The Carbon Diaries by Saci Lloyd
pages: 384
released: September 2008
publisher: Hodder Children’s Books
cover love: ♥
It’s January 1st, 2015, and the UK is the first nation to introduce carbon dioxide rationing, in a drastic bid to combat climate change. As her family spirals out of control, Laura Brown chronicles the first year of rationing with scathing abandon. Will her mother become one with her inner wolf? Will her sister give up her weekends in Ibiza? Does her father love the pig more than her? Can her band the dirty angels make it big? And will Ravi Datta ever notice her? In these dark days, Laura deals with the issues that really matter: love, floods and pigs. The Carbon Diaries 2015 is one girl’s drastic bid to stay sane in a world unravelling at the seams.(from Goodreads)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 4/28/2011 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET
Review:
Two emotions invoked by this book?
Fear and guilt.
Look, we all know who’s destroying this planet. You (yes, you) and me and everybody else. Though most of us aren’t in a panic about the negative effects of airplane and car fumes and litter and leaving your t.v. on for 72 hours straight. Because the damaged we’re doing to Earth isn’t devastating yet. No real serious consequences for us to be truly concerned, right?
Well…maybe we should be.
Yes, the carbon diaries is set in the future and would be thought of as speculative fiction. But I’d like to think of it as being more practical than that. Because while reading it, you always have that sense of doubt in the back of your mind and that ringing question over and over: Could this be our future? Is this where the Earth is headed if we don’t get off our asses and clean up our act and stop sucking the planet dry…
Okay, okay I’m not preaching. Trust me, I’m just as bad, I drive a truck.
According to Laura’s diary in which the format of the book is written, the effects of global warming have become devastating. In short, mega environmental disaster. And it’s only getting worse. So to calm down the greenhouse gases and try to get global warming under control, the government imposes a “carbon rationing” system. And the first lab rats up for the experiment is the United Kingdom. Every household has a smart meter and everyone is given carbon debit cards that can be used month-by-month for bus rides, internet, flights, gas, heat, etc. If you go over your limit, “carbon police” come to your house with warnings. There’s even a black market for buying more blocks for your card.
After the start of carbon rationing, Laura watches her family and neighbors crack up, struggling to survive as England falls apart from a corrupted environment and a even more corrupted government. The concept of the story was excellent. It reminded me a lot of Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pffefer. You couldn’t read this without feeling some type of pain and sorrow for what the UK was being subjected to. I also liked Laura’s character a lot. She tries so hard to remain the normal one as her parents become more and more dysfunctional. I don’t know why people choose to have a mid-life crisis during world catastrophes. And I loved the song lyrics she wrote for her band. She’s a little tomboyish but she had her love interest to balance it out. The writing in this book was a little awkward for me, mainly because there was a lot of British lingo and abbreviations and ecology words I didn’t understand (thank you, Saci, for the translations in the back). There were illustrations of Laura’s memorabilia but they weren’t that good. The text on the news clippings were small and hard to read and the pictures were kind of corny. Also, I feel like this book should have take place further in the future than 2015. Maybe somewhere around 2025 or 2045.
The Carbon Diaries is an important book to keep in mind for the future. It will be one you’ll remember long after you’re done with it. Because the ideas Saci Lloyd introduces aren’t that irrational. Could something like that happen here? Honestly, I think so. What would you do if watching tv, running appliances and how much water you use had to be carefully monitored? All the time? And the idea of traveling and taking vacations was phased out? It’s scary to think that’s a road we might be heading down…anyways, go green!
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