Book review : Planet aqua : rethinking our home in the universe

Abstract

My first reaction upon starting to read Jeremy Rifkin’s (2024) new book, Planet Aqua, was that its ‘big picture’ arguments have no bearing or relevance to small (mainly island) states and territories. Nothing less than the future of the planet is at stake. The text is strewn with references to large civilisations – deemed ‘hydraulic’, because of how they mastered and controlled water resources – and large problems surely call for large solutions. And yet, upon second thought, I remembered how small jurisdictions may have been pioneers of water catastrophe – whether via flood or drought, hurricane, or tsunami – and would therefore have had long years to ponder and plan for how to deal with the climate threat. With that thought, reading Rifkin assumed a new urgency and interest.