Burning Up A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption [Hardcover]

Coal, gas, and oil have powered our societies for hundreds of years. But the pace at which we use them changed dramatically in the twentieth century: of all the fossil fuels ever consumed, more than half were burnt up in the past fifty years alone, the vast majority of that within a single generation. Most worrying of all, this dramatic acceleration has occurred against the backdrop of an increasingly unanimous scientific consensus: that their environmental impact is devastating and potentially irreversible.
            InBurning Up, Simon Pirani recounts the history of the relentless rise of fossil fuels in the past half century, and lays out the ways in which the expansion of the global capitalist economy has driven it forward. Dispelling common explanations that foreground Western consumerism, as well as arguments about unsustainable population growth, Pirani offers instead an insightful intervention in what is arguably the crisis of our time.

Simon Piraniis a journalist and senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. His previous books includeChange in Putin’s Russia, also published by Pluto Press. 

“Recommended.”

“Insightful, precise, and well-written,Burning Upturns energy consumption on its head. From China and Nigeria to the Soviet Union and the US, Pirani fills a crucial gap left by a mountain of shiny but vacuous reports and not enough solid history... Anybody fighting climate change should read this.”