Kim Stanley Robinson, Sixty Days and Counting

Sixty Days and Counting

Kim Stanley Robinson

Bantam, Mar 2007, $25.00

ISBN: 0553803131

Phil Chase is elected president of the United States because of his environmental platform though it might be too late as the climate has been devastated to the point that it behaves erratically with incredible swings. Still the upbeat President Chase insists it is not over yet that we can turn it around, but no longer can politicians hide in a bush from An Inconvenient Truth that doing nothing means the death of the third world from the sun.

Chase sets things in motion with the biggest government effort since FDR; perhaps even greater than the Great Depression WWII battles. Things look a bit more positive when the stagnant Gulf Stream begins recirculating but that will not be enough to save our planet. He has brought together a top rate team of experts to end the trend of a speeding death and beyond that bring life back to Earth. Charlie Quibler is on the squad though that means he no longer can spend as much time as he needs to with his son. National Science Foundation scientist Frank Vanderwal is still recovering from a brain injury suffered when he and his beloved espionage agent Caroline Barr prevented a conspiracy to steal the election from Chase, and Caroline is now also on the team. However, as they seek scientific solutions and the President seeks the political will to make the tough decisions, others like the status quo that leaves them with affluence and power, not caring about saving the Earth, as they will be dead before the planet's final death.

This is an exciting, action-packed, environmental thriller that makes a powerful case that global warming is destroying the planet. The environmental debates between key players augment the tale as they are lucid, intelligent and decisive, which in turn augments the belief to the reader that the end is near if we do nothing. As with FIFTY DEGREES BELOW, Kim Stanley Robinson turns up the heat on those who insist global warming has not been proven with this compelling tale that even with plenty of exhilarating escapades insists final proof will prove too late.

Harriet Klausner