The Heat Is On: Facing Our Energy Problem

Adиle Ashby, a library consultant, is the former editor of Canadian Materials for Schools and Libraries.

This volume of the Earth Care Books series is divided into three parts.
Part 1 (“What Is Energy and Why Do We Use So Much of It?”) begins
with a comparison of the typical daily energy use of a young person
today with that of a young person in his or her
great-great-grandparents’ time. Part 2 (“Where Does Energy Come
From?”) looks at fossil fuels, water and nuclear power, and other
energy sources such as solar and volcano power. Part 3 (“What Can We
Do?”) offers guidelines on how to decrease our use of energy, how to
use it more efficiently, and how to use alternative sources; it makes a
plea for finding out where our energy comes from so we can make better
choices, and it states that we can make a difference and offers some
suggestions. The colloquial text is illustrated with cartoonlike
pictures and accompanied by sidebars that add interesting facts (e.g.,
recycling one aluminum pop can saves the same amount of energy that it
takes to run a television for three hours).

In these environmentally conscious days, there has been a proliferation
of titles such as this one, but it is nonetheless a useful contribution.