Climate Changed: A Personal Journey Through Science by Philippe Squarzoni
The effects of climate change, as arguably viewed through devastating events such as Hurricane Katrina and the gradual change in our day-to-day weather, illustrate the urgency of this ever important issue. We should all contemplate our energy use, but to begin to learn about the cause, effects and response to climate change confronts you with an overwhelming amount of statistics, facts and divided opinions. Through his extensive research and interviews with members of the scientific community, Philippe Squarzoni offers a fantastic and engaging overview, starting with the principle cause of industrial processes and our ever-increasing consumption, moving onto targets for the prevention of irreversible damage, and proposals for a solution.
It’s an understandably contemplative book and often bleak in tone, and you sense Squarzoni’s disappointment with the global community and it’s current mode of inaction. It’s use of the graphic novel form is certainly effective and will hopefully help it to reach a new audience, but the format does feel forced in parts, with several pages resorting to repeats of the same image across a six panel grid. This is typically in the interview sections and no doubt designed to support long sequences of conversation, but does bring the pace of the book to a halt on a few occasions. The self-referential chapter breaks attempt to squeeze in some narrative, but again seem to hamper the books pace on the way to some truly fascinating and often shocking statistics.
It’s difficult to criticise a book like this on narrative terms when what it does brilliantly is to provide the essential message on climate change in a thought-provoking and memorable way. When it seems that our governments are more focussed on their economic and business concerns (the push for Fracking feeling particularly relevant) it’s ultimate message of the change in individual behaviour is commendable and recommended to all.
Climate Changed: A Personal Journey Through Science by Philippe Squarzoni
Abrams ComicArts
Paperback 480 pages
23.4 x 16.3 x 3 cm
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