The book includes 36 short essays predicting theconsequences ofglobal warming and has been translated into over twenty languages.[4] The book reviews evidence of historicalclimate change and attempts to compare this with the current era. The book argues that if atmosphericcarbon dioxide levels continue to increase at current rates, the resulting climate change will cause massspeciesextinctions. The book also asserts that global temperatures have already risen enough to cause the annualmonsoon rains in theSahel region of Africa to diminish, causingdroughts anddesertification. This in turn, according to Flannery, has contributed to theconflict in theDarfur region through competition for disappearingresources. Further consequences, argued in the book, include increasing hurricane intensity, and decline in the health of coral reefs.
The final third of the book discusses proposed solutions. Flannery advocatesindividual action as well as international and governmentalactions. He argues that a few industries such as thecoal industry, currently responsible for 40% of theenergy consumed in the U.S., remain opponents of needed action. The book retraces the evidence that the American administration[citation needed], motivated by coal-industry donations to theRepublican party, undermines political action by omitting mention of climate change from government documents. The book cites evidence against the argument thatconservation is bad for economies.[5]
