Book: Living Hot By Clive Hamilton & George Wilkenfeld

In the face of escalating climate change, the need for action has never been more urgent. In Living Hot, academic Clive Hamilton and energy policy expert George Wilkenfeld offer an unorthodox assessment of Australia’s climate change priorities and what we need to do to ensure we survive – and perhaps even thrive – in the hard times ahead.

Clive Hamilton, a celebrated figure in Australian academia, has published several influential works, including Silent Invasion and Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change. As a professor at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, Hamilton’s insights have shaped public debates worldwide. Joining Hamilton is George Wilkenfeld, a respected energy policy consultant with over 35 years of experience. Wilkenfeld’s deep expertise has informed policy across Commonwealth, State, and Pacific region governments, where he has conducted detailed studies of energy and greenhouse policy.

In their forthcoming book, Living Hot, Hamilton and Wilkenfeld argue that there is virtually nothing Australia can do to change the climate we’ll be living through and that our priorities are back-to-front. By pivoting from reducing emissions to building resilience in the face of escalating climate extremes, they offer a pragmatic roadmap for safeguarding communities and ecosystems against the ravages of a warming world.

According to Hamilton and Wilkenfeld, Australia needs “to make sweeping plans to prepare…for life in a hot world, wherever climate change might land on the scale from bad to very bad indeed”. In Living Hot, the authors make the case for protecting farmland and conserving ecosystems even if that means slowing the roll-out of renewable energy.

Living Hot is both a powerful argument for a change in direction and a rallying cry for collective action. With its ground-breaking insights and visionary approach, Hamilton and Wilkenfeld’s work promises to reshape the future of climate policy in Australia.

‘Living Hot is strangely liberating. Contentious, confronting and constructive – it’s essential reading for everyone.’

- Bob Brown

About the authors

Clive Hamilton was recently named a ‘living legend’ among Australian academics and scholars. His influential books include Silent Invasion, Growth Fetish and Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change. A professor at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, he has held visiting academic positions at the University of Oxford, Yale University and Sciences Po. His articles have appeared The New York Times, Times Higher Education Supplement and Scientific American among others.

Author Clive Hamilton

George Wilkenfeld is an independent energy policy consultant who helped develop the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, star-rating labels for energy and water efficiency, and Australia’s corporate greenhouse emissions reporting system. He has over 35 years’ experience conducting energy and greenhouse policy studies for the Commonwealth, State and Pacific region governments. He has written extensively on the history of electrification.

Hardie Grant Books | 5 June 2024 | Paperback | 160pp | RRP AU$27.99 NZ$30.99

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