Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize winning author, has gathered for her readers 17 celebratory articles from the last 20 years of her writing career, to highlight and inspire others working for a better climate today and tomorrow.
With devastating climate events happening daily around the world, articles on issues from ten years or over, may seem out-dated to some readers. The lesson here, however, is to acknowledge the journey towards climate action, that sometimes has happened slowly and other times has been revolutionary in nature. Many of the essays draw our focus towards solutions and how the impact of an individual’s work on conserving, communicating, rewilding and protecting our precious world and ecosystems, can motivate and inspire local communities to work together.
Kolbert reminds her readers that, ‘We live in an extraordinary time’ and that the alarming pace of climate decline we witness in the modern world, is a rare occurrence in the planet’s history and one which we are in danger of pushing past a point of no return. ‘But over the last four billion years, only very rarely has change rushed along at the pace it is moving today.’ Rising global carbon emissions and the resulting need for decarbonisation can become political footballs, which can delay helpful technologies which may play a part such as carbon dioxide removal initiatives. Kolbert is quick to note the challenges that need to be surmounted before any of these programmes could be feasible at large scale and suggests instead that these efforts may simply be a distraction from the need to turn the curve of global emissions back down to the steady and stable levels of the past.
Kolbert notes, ‘The amount of CO₂ in the air now is probably greater than it’s been at any time since the mid- Pliocene, three and a half million years ago, when there was a lot less ice at the poles and sea levels were sixty feet higher.’
‘Life on a Little- Known Planet’ is not by any means, a ‘doomist’ text. Instead, it profiles dedicatedindividuals, including more famous names like James Hansen and Christiana Figueres, one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, along with their experiences and expert views.
It also focuses on the efforts of individuals around the world, who have a strong sense of place and connection with their environments. The moral and legal question of whether the natural world should have rights, is evaluated by Kolbert and is found to exist throughout human history. ‘From a certain point of view, granting nature a say isn’t radical or new at all. For most of history, people saw themselves as dependent on their surroundings, and “rivers, trees and land” enjoyed the last word.’
Witnessing how both our local and global environments are changing, transforming and collapsing, reminds us of what we are in danger of losing. Writers like Kolbert have been sounding the climate alarm for over 20 years now and this is brought into sharp relief when we read her prescient articles dating back to 2005.
When languages die out; when ecosystems die out; when insect colonies die out; we are not just in danger of losing connections, species and interconnected worlds- which we are still touching the surface of- no, instead, we are in danger of losing ourselves and our relationship with our world. How we respond to the climate crisis as the defining challenge of our times, means that we have to move beyond words, treaties and pledges. We need a response which is rooted in gratitude.
The Earth is not a capitalist commodity.
It is our home.
Climate Thoughts with Brian 