The Parrot and the Igloo

Climate and the Science of Denial

by David Lipsky

Narrated by Mike Chamberlain

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Pub Date Jul 11 2023 | Archive Date Jul 18 2023

Nonfiction (Adult) | Outdoors & Nature | Science

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Description

In 1956, the New York Times prophesied that once global warming really kicked in, we could see parrots in the Antarctic. In 2010, when science deniers had control of the climate story, Senator James Inhofe and his family built an igloo on the Washington Mall and plunked a sign on top: AL GORE'S NEW HOME: HONK IF YOU LOVE CLIMATE CHANGE. In The Parrot and the Igloo, bestselling author David Lipsky tells the astonishing story of how we moved from one extreme (the correct one) to the other. The story begins with a tale of three inventors-Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla-who made our technological world, not knowing what they had set into motion. Then there are the scientists who sounded the alarm once they identified carbon dioxide as the culprit of our warming planet. And we meet the hucksters, zealots, and crackpots who lied about that science and misled the public in ever more outrageous ways. Lipsky masterfully traces the evolution of climate denial, exposing how it grew out of early efforts to build a network of untruth about products like aspirin and cigarettes. Featuring an indelible cast of heroes and villains, mavericks and swindlers, The Parrot and the Igloo delivers a real-life tragicomedy-one that captures the extraordinary dance of science, money, and the American character.

A Note From the Publisher

A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book of 2023 • A USA Today Must-Read Summer Book • A Next Big Idea Must-Read Book • A Library Journal What To Read In 2023 Book

Advance Praise

"Where can a person living on a melting planet turn, at least before the spaceship fleet is ready, for enlightenment? I’d start, and finish, with David Lipsky’s brilliant epic The Parrot and the Igloo, which I devoured in a single, feverish, page-turning sitting, a perspective-altering dream, a story told in language as sharp and clear as the spring air we knew before all the carbon was released.… You will stare out the same windows when you've finished, but nothing will look the same." ―Rich Cohen, New York Times bestselling author of Sweet and Low and Monsters

"Lipsky offers a history of climate science―and with it, climate denial―starring a large cast of swindlers, zealots, politicians and hucksters to get to the heart of virulent anti-science ideologies in America." ―USA Today