“Peter Sale’s book shows us the exquisite sensitivity of ecosystems to the consequences of human activity. This is the anthropocene epoch, a time when human beings have become a force of nature, altering properties of the biosphere on a geological scale. Read this and you will know it is very late and we must act.”
David Suzuki, author of The Sacred Balance
Listen to Peter’s conversation with Stephen and Susan Tchudi on Ecotopia on October 4th now.
Here is a more recent conversation on Topical Currents, WLRN Radio, Miami, in April 2012.
See new reviews on Our Dying Planet page
Our environmental crisis is multi-faceted, pervasive and very serious. Coral reefs are particularly hard hit, and stand a real chance of being the first ecosystem ever eliminated by humanity – for us that’s quite a step up from causing extinctions of single species, a step up in irresponsibility. The Arctic is thawing so rapidly that scientists have trouble imagining what it will be like in 10 or 20 years. Floods in Pakistan, droughts in Australia and in East Africa, giant dust storms in Arizona are all parts of this crisis. So too are our dwindling catches of fish, the growing number of dead zones in the oceans, the outbreaks of new pest species and new diseases, growing restlessness and strife in many parts of the world, and the growing prices for food, water, and fuel. The crisis is an ecological one, but we are not immune to ecology. The crisis is also well under way, and it is getting much worse, very quickly.
How humanity chooses to respond over the next few years will determine the type of future we will enter over the next couple of decades. Most of the possible futures are now grim, and doing nothing, sitting to wait and see how bad things are going to get before taking action, will bring us the worst future. Yet there still remains a chance that we can get to a good future if we act now, act vigorously, and make the correct decisions. To do that, public opinion in the developed world has got to shift substantially and quickly, because only that shift will energize governments and economies to take the bold steps needed. Public opinion can change overnight. We need the right messages, and the knowledge that if we change we can reach a good future, one I call New Atlantis.
Our Dying Planet is my attempt, as an ecologist, to convey the complexity and severity of the environmental crisis, and the need for quick and determined action if we care at all about our own children. There is still time to act, and economically viable paths to take, that will bring us to New Atlantis, a future in which humans live rich and fulfilling lives as stewards of an ecologically sustainable Earth. Join up for the journey of our time.
Peter F. Sale
