World Without End - Christophe Blain & Jean-Marc Jancovici

Authors: Christophe Blain and Jean-Marc Jancovici

Artist: Christophe Blain

Genre: Graphic Novel, Science, Environment

Rating: 3.5 stars.

A graphic novel dealing with the highly relevant topic of climate change and what we can do about it. However, the implementation could have been better.

No matter what our age, gender, race, religion or nationality, we cannot escape from the consequences of our actions. As the heat wave in Europe soars to unimaginable levels and flash floods and intense rains are becoming a common occurrence every year during the Indian monsoon, it is high time we reflect on our habits and how we can be more eco-friendly. This is where the book comes in.

Christophe Blain, the artist, meets with Jean-Marc Jancovici of Carbone 4 and The Shift Project to bring to us this bande desinée focussing on the topic that binds all our fates. Why and how we use energy, why we shifted from renewable energy to fossil fuels, to what extent have renewable and clean energy sources replaced the fossil fuels, should we go back to renewables resources – all these questions and many more are answered. The solutions provided are not so extreme that would sound impossible but easy-to-implement changes in our lifestyle. Most of which we already know, but don’t follow. The most important thing this book does is show you ‘perspective’. The energy problem isn’t so distant in the future, and your role isn’t as tiny as you would imagine.

The illustrations are outstanding and balance the serious content with an ample dose of humour. However, I wish the content had been more simplified. It becomes too statistical or economics-intensive at times. The idea of the book is to make the common person aware of their environmental responsibilities. But if the lay reader doesn’t even understand the data, how will they realise the extent of the problem? The approach should have been less like a lecture and more like a chat.

I can honestly say that this is one of the scariest books I have read. 😟 It almost feels like it is too late to save the planet and our children have unimaginably dreary futures ahead. But as Jancovici says in one of the panels, “We can’t wait for science to provide minutely detailed observations of every danger before getting our asses in gear.” All of us must start thinking green ASAP!

You can take this book as a depressing novel, or as an exaggeration, or as a clarion call to change your routine habits. The choice is in your hands, as is the planet’s future.

Recommended for sure, but be prepared for a data-intensive and mentally exhausting read.

My thanks to Europe Comics and NetGalley for the DRC of “World Without End”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.