David Stark could not find a book which explained climate change and related energy policy in appropriate detail without being patronising and alarmist so after seven years of research he wrote one himself.

He believes that the contagion circulating through young people of the 21st century, eco-anxiety has spread because the agenda was set by activism where rational and informed debate is precluded. With this comprehensive - but entirely accessible - guide to climate change, debate and the healing process can now start. We can all begin to understand why efforts to date to ‘save the planet’ have hurt the economies of Western democracies and placed our energy and manufacturing security in the hands of autocracies.

This book discusses the different arguments that are often heard in documentaries and news reports but breaks them down with facts and empirical scientific evidence, cutting through the hyperbole to see whether they are actually the cause for panic that we’ve been told they are and whether the solutions being proposed will really help. The current energy crisis suggests that the cure is worse than the disease.

David Stark’s architectural practice designed many energy-efficient buildings, some of them award-winning, but wind, solar and biofuels did not make sense in business cases. After retiring, he considered the same parameters for national energy strategies and found them just as wanting.