Awards

• Winner of Walter P. Kistler Book Award 2011 (UK)
• Winner of Walter P. Kistler Book Award 2011.

Overview

The New North is a book that turns the world literally upside down. Analysing four key 'megatrends' - population growth and migration, natural resource demand, climate change and globalisation - UCLA professor Larry Smith projects a world that by mid-century will have shifted its political and economic axes radically to the north. The beneficiaries of this new order, based on a bonanza of oil, natural gas, minerals and plentiful water will be the Arctic regions of Russia, Alaska and Canada, and Scandinavia. Meanwhile countries closer to the equator will face water shortages, aging populations, crowded megacities and coastal flooding. Smith draws on geography, economics, history, earth and climate science, but what makes his arguments so compelling is that he has spent many months exploring the region, talking to people in once-inaccessible Arctic towns, noting their economies, politics and stories.

Full Product Details

9781846688935

Table of Contents

Reviews

'A charismatic rising star vividly relates the big challenges facing the world' (Jared Diamond) 'Smith's planetary palm-reading would be impressive enough but he also manages to pull it off with literary gusto. He combines a wide-angle-lens analysis reminiscent of Jared Diamond with a knack for narrative, including tales of numerous visits to the Arctic.' (New Scientist) 'The best new geography book of the year' (Fred Pearce) 'a lively and impressive book' (Wall Street Journal)

Author Information

Laurence C. Smith is professor and vice-chairman of geography and professor of earth and space sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has published in journals such as Science and Nature and in 2006 he briefed Congress on the likely impacts of northern climate change.

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