I have seen a few lists of books that people should read on climate change, and this one doesn't get recommended often enough.
Elizabeth Kolbert wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book: The Sixth Extinction: an Unnatural History. I must admit I have not read it. 2014 is quite a while back and unfortunately books tend to become dated fairly quickly in the realm of climate change. To add, Kolbert is an American, a journalist and visiting fellow at Williams College. I mention that she is American because I had to look up a lot of people, places and other references, as the book is America-centred. As a result I obtained a bucketload of new knowledge.
How our actions affect nature is something I understand more and more as the literature around the topic grows. But, my knowledge has almost always been somewhat superficial. After reading this book I have a much deeper understanding as to how our actions can and do affect nature. And it is not just something that we have done in the last 50 or 100 years that has placed us in the position we are now. It is EVERYTHING we have done since the beginning of our ascendency. And this is what infuriates me so much when people say, it's not up to the individual to make changes, the big corporations should do it. Yes it is an argument in its own right BUT we can make a difference, each and every single one of us.
There are two quotes that sum up the book perfectly:
"I was struck, and not for the first time, by how much easier it is to ruin an ecosystem than to run one."
“This has been a book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems.”
I was flabbergasted to read the effect our actions has and repercussions on nature and people alike. How the smallest decisions have such large (and often dire) consequences. It is soul destroying. All I could think about reading this book was how we really messed it up back then, and now... well there is just no way to even defend what we are doing.
The book ends quite abruptly, which has received some criticism from others, but I found it quite fitting. Covid-19, as much as it upended the completion of this book, upended our lives. Though there is no direct link that climate change is the cause or influencing the spread of Covid-19, there is something we need to think about. Climate change alters how we relate to other species on Earth. Animals are coming into contact with others they normally wouldn't; creating an opportunity for diseases to spread. And so, it is all connected. We are all connected. And what we do, change connections.
Read the book, it's well written and super interesting. And make a change, do something!
