- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Knopf Canada; First Edition edition (April 13 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307399184
- ISBN-13: 978-0307399182
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14.7 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #82,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Since he first heralded our era of environmental collapse in 1989's The End of Nature, Bill McKibben has raised a series of eloquent alarms. In Eaarth, he leads readers to the devastatingly comprehensive conclusion that we no longer inhabit the world in which we've flourished for most of human history: we've passed the tipping point for dramatic climate change, and even if we could stop emissions yesterday, our world will keep warming, triggering more extreme storms, droughts, and other erratic catastrophes, for centuries to come. This is not just our grandchildren's problem, or our children's--we're living through the effects of climate change now, and it's time for us to get creative about our survival. McKibben pulls no punches, and swaths of this book can feel bleak, but his dry wit and pragmatic optimism refuse to yield to despair. Focusing our attention on inspiring communities of "functional independence" arising around the world, he offers galvanizing possibilities for keeping our humanity intact as the world we've known breaks down. --Mari Malcolm
Review
“What I have to say about this book is very simple: Read it, please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important.”
— Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
“Bill McKibben is the most effective environmental activist of our age. Anyone interested in making a difference to our world can learn from him.”
— Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers and The Eternal Frontier
“Precisely what the world has been waiting for: a smart, practical approach to solving the greatest crisis facing humanity. The fact that it is so beautifully written is an absolute bonus.”
— Bruce Lourie, co-author of Slow Death by Rubber Duck
“With clarity, eloquence, deep knowledge, and even deeper compassion for both planet and people, Bill McKibben guides us to the brink of a new, uncharted era. This monumental book, probably his greatest, may restore your faith in the future, with us in it.”
— Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us
“Bill McKibben foresaw ‘the end of nature’ very early on, and in this new book he blazes a path to help preserve nature’s greatest treasures.”
— James E. Hansen, director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
— Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
“Bill McKibben is the most effective environmental activist of our age. Anyone interested in making a difference to our world can learn from him.”
— Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers and The Eternal Frontier
“Precisely what the world has been waiting for: a smart, practical approach to solving the greatest crisis facing humanity. The fact that it is so beautifully written is an absolute bonus.”
— Bruce Lourie, co-author of Slow Death by Rubber Duck
“With clarity, eloquence, deep knowledge, and even deeper compassion for both planet and people, Bill McKibben guides us to the brink of a new, uncharted era. This monumental book, probably his greatest, may restore your faith in the future, with us in it.”
— Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us
“Bill McKibben foresaw ‘the end of nature’ very early on, and in this new book he blazes a path to help preserve nature’s greatest treasures.”
— James E. Hansen, director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
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Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Old facts mixed with new ideas,
By
This review is from: Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (Hardcover)
The planet we once knew as Earth is gone, and we must learn to survive on this strange new world we now inhabit -- Eaarth. This is the basis of Bill McKibben's latest book; one half being the same old, the other being some interesting, some might say radical, ideas.If you've ever read a book with global warming or climate change as its topic before, you'll know to be ready to be overwhelmed by a myriad of numbers, some interesting, some not so much -- some being ones you've already read. The first half of the book is concerned with convincing us that global warming is a current reality; however, if you're reading this book, you likely already believe it is. We already know global warming is responsible, directly or indirectly, for many a bad thing -- bad things we've already read about a hundred times over from other authours writing on the subject (and McKibben himself in his previous works). I felt this re-analysis of the effects of climate change could have been shortened without drastically reducing the impact of the text. If, however, you get past the beginning, you'll find Mr. McKibben actually presents some interesting thoughts. He advocates for smaller communities, a clear connection to the land we live on, and a smaller, more localized, variety of economies safe from global catastrophe such as a world-wide recession. As McKibben says, bigger is not always better. While the first part of the book is largely negative in tone, the second is positive -- perhaps too positive. How do you show a populace already convinced of their need for iPods and iPads that there is another, more fulfilling, way? One based on community, not material gain? Unfortunately, he doesn't give us that answer. Overall, while not a ground-breaking work, McKibben does present some ideas to mull over and to consider. I only wish he had have concentrated more on presenting his ideas on how to live on this new Eaarth, instead of showing us, again, why global warming is such a bad thing. Not likely to convince those who are not already convinced, it will at the very least, make you think.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eaarth, by Bill McKibben,
By
This review is from: Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (Hardcover)
Bill McKibben says the reason his book's title has an extra "A" is we're already living on a different planet, because so much has changed in such a short time. We have to look at our world in a different way to understand this.His easy way of writing, laced with humour and unforgettable images, make this book readily understandable for everyone. And it's short: You can read it in just a few days. In the first half, he explains how life on our planet today has been changed by global warming, Some of what you read will surprise you and even shock you, but all of it is interesting. On page 99, he starts writing about solutions -- possibilities for our future and methods for adapting to our new environment. He writes, "Like someone lost in the woods, we need to stop running, sit down, see what's in our pockets that might be of use, and start figuring out what steps to take." He tells us how we can manage the changes that will be affecting our lives, rather than just let them happen to us. He says, "We've got to make our societies safer, and that means making them smaller. It means, since we live on a different planet, a different kind of civilization." He describes how we can make this very different world workable -- "how we might keep the lights on, the larder full, and spirits reasonably high." Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us, writes, "With clarity, eloquence, deep knowledge, and even deeper compassion for both planet and people, Bill McKibben guides us to the brink of a new, uncharted era. This monumental book, probably his greatest, may restore you faith in the future, with us in it." I'll give this book five stars any day. My children and grandchildren will be getting copies to keep by their bedsides, to be read and re-read in the years to come.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hope for the Future,
By
This review is from: Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (Hardcover)
I have read a number of climate change books and most of them are very pessimistic about the future of earths climate.The are written either by scientists or journalists who's books are based on scientists research.This book is a bit different in that the first half describes in disturbing detail the degree to which our planets climate is changing but the second half offers real hope that if we take action soon we can survive the inevitable changes that are here now or soon will be.The future depends on individuals building a fiture in living in smaller communities and surviving on locally made products.If you read only one book on climate change then this is the best one.
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