Hell and High Water looks at the effect that global warming is having on our world and gives solutions to avoid catastrophe. It explains the consequences of climate change such as rising sea levels, loss of coastal cities due to mega-hurricanes and increasingly warmer summers. Romm comments on the American government’s inability to do anything about global warming and how this is influencing other countries, particularly China. He feels the Nation must adopt the California-style, energy efficient way of living.

In order to avoid climate catastrophe Romm believes that it is necessary to reduce emissions from electricity and heavy industry. This includes “launching a massive performance-based efficiency program for homes, commercial buildings and new construction, launching a massive effort to boost the efficiency of heavy industry and expand the use of cogeneration, capture the CO2 from 800 new large coal plants and store it underground, build 1 million large wind turbines, build 700 new large nuclear power plants while shutting down no old ones.” On a more individual level, the book also explains the process of Hydrogen and how a better transportation choice would be plug in hybrids, electric cars.

I enjoyed reading the book but didn’t feel like it gave me very much information on how I can live a sustainable life as an individual, but it did go into depth with what the government can do. The facts on global warming frightened me but they also opened my eyes to what’s going on in our world today and how it will change our future. This book was worth reading and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in global warming and climate change.

Reviewed By: Nicole Perry