Our Fragile Moment

How Lessons from the Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis

English language

Published July 18, 2023 by PublicAffairs.

ISBN:
978-1-5417-0289-9
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (1 review)

The conditions that allowed humans to live on Earth are incredibly fragile. Climate variability has at times created new niches that humans or their ancestors could potentially exploit, and challenges that at times have spurred innovation. But there's a relatively narrow envelope of climate variability within which human civilization remains viable, and our survival depends on conditions remaining within that range. In this book, renowned climate scientist Michael Mann provides readers with the knowledge necessary to appreciate the gravity of the unfolding climate crisis, while emboldening them to act before it is too late

2 editions

Interesting overview of paleoclimatology

4 stars

Covers a number of previous extinctions and climate anomalies (think P-T, K-Pg, and PETM, among others) and draws lessons from them for today's climate change. Somewhat optimistic as Mann doesn't think warming will trigger a methane catastrophe, but his explanation of hysteresis really makes clear how overshooting and then hoping to recover really doesn't work.