Praise

The Climate Change Generation: A Blueprint for the Future is more than just a book—it’s a path for a new movement. Bob Collin has delivered a visionary and well-informed blueprint to prepare us for realistic climate adaptation. Blending his vast experience, sharp analysis, and actionable strategies, this book empowers the reader.

What sets this work apart is its delicate balance between urgency and hope. While Collin does not shy away from the urgent realities of environmental injustice, rising global temperatures, and systemic inaction, he empowers readers with Advocacy briefs and planner toolkits driven by the power of AI-driven solutions. Every page is rich with a sense of purpose and possibility. His focus on flourishing as a climate adaptation goal is truly unique and increases hope by broadening the range of possibilities to more than the gloom and doom we often hear.

he author tackles the multifarious topic of climate change, with a focus on adaptation to our changing climate. He argues that a climate adaptation revolution is needed - a transformative shift in how societies confront the intensifying effects of climate change. It must not be merely through reactive measures but through proactive and deeply place-based approaches. Unlike climate impacts mitigation, which focuses on reducing emissions to prevent future climate impacts, adaptation acknowledges that climate disruptions are already unfolding. Rising sea levels, intensified storms, extended droughts, wildfires, biodiversity and ecosystem collapse, possible earthquakes, and robust public health threats are increasing. Climate adaptation is cultural, ethical, political, and rooted in collective imagination and action. And the hope for the types of climate adaptation we all need comes from this generation.

He advocates for an adaptation revolution that redefines adaptation by inclusion, and the capacity of communities to "bounce forward," not merely "bounce back."

The Climate Adaptation Generation is book we should all be using to bring our climate back under control for future generations. It highlights very important issues and good solid practical solutions to build the foundation for a better future for the planet. This book will definitely open your eyes to some truly worrying statistics, and has been thoroughly researched. The author has written this in the hope to empower and encourage the readers to take action, as even little alterations to our current lifestyles can impact the world for future generations. This book is for anyone who cares about the world we live in and who is interested in climate change impact.

Robert W. Collin’s The Climate Adaptation Generation is both a call to action and a guide for living in an age of climate disruption. The book presents a comprehensive program for not only surviving but thriving amid the ecological challenges ahead. It’s filled with planning tools and case studies showing how these tools have successfully been implemented in local communities around the world.

It is a deeply intergenerational book. Collin uses the terms “Adaptation Generation” and “Resilience Generation” to describe the younger generations who will be most affected by the accelerating impacts of climate change and the older generations who possess the experience and institutional memory needed to guide humanity’s adaptation to these changes. He argues that younger and older people alike hold essential forms of power—digital fluency and institutional wisdom, respectively—that must be brought together if we are to create a future in which we can not only survive but thrive.

The book has 14 chapters, each focused on a specific climate-related challenge, from floods to droughts to wildfires to climate change-induced public health threats. The typical chapter begins with a general overview of its topic in the contexts of climate science and public policy. It then presents case studies of successful adaptation and examples of the many ways in which AI is revolutionizing adaptation planning. It concludes with a sample advocacy brief addressing the specific climate challenge discussed in the chapter, along with a “planner’s toolkit” containing additional resources.

Collin’s overviews of these climate challenges are concise yet comprehensive. He does an impressive job of synthesizing the key scientific facts, policy frameworks and global trends shaping each issue—whether it’s the complex hydrology of drought, the cascading health risks of rising temperatures or the accelerating pace at which storms are intensifying. His research draws on authoritative sources: the latest evidence from the IPCC, UN agencies and national reports. The result is a clear, accessible survey of the innumerable intersecting forces driving each facet of the climate crisis.

Collin stresses that efforts to adapt to climate change shouldn’t be focused solely on reducing harm and risk; they should also aim to promote human flourishing. For him, this means equipping individuals and communities to find purpose, joy and connection even in uncertain times. Drawing on findings from the Harvard Flourishing Study, a global research project examining the factors that enable people to thrive across different aspects of life, Collin shows how climate adaptation can go beyond simply protecting people from harm and lead to improvements in their health, happiness, relationships, financial stability and ability to find meaningful work.

The case studies provide countless examples of climate adaptation strategies already being implemented in many sectors around the world. Some notable examples include water resilience programs in Cape Town, South Africa; Indigenous methods of fire stewardship in British Columbia; and Japan’s disaster prevention parks (the latter being public spaces designed to serve as both recreational areas and emergency shelters in times of disaster). Other notable cases include Bangladesh’s floating agriculture, the Netherlands’ Delta Program and Kenya’s use of AI to predict drought. In presenting each example, Collin makes a point of identifying lessons that can be applied to other contexts.

Collin gives many examples of how AI is being used in climate adaptation planning, including in the areas of flood forecasting, wildfire detection, drought modeling, disease surveillance and climate education. These examples amply demonstrate the power of AI-driven insights to aid in climate disaster prevention and improve emergency response and access to vital information in the event of a disaster. But he repeatedly emphasizes the digital divide between the younger and older generations, and the need to ensure equitable access to technology. He warns that digital exclusion—particularly among older adults and those living in rural communities—has become a new axis of climate inequality. He calls for communities to invest in inclusive, locally governed digital technologies.

The advocacy briefs at the end of each chapter are among the book’s greatest strengths. Modeled on real-world policy documents and designed for policymakers, planners, educators and community advocates, they are filled with concrete, actionable ideas for legislation, legal strategies and planning recommendations aimed at advancing climate resilience, equity and sustainability. In short, they truly embody the book’s ethos of empowering readers to take action within their local communities.

In later chapters, Collin explores adaptation through political and philosophical lenses. He discusses and compares capitalist and Marxist responses to the climate crisis and frames climate adaptation as both evolution and revolution. By this he means that adaptation requires not only changes to laws, institutions and ways of thinking, but also a profound overhaul of our economic and social systems. He advocates for bioregional planning, an approach to land use and community development that organizes human activities around natural ecological boundaries, in recognition of the fact that climate impacts transcend national borders.

While Collin writes with optimism, his outlook isn’t based on wishful thinking. He acknowledges the severity of the climate crisis—including accelerating sea-level rise, melting permafrost, and other feedback loops—but argues that evidence from communities already adapting offers a practical foundation for hope.

My one criticism of this book is that its ambitious scope limits how deeply it can explore any single topic. Even so, Collin’s attempt to synthesize science, policy, philosophy and activism into a single, actionable blueprint is impressive and quite fruitful.