yeah, but I heard there's no conclusive evidence to support that." This is the direct effect of the fossil fuel industry's PR campaign. Gelbspan describes how they have done this largely through industry-created groups with misleading names (such as the "Information Council on the Environment"), and pseudo-scientists paid by the industry (such as Pat Michaels, Robert Balling, and Dr. Fred Singer). Gelbspan explains that the industry's groups and scientists have received a great deal of media coverage because journalists, as part of their duty, are compelled to cover both sides of the story. The problem is that the "other side of the story" in this case is a small group who is paid by the industry. The confusion and lies promoted by the fossil fuel industry has been enough to drown out the 2,500 climate scientists around the world who all agree that global warming is a fact. "The Heat is On" offers irrefutable facts to debunk the myth that global warming evidence is inconclusive. For example, many people claim that recent extreme colde and winter weather refutes the theory. Wrong, says Gelbspan: "severe winter weather perfectly consistent with global warming. One effect of climate change is to produce more extreme local temperatures--leading to hotter hots, unseasonal colds, and more severe snowstorms." And temperature changes are just the beginning of the problem. Other effects include outbreaks of disease, proliferation of pests, and extinction of species, among others. The only solution is to cut back on carbon dioxide emissions, probably as much as 60%. This is no easy task, but Gelbspan does offer a plausible "prescription". He suggests that we (1) divert all fossil fuels subsidies ($20 billion/year!) to renewable energy development, (2) implement efficiency standards to require generating facilities to be highly efficient (instead of the current 35% efficiency average), and (3) support developing nations in the conversion with an international currency transaction tax. This is a very powerful book. Hopefully it will help to re-educate the public, and serve as a model for global change. I strongly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Compelling Book about Global Warming
Review: "The Heat is On" is a well-researched, detailed description of how the coal and oil industries are trying (and succeeding) to confuse the issue of global warming today. In this frightening exposé, Ross Gelbspan shows how the fossil fuel industries are spending millions of dollars to confuse the public through misleading advertising and PR tactics in order to protect their financial interests. The story behind this campaign of lies is astounding. Try a little experiment: talk to several people about global warming. Just bring it up in the conversation, and watch their reaction. I did, and I found that most people laughed, or said, "Yeah, but I heard there's no conclusive evidence to support that." This is the direct effect of the fossil fuel industry's PR campaign. Gelbspan describes how they have done this largely through industry-created groups with misleading names (such as the "Information Council on the Environment"), and pseudo-scientists paid by the industry. Gelbspan explains that the industry's groups and scientists have received a great deal of media coverage because journalists, as part of their duty, are compelled to cover both sides of the story. The problem is that the "other side of the story" in this case is a small group who is paid by the industry. The confusion and lies promoted by the fossil fuel industry has been enough to drown out the 2,500 climate scientists around the world who all agree that global warming is a fact. "The Heat is On" offers irrefutable facts to debunk the myth that global warming evidence is inconclusive. For example, many people claim that recent extreme colde and winter weather refutes the theory. Wrong, says Gelbspan: "severe winter weather perfectly consistent with global warming. One effect of climate change is to produce more extreme local temperatures--leading to hotter hots, unseasonal colds, and more severe snowstorms." And temperature changes are just the beginning of the problem. Other effects include outbreaks of disease, proliferation of pests, and extinction of species, among others. The only solution is to cut back on carbon dioxide emissions, probably as much as 60%. This is no easy task, but Gelbspan does offer a plausible "prescription". He suggests that we (1) divert all fossil fuels subsidies ($20 billion/year!) to renewable energy development, (2) implement efficiency standards to require generating facilities to be highly efficient (instead of the current 35% efficiency average), and (3) support developing nations in the conversion with an international currency transaction tax. This is a very powerful book. Hopefully it will help to re-educate the public, and serve as a model for global change. I strongly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: REVERSING AND CASHING IN ON GLOBAL WARMING CATASTROPHE
Review: As evidenced by opposing comments below, media campaigns by the two-plus trillion dollar per year coal-oil industries have effectively confused the public. Even mainstream newspaper editors still ignore the imminent global disaster from the ever increasing, man-made carbon dioxide. Burning fossil fuels increases CO2 in earth's atmosphere, trapping solar energy and unnaturally warming the planet reports Ross Gelbspan in his, "The Heat Is On." As a practicing scientist, I wished to learn more about global warming after listening to Gelbspan's 1998 Oregon lecture, recently re-broadcast on National Public Radio. The Pulitzer Prize winner's book reports on the projected, soon to arrive political and economic turmoil from our increasingly unstable climate. Both the haves and have nots are soon to be increasingly affected by violent storms and droughts lashing our neighborhoods, countries and planet. Making his an even more daunting writing task, Gelbspan includes scholarly reports on the multi-million dollar dysinformation campaign by powerful oil and coal interests worldwide. Their aim: to undermine the credibility of global warming scenarios by the 2,500 scientists working internationally on analyzing the rapidly changing climate, geology and topography. Even the respected conservative William F. Buckley, Jr. recenetly came out in favor of acknowledging global warming and sounded a clarion call to avoid politically polarizing THIS vital issue, Gelbspan reports. Indeed, those eager to cash in early on the big money to be made out of solving the global warming problem (as have British Petroleum and Ford Motor Company) should first become informed by reading the excellent primer, "The Heat Is On," and then by rolling up his and her sleeves for working on the problem ... at least for doing very well by doing good!
