Marek Kohn's Turned Out Nice is nothing less than a portrait of Britain (and Ireland) a hundred years in the future, based on scientific evidence surrounding climate change that is available to us now. Beautifully written, and imbued with a love of these islands' unique landscapes, it will change they way you think about the climate and global warming. It is not an alarmist tract. Kohn is a fiercely honest writer and a biologist by training. He makes it clear that some parts of Britain will be more like the nicer regions of today's Mediterranean. But we will pay a price for this good fortune. Our parks will be arid brown fields; private automobile use will probably be unheard of; water will be severely rationed; significant stretches of our beloved coastline will have been sacrificed to the sea. Floods on these coasts and in certain river valleys will make them uninhabitable. Some of our flora and fauna will have vanished; exotic animals and pests will flourish. Vast numbers of marginalised human migrants will be here. Surveillance and restriction of our movements will be taken for granted. Walking in what is left of 'nature' will be nearly impossible. Terrible summer fires in our upland areas will be commonplace. As the severe flooding in Somerset shows, Turned Out Nice is more relevant than ever: it is a report from the near future that we cannot afford to ignore.
