Behrens, Paul (Assistant Professor in Energy and Environmental Change),
The best of times, the worst of times : futures from the frontiers of climate science /
Paul Behrens.
- London : The Indigo Press 2020.
- 1 online resource
Includes bibliographical references.
"Do you think we're going to be okay?" -- Population and progress. Pessimism: Has the bomb exploded? ; Hope: Better placed than ever -- Energy. Pessimism: Slaves to power ; Hope: Power to the people -- Food. Pessimism: Eating the Earth ; Hope: Green shoots -- Climate. Pessimism: Where all roads meet ; Hope: Making up for lost time -- Economics. Pessimism: Counting the costs ; Hope: Valuing the future -- Epilogue[s. Pessimism: Are we almost at the end? ; Hope: The grass is greener.
The environmental emergency is the greatest threat we face. Preventing it will require an unprecedented political and social response. And yet, there is still hope. Academic, physicist, environmental expert and award-winning science communicator Paul Behrens presents a radical analysis of a civilisation on the brink of catastrophe. Setting out the pressing existential threats we face, he writes, in alternating chapters, of what the future could look like at its most pessimistic and hopeful. In lucid prose, Behrens argues that structural problems need structural solutions, and examines critical areas in which political will is required, including women's education, food and energy security, biodiversity and economics. The author is an Assistant Professor at Leiden University and is both a highly-qualified scientist and an award-winning educational communicator.
9781911648109
Global environmental change. Climatic changes. Environmental degradation--Prevention. Nature--Effect of human beings on.