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Eaarth
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Eaarth

Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

Bill McKibben
Times Books, 2010
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

Educator and environmentalist Bill McKibben states his uncomfortable, disturbing conclusions plainly: Earth as you knew it no longer exists. You now live on “Eaarth,” which humankind has damaged so much that it is no longer the same planet. The conditions that shaped civilization for centuries are permanently altered. People must change their ways of living or, the author asserts, accept their doom. McKibben’s message will challenge many readers’ basic assumptions about life, economics and society. At times, the book’s organization can be tricky, because McKibben seems to move too fast and jump from topic to topic. He’s been fighting the environmental battle for so long that he’s intimately familiar with concepts that may be controversial or new to some readers. Nonetheless, this jeremiad touches on so many crucial aspects of life on Earth (and Eaarth) that getAbstract recommends it as a respected advocate’s wake-up call to everyone skeptical about climate change or dwindling resources, and to those who want to shape a livable future – on this planet.

Summary

Living on a Changing Planet

In 1968, when Apollo 8 broadcast the first images of Earth from space, people saw the planet in all its beauty. It was blue and white and wonderful. Its glory struck even trained astronauts. That world is gone. Its richly balanced blue oceans are darkening and turning brown as the planet changes due to global warming – and everyone will suffer from it. Emissions from burning fossil fuel have caused temperatures to rise by more than 1.5°F (1°C) – so far. This has increased storms over the oceans, creating larger systems carrying more rain and making more lightning. Rainfall now goes up 1.5% each decade. Since the rain doesn’t fall where it is needed, the extra lightning starts more forest fires.

Climate change also affects the tropics, which “have expanded more than two degrees of latitude north and south since 1980.” Such shifts disrupt weather patterns, bringing permanent drought conditions to large parts of Australia and the US. In Tibet and Bolivia, glaciers are melting, changing regional ecologies and economies. Oceans are absorbing more CO2 from the atmosphere, leading to increased water acidity, which makes it harder, for...

About the Author

Author, educator and environmentalist Bill McKibben also wrote The End of Nature. He founded the 350.org and Step It Up organizations.

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