Adventures In The Anthropocene: A Journey To The Heart Of The Planet We Made

Author: Gaia Vince

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  • : 39.99 NZD
  • : 9780701187354
  • : Chatto & Windus
  • : Chatto & Windus
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  • : 0.368
  • : December 2014
  • : 234mm X 153mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 39.99
  • : July 2014
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  • : books

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  • : Gaia Vince
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  • : Paperback
  • : 714
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  • : en
  • : 551
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Barcode 9780701187354
9780701187354

Description

** Winner of Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books 2015 **
We live in epoch-making times. Literally. The changes we humans have made in recent decades have altered our world beyond anything it has experienced in its 4.5 billion-year history -- we have become a force on a par with earth-shattering asteroids and planet-cloaking volcanoes.
As a result, our planet is said to be crossing a geological boundary -- from the Holocene into the Anthropocene, or Age of Man.
Gaia Vince decided to quit her job at science journal Nature, and travel the world at the start of this new age to explore what all these changes really mean -- especially for the people living on the frontline of the planet weâe(tm)ve made.
She found ordinary people solving severe crises in ingenious, effective ways. Take the retired railway worker whoâe(tm)s building artificial glaciers in the Himalayas, for example, or the Peruvian painting mountains white to retain snowfall. Meet the villagers in India using satellite technology to glean water; and the women farmers in Africa combining the latest genetic discoveries with ancient irrigation techniques; witness the electrified reefs in the Maldives and the man whoâe(tm)s making islands out of rubbish in the Caribbean.
Alongside these extraordinary -- and inspiring -- stories, Gaia looks at how humanity's changes are reshaping our living planet, transforming our relationship with the natural world, and explores how we might engineer Earth for our future.

Promotion info

We are entering a new geological epoch -- the Anthropocene, or Age of Man. Gaia Vince travelled the world to understand what this new age will mean for us, and future generations

Awards

Winton Royal Society Science Prize short list 2015.

Reviews

"A fine and timely book. Gaia Vince shows us how to stay steady and cheerful despite the ever intensifying drama of the Anthropocene" -- James Lovelock "Gaia's remarkable journey is a unique inventory of life on earth, both wild and human, at this important moment in our history." -- Bill Oddie "A beautifully written book that raises the most profound question of our time: "How should we live?" In the past, this has been primarily a personal question. But, as Gaia Vince amply demonstrates, what was once a personal question has become the central question for us as a species -- and the fate of nearly every species on our planet (including our own) rests on our answer." -- Ken Caldeira, Professor of Environmental Earth Systems Sciences, Stanford University

Author description

Gaia Vince is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in science and the environment. She has been the front editor of the journal Nature Climate Change, the news editor of Nature and online editor of New Scientist. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, The Times, Science, Scientific American, Australian Geographic and the Australian. She has a regular column, Smart Planet, on BBC Online, and devises and presents programmes about the Anthropocene for BBC radio. She blogs at WanderingGaia.com and tweets at @WanderingGaia.