Total Transition: The Human Side of the Renewable Energy Revolution

by Sandeep Pai, Savannah Carr-Wilson

Follow the journey of a Canadian and Indian couple, Savannah and Sandeep, as they travel the world to capture the human side of one of the biggest energy transitions of our times – the global shift from fossil fuels to renewables. In this exciting and provocative new book, readers are taken into the homes of the coal miners who live and work in Jharia, a town in India that has been on fire for the past 100 years due to poor coal mining practices. Life in Jharia is a version of Dante’s inferno – 700,000 people live in the most unimaginable conditions. Yet even though residents of Jharia say they are dying slowly every day, they also say they’ll never leave. Almost 11,000 kilometres away, in the Canadian oil sands, workers and indigenous people similarly describe their complex relationship with the industry that employs them. Although fossil fuel extraction is harming the environment and impacting people’s way of life in the oil sands region, a much-needed shift to renewable energy could also leave communities without their livelihoods. Written in the form of a travelogue, Total Transition provides a whirlwind look at the global growth of renewable energy – highlighting exciting developments in solar and wind energy in Canada, India, Africa and Europe, and discussing hurdles standing in the way of a total transition. Energy experts and leaders of innovative renewable energy projects share hope and optimism about the future of fossil fuel workers and their communities in an increasingly renewable world.

248 pages, Paperback

Published October 9, 2018

Reviews

[Marula Tsagari · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is an important contribution to the literature of just transition, a little known but important topic.
The authors visited various places around the world exploring the dependency of whole communities on coal and trying to envision the future of these communities during the energy transition. Various issues of environmental justice are being unfolded as the authors travel in conflict areas and come across the testimonies of people who live and work close to the coal mines in India and the oil sands in Canada.
A great book for all those who want to think a bit further and to discover the human side of energy transition. The book is written in a clear language and the reader gets deeply engaged with the authors during their trip. After reading the book I feel so impacted like I saw the living conditions of those people first hand. Amazing descriptions and capturing images.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's easy to think of climate change in terms of statistics and not people. This was an important human look at what a livelihood dependent on the fossil fuel industry means. We need to move everyone forward with the next energy transition.

[Mili Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been long, since I read a non-fiction which was so engrossing. I love how the narration incorporates the journey and the chemistry of the authors Sandeep and Savannah. I am bowled over by the understanding and sacrifices both of them made to make this book possible. The urgency of the matter is reflected in their sincerity towards telling these stories.

I must admit I was not aware of what the numbers say. As an Indian, I was grossly uninformed about the huge part that energy plays in our lives. When the authors probe us to ask ourselves about "what is energy", I realized how little we thought about our dependence on fuels of all kinds in how we work, how we travel and how we live.

I love the storytelling style where we are introduced to people who are at different ends of the spectrum in the domain of this problem. Jharkhand and Alberta seem like start contrasts but we see both angles to the problem of energy transition. This book gives me hope that there are climate change, renewable energy scientists who are tirelessly working on this problem. And I wish that businesses, governments and civil societies identify strategic steps and come together to solve a problem of this magnitude.

[Pranusha Kulkarni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the case studies of Jharia coal mines workers in Jharkhand, India, and Fort McMurray Oil Sands workers, Alberta, Canada. The situation of reskilling the fossil fuel workers to prepare for a renewable energy world appears grim, at least in developing countries like India.

[Narayan Gopinathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic book! It goes into detail about the people who work in the fossil fuel sector, and how difficult their lives are. Many of them would love to work in renewable energy, but as of right now, options are not available for them. They know that they fossil fuel industry is killing them slowly, due to pollution, but they have no other option.

The book explains everything from the beginning, from the science of global warming to the meaning of wallah in Hindi, so that those who don't have background knowledge can understand. It is a quick easy read, and gives great insight into the energy transition.

[Alex Stinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to like this book more -- it captures a really important part of the thinking that matters in propelling the Climate movement forwards -- but in a way, it also falls back into many of the same tropes of Climate Communication: repeat the numbers, build the full case, and make sure that the reader is fully immersed in everything they need to know. Because of this, the book also aged really quickly too: I would have rather have had more of the documentary stories, more interviews from the communities affected by this change.