Rating:
Summary: Invasion of the weather-snatchers
Review: Coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are dying because of rising water temperatures. Butterflies are migrating northward. Antarctica is melting. Northern hemisphere forests are being decimated by climate-related fires and insect infestations. The Great Plains states are becoming deserts, as are areas of Southern Europe. Tropical diseases such as malaria and West Nile fever are spreading northwards as temperatures rise. These are all facts that are incontestably documented by science today, and each of them is directly linked to the climate change brought about by global warming. The earth and its species are in for a tough time in the century ahead. Extreme weather patterns caused by the heating up of the planet is already creating climatic chaos: horrible downpours and snow in some areas, rising temperatures and drought in others, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, and so on. And for the most part it's been caused by the incredibly high rate of fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions--6 billion tons (and counting) a year. Ross Gelspan argues that the science is clear; most of the world's leading scientists agree that fossil fuels are causing the problem. The rub is that the oil and coal industries--at $10 trillion, the largest in human history--have an obvious vested interest in convincing the public and lawmakers that global warming is all Chicken Little stuff. So they fund a handful of dissenting scientists who, like tobacco industry scientists a few years ago, are in the business of convincing the public that global warming is a myth. Conservative lawmakers have been particularly receptive to their line, and this in turn has affected public policy for the worse. Gelbspan's book is horrifying in its diagnosis of global warming and the extent to which the fossil fuel industry has protected its own interests at the expense of the planet's. But the book also makes clear that the technology to replace the world's use of fossil fuels already exists, and concludes with a plan of action for weaning ourselves from our oil addictions. Make no mistake about it, however: things will get worse, and perhaps much worse, before they get better. We're only beginning to feel the effects of carbon dioxide emissions from 50 years ago. We've yet to feel the whammy from our current frenzied use. When we do, God help us.
Rating:
Summary: Invasion of the weather-snatchers
Review: Coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are dying because of rising water temperatures. Butterflies are migrating northward. Antarctica is melting. Northern hemisphere forests are being decimated by climate-related fires and insect infestations. The Great Plains states are becoming deserts, as are areas of Southern Europe. Tropical diseases such as malaria and West Nile fever are spreading northwards as temperatures rise. These are all facts that are incontestably documented by science today, and each of them is directly linked to the climate change brought about by global warming. The earth and its species are in for a tough time in the century ahead. Extreme weather patterns caused by the heating up of the planet is already creating climatic chaos: horrible downpours and snow in some areas, rising temperatures and drought in others, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, and so on. And for the most part it's been caused by the incredibly high rate of fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions--6 billion tons (and counting) a year. Ross Gelspan argues that the science is clear; most of the world's leading scientists agree that fossil fuels are causing the problem. The rub is that the oil and coal industries--at $10 trillion, the largest in human history--have an obvious vested interest in convincing the public and lawmakers that global warming is all Chicken Little stuff. So they fund a handful of dissenting scientists who, like tobacco industry scientists a few years ago, are in the business of convincing the public that global warming is a myth. Conservative lawmakers have been particularly receptive to their line, and this in turn has affected public policy for the worse. Gelbspan's book is horrifying in its diagnosis of global warming and the extent to which the fossil fuel industry has protected its own interests at the expense of the planet's. But the book also makes clear that the technology to replace the world's use of fossil fuels already exists, and concludes with a plan of action for weaning ourselves from our oil addictions. Make no mistake about it, however: things will get worse, and perhaps much worse, before they get better. We're only beginning to feel the effects of carbon dioxide emissions from 50 years ago. We've yet to feel the whammy from our current frenzied use. When we do, God help us.
