Here on Earth

An Argument for Hope

A scientist-activist’s heartfelt plea, inspired and sometimes poetical, always thoroughly scientifically detailed, to make the effort to cease the practices that will render our planet unfit to support our human lives within a few decades.

Flannery describes the Earth as a homeostatic system whose organs atmosphere, oceans, crust, and life, operate together to maintain the conditions that support all life. He describes the geological history of the Earth and the impact of the human species on the system that had evolved by the time our species arose, and the damage we have done since we developed agriculture. We can and will render Earth unable to support us and we can and will drive ourselves to extinction. The Earth system may be able to correct itself in a few thousands or tens of thousands of years after that. We could and might ruin Earth for all life. He explains how and why technically, psychologically, and politically we are failing to correct that damage, and what we can and must do about it now if we want the planet and ourselves to live.