August 1, 2023
Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters
Steven E. Koonin
For those investors considering the energy sector and seeking a deeper understanding of the current status of the climate debate, we recommend several books. Perhaps the most balanced review was Unsettled, written by physicist Dr. Steven Koonin, President Barack Obama’s Undersecretary for Science in the Department of Energy. Dr. Koonin acknowledges that humans exert a growing, but small warming influence on the climate, but most climate models disagree/conflict with each other, and the media does a poor job of presenting the findings. Michael Shellenberger’s Apocalypse Never and Bjorn Lomborg’s False Alarm both push back on climate extremism and argue for a rational and thoughtful approach to the issue. We also enjoyed Meredith Angwin’s Shorting the Grid to learn more about what the transition means for our national grid. For a full-throttled bullish case for fossil fuels, we think most investors will learn something new in Alex Epstein’s The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels and his more recent Fossil Future.