Rating: 
Summary: good reporting on global warming and efforts to deny it
Review: Gelbspan does a good job of laying out the case for global warming, stressing the vast consensus among practicing climate scientists, and exposing the names mentioned in the above review as industry sponsored flaks who are trudged around from meeting to meeting repeating the same sorry and inaccurate tirades which are nonetheless reported by the press in the interest of `balance.' As Gelbspan points out, there is not real balance here--on the one side are some climate scientists supported by industry, a handful in number, and on the other side are climate scientists (thousands in number) who take money only from governmental sources. Somewhat sensational in tone, but a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Sobering synopsis of global climate change
Review: Gelbspan is a reporter for the Boston Globe who does a great job of describing the science, economics and politics behind gobal climate change. He does an excellent job of defining the problem (in layman's terms) and discussing the disinformation campaign sponsored by the oil industry. If you're looking for the nitty-gritty science behind global warming, you will find only a sampling in the appendix. Gelbspan starts with the assumption that the thousands of world class climatologists who make up the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) are correct in their consensus that climate change is real and happening now. From that assumption, he unleashes a barrage of disturbing anecdotal evidence describing the many effects of climate change. He also unmasks the efforts of a few scientists backed by the oil industry to sabotage the findings of IPCC. The book presents a thorough and disturbing expose of this effective PR campaign to neutralize the warnings of the scientific community.
Rating: 
Summary: No Stars Actually, and No Pulitzer Either
Review: Gelbspan's book, quite apart from the author's poorunderstanding of the science, claims a "global conspiracy"run by a half dozen college professors. One wonders how anyone cantake that seriously, but then conspiracy is a theme for Gelbspan. In his only previous book, "Break-Ins, Death Threats, and the FBI," he claimed a government-run conspiracy against left-wing political activists in Latin America and opined that the FBI and CIA were seeking new enemies, most likely in the environmental movement. Ahem. Gelbspan claims to be a "Pultizer Prize-winning journalist," but Seymour Topping, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes at Columbia University, nixed that claim in 1997. To be sure, Gelbspan was one of 2 editors on a Pulitzer winning series written by 7 Boston Globe reporters in 1984. But, since Gelbspan did not WRITE the articles, he cannot claim the honor. I would add that in 1997, two of the professors named in Gelbspan's conspiracy filed a formal complaint with the Minnesota Press Council after the Minneapolis Star-Tribune published an editorial based on Gelbspan's book. The Council ruled in favor of the two professors and the Star-Tribune was forced to print a full retraction. Gelbspan's book is the usual fodder for conspiracy theorists, no more than that.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing polarity
Review: I found the book to be right on par with my own research into the effects of "global warming". His conclusions are actually pretty tame compared with mid to worst case scenarios I have heard from eminent environmental scientists. That being said, the fact that there are so many 1 star ratings tells me that the PR campaign is in great force. It is absolutely true that people don't want to believe that there is any threat from global warming or pollution, so they are more susceptible to the falsehoods proposed by the oil, coal and gas companies. You can meet all of his goals as stated, and even be MORE energy conscious, and not have to give up your car, stereo, twinkies, pizza or boat(s). You can be wealthy or poor (as you like). You can consume to your heart's content. All you have to do is DEMAND ENERGY EFFICIENCY. And of course, the Government has to get out of the oil companies back pocket(s) by ridding us of oil subsidies. Cars can burn alcohol (like brazil does in 40% of its cars) and/or bio-diesel (like Germany and other european countries do in 30%+ of their vehicles) made from veg-oil. We can make limitless supplies of these two fuels.. why the hell do we need crude oil? Well, it's because oil companies want us to drink crude oil because it is cheaper for them to produce than vegetable based fuels. Also because switching to veg based fuels switches the power base.. now any joe can fuel his car with farm alcohol.. eek! Lost Revenue! Why do you think that the 'New Fuel Cell Technology' being developed is going to use compunds which are completely unfeasible for the backyard chemist to produce? No, the situation is not as it is depictied by our friendly author here.. its worse. Try to make a change for the better. Make the world a better place for all of its children and burn some corn instead of dead dinosaurs.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly biased polemic attacks scientific debate.
Review: I was surprised when I read this book that its arguments amounted to no more than serial ad hominem attacks on the motives of anyone who disagreed with the global warming hypothesis--this is advocacy journalism at its worst. As a scientist (and amateur climatologist), I would really like to have recommended this book, but the issues are not presented in a rational and balanced fashion. The people criticized here actually come across as far more impartial (read S. Fred Singer or Patrick Michaels or Thomas Gale Moore) Try these titles:: Climate of Fear : Why We Shouldn't Worry About Global Warming; Thomas Gale Moore Hot Talk Cold Science : Global Warning's Unfinished Debate; Singer, et al Sound and Fury : The Science and Politics of Global Warming; Patrick J. Michaels
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