Data scientist Hannah Ritchie provides a hopeful analysis by detailing historical progress related to halting climate change. This book is aimed at a general audience and strives to provide useful information that counters doomsday headlines of climate catastrophe.
Summary
This book by data scientist Hannah Ritchie of the University of Oxford Martin School digs into the data on progress towards addressing climate change, countering doomsday headlines and striving to provide accurate and practical information. The book is aimed at a wide audience and is designed to help readers understand the biggest problem facing humanity today, but at the same time not walk away feeling hopeless. Ritchie emphasises what must be urgently addressed to continue progressing towards a sustainable and livable planet.
Publisher’s summary
This "eye-opening and essential" book (Bill Gates) will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems—and explains how we can solve them. It’s become common to tell kids that they’re going to die from climate change. We are constantly bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and that we should reconsider having children.
But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. In fact, the data shows we’ve made so much progress on these problems that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in human history. Did you know that:
- Carbon emissions per capita are actually down
- Deforestation peaked back in the 1980s
- The air we breathe now is vastly improved from centuries ago
- And more people died from natural disasters a hundred years ago?
Packed with the latest research, practical guidance, and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you’ve been told about the environment. Not the End of the World will give you the tools to understand our current crisis and make lifestyle changes that actually have an impact. Hannah cuts through the noise by outlining what works, what doesn’t, and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.
These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let’s turn that opportunity into reality.
Reference
Ritchie, H. 2023. Not the End of the World. Little Brown Spark.
Read more here. See also our recent blog COP28: Reflections
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