James believes climate change will define his life

J

ames Whitmore is just 25 and has an acute understanding of climate change.

James Whitmore with “The Handbook:
Surviving and Living with Climate Change".

Working with Jane Rawson, James has co-authored the recently published “The Handbook: Surviving and Living with Climate Change”.

James works at the Melbourne office of The Conversation as the deputy section Editor, Energy and Environment, where he worked with Jane.  

“The Handbook” was published in August this year and launched at Readings Books in Lyon St Carlton on September 15, at which the University of Melbourne atmospheric scientist, Professor David Karoly, spoke. “He was suitably terrifying”, James said.

The journey that led to the writing and publication of the book began for James when he was just six-years-old when he picked up a book in his local library in Deviot, Tasmania, called “Global Warming”.

He says in the introduction to his new book: “It was one of those educational kids’ books. Big words, lots of pictures. But this wasn’t your average Dr. Suess title. It was a kids’ book about an intensely serious issue that hasn’t gone away yet, and doesn’t look like it will go away for many decades yet.”

He continues, “Even though we now call it climate change, “Global Warming” was my first experience of the problem that will likely define my life.”

What prompted the book?

Beyond that childhood experience, it was the election of Tony Abbott in 2013 that become another driver for the book as it illustrated things were pretty “grim” here for climate action.

James said during a brief chat at a coffee shop near Lincoln Square in Melbourne’s Carlton, that although we know that from a global perspective we are not doing enough to stop climate change and so as individuals we should be preparing for it.

A "product" of Tony
Abbott's election.

He said we should not stop in our efforts to mitigate climate change or advocating for changes that would slow its advance, but we should all be preparing for and adapting out lives to survive and live with climate change.

Preparation and adaptation appear to be the anchor points to James and Jane’s book, two things that they believe will allow people to by survive and thrive as earth’s climate system become even more disrupted. 

“The Handbook: Surviving and Living with Climate Change” published by Transit Lounge is available at all good bookshops.