Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet

by Hannah Ritchie Narrated by Hannah Ritchie Ph.D.

Overview

This "truly essential" audiobook will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems (Margaret Atwood)-and explains how we can solve them.

It's become common to tell kids that they're going to die from climate change. We are constantly bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won't be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and that we should reconsider having children.

But in this bold, radically hopeful audiobook, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. In fact, the data shows we've made so much progress on these problems that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in human history. Did you know that carbon emissions per capita are actually down, deforestation peaked back in the 1980s, the air we breathe now is vastly improved from centuries ago, and more people died from natural disasters a hundred years ago?

Packed with the latest research and practical guidance, this audiobook will make you rethink almost everything you've been told about the environment. Not the End of the World will give you the tools to understand our current crisis and make lifestyle changes that actually have an impact. Hannah cuts through the noise by outlining what works, what doesn't, and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.      

These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let's turn that opportunity into reality.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Not the End of the World is eye-opening and essential. With comprehensive data and sometimes counterintuitive conclusions, Hannah Ritchie does for the environment what Hans Rosling did for health. She argues that we shouldn’t be nostalgic for a time when half the global population died before adulthood, and she makes a convincing case that things are getting better—even though there’s so much more to do. I hope people around the world read this book, understand our planet isn’t a lost cause, and get inspired to help fix it."—Bill Gates, author of How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

"The climate and environmental crisis now has its Hans Rosling. Hannah Ritchie has charted an invigorating, inspiring, often surprising tour of recent human history and the many marks of progress it contains. Will the world make good on that optimism in the future? That is up to the rest of us."—David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth

"I find it hard to express how much I love this book. Hannah Ritchie brilliantly picks up where Hans Rosling left off. Her book shines with practicality and positivity. It will banish your feelings of doom, help you focus on what’s really important, and make you want to be a part of the most effective solutions to our greatest challenges. Let's get this book into the hands of as many policy makers, politicians and fellow citizens as possible."—Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind

“An unmissable myth-busting book to save our planet— read it.”—Tim Spector, author of Food For Life

“Data is a superpower. Let Hannah Ritchie show you the world as it really is. Then go out and change it for the better.”—Mark Lynas, author of Six Degrees

"An inspiring data-mine which gives us not only real guidance, but the most necessary ingredient of all: hope . . . truly essential"

—Margaret Atwood, TED2023

“Ecopragmatism at its best shines throughout this book... The surprising message in the data is that human civilization is far along toward solving planetary problems. Hannah Ritchie shows how building on the successful trends can finish the job.”—Stewart Brand, founder of Whole Earth Catalog and author of Whole Earth Discipline

“Such a clear-eyed view of the state we're in, giving a sharp picture of the challenges ahead, and an inspiring vision of the problems we've already solved. Everyone who reads it will learn a lot – I did.”—Tim Harford, author of How to Make the World Add Up

“A refreshingly upbeat guide to achieving sustainability. Ritchie attacks cynicism, doomerism and apathy with a barrage of data revealing the extent of our progress and illuminating the best paths ahead.”—Gaia Vince, author of Nomad Century

“A refreshing perspective on the problems that the world faces, providing plenty of optimism while not sugar-coating the deep structural challenges at the root of it all.”—Helen Czerski, author of Blue Machine

“Some deny there are environmental problems, others deny that we can solve them. Hannah Ritchie reveals that they are both wrong.”—Johan Norberg, author of In Defense of Global Capitalism and Progress

"Combining scientific expertise with convincing statistics, an Oxford researcher offers an antidote to do-nothing doomsayers...This book is a refreshing change and, as a call to further action, puts forward a sensible, equitable agenda."—Kirkus Reviews

“Every policymaker on the Left and the Right should read the new book Fragile Neighborhoods by Seth Kaplan.”—Timothy P. Carney, Washington Examiner

Library Journal

12/01/2023

This energetic book argues that while humanity has significantly altered the natural world, surrendering to despair about that fact is not only counterproductive but unrealistic. Ritchie (senior researcher, Programme for Global Development, Univ. of Oxford) demonstrates that although it's hard to escape grief about climate change and the despoiling of the Earth, over-generalizing can miss certain subtle but still significant efforts toward stopping and reversing human-caused environmental disasters. For example, she unpacks the dataset showing the near-extinction of black rhinos in eastern and southern Africa, and argues that the dominant narrative ignores that one of the two black rhino populations is showing significant growth. Ritchie takes great care to be informative about the specifics of human environmental impacts but discourages consuming narrowly defined statistics as absolute truth. She does not, however, let society off the hook; her book makes clear that it's up to humanity to repair and improve its relationship with the natural world. VERDICT Ritchie expertly coaxes readers out of the pit of despair and into a metaphorical lab that's bright, working, and committed to ecological problem-solving.—Dorian Gossy

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2023-09-05
Combining scientific expertise with convincing statistics, an Oxford researcher offers an antidote to do-nothing doomsayers.

At some point, despair over climate-related issues has become fashionable, to the point where many people choose not to have children. This attitude, writes Ritchie, an Oxford academic specializing in environmental science and deputy editor and