Care to imagine your grandchildren having green skin, scales and furry feet?

No, this isn’t Sesame Street or a sci-fi book, but freaky descendants are a possible outcome if we believe the handbook’s point no.77, about future generations having to evolve to adapt to hostile future environments because we didn’t prevent global warming.

Remember when the 24-hour-long Live Earth concerts invaded our TV screens on Jul 7?

Well, that wasn’t the end of their attempt to get our attention. They’ve created a handbook- The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook that dovetails perfectly with the concerts’ effort to raise awareness about global warming!

But unlike the concerts which according John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com saw stars like Madonna and spectators chalk up a total carbon footprint (which according to Carbonfootprint.com is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide”.) of “at least 31,500 tonnes” which as reported by The Observer is ironically “more than 3,000 times the average Briton’s annual footprint”, this bite-size 183 page handbook aims to spread the message without the heavy pollution.

Printed on recycled paper (as expected of an environmentally friendly organisation), the book claims to contain “77 essential skills to stop climate change – or live through it”. Now, if you’re curious how they ended up with 77 skills, it’s practically a no-brainer, just consider when the concert was staged.

77 ways to save our skins

Content wise, the skills are spread out in such a way that 67 of them are aimed at helping to stop climate change and the remaining 10 explain how we might live through the apocalypse that is our fate if we fail to stop our destructive habits.

Despite the gravity of global warming, the handbook is written in a surprisingly simple, highly humourous and light-hearted manner with skills listed ranging from the mundane like no. 43 reusing old newspapers, to the rather interesting but quite unpractical no. 19, advertising one’s thrash and no. 47, installing a windmill.

While readers will undoubtedly derive plenty of knowledge and fun absorbing the information and putting wise words to practice, all 77 skills aren’t exactly applicable to every one of us. After all, no. 44’s building a bat house to combat the rise of insects wasn’t exactly written with a HDB flat dweller in mind.

Decision Time!

With so many skills to choose from, how do you decide which is really useful for you?

Well, each skill contains a table that provides a breakdown of the cost, effort and time needed for the action, and its positive impact on the environment. This allows readers to easily decide whether to adopt the changes; simple and highly effective.

A sight for sore eyes

Besides the easy reading, the book’s appeal is also accentuated by the simple, yet well-drawn artwork next to each specific skill. This makes the book not just a highly informative read, but a visually pleasing experience as well.

Climate change begins with you!

Overall, The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook message is clear: global warming is bound to affect humanity and it’s up to us to curb its effects. What will win it fans is that the book isn’t dogmatic, instead, it encourages us to do what we’re comfortable with, no matter how small the action, because like director cum environmentalist Rob Reiner writes in the book’s foreword, “The positive sum of small actions, multiplied by millions of people, can lead to dramatic effects.”

And in all honesty, the handbook might be more successful in spreading the message about global warming compared to the concerts. After all, according to the BBC, “Thousands of plastic cups were left on the Wembley Stadium floor at the end of the London concert.” If only they’d read no.38, they would have realised that plastic is non-biodegrable and hence, a hazard to the environment!

The book’s publishers may not be too happy if their mission is very successful, though, because then you’ll borrow or recycle someone’s copy instead of buying one to keep.

UrbanWire gives Global Warming Survival Handbook  4 out of 5 stars

The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook is available at all good book stores at $27.30.