Sometime this century the day will arrive when the human influence on the climate will overwhelm all other natural factors. Over the past decade, the world has seen the most powerful El Niño ever recorded, the most devastating hurricane in 200 years, the hottest European summer on record, and one of the worst storm seasons ever experienced in Florida. With one out of every five living things on this planet committed to extinction by the levels of greenhouse gases that will accumulate in the next few decades, we are reaching a global climatic tipping point. Dr. Flannery outlines the history of climate change, how it will unfold over the next century, and what we can do to prevent a cataclysmic future, including what every one of us can do right now to reduce deadly CO2 emissions by as much as 70%.
Dr. Flannery is one of Australia’s leading thinkers and writers, and is an internationally acclaimed environmental scientist, explorer, and conservationist. He is the author of over 90 scientific papers, the books The Future Eaters and The Eternal Frontier, and is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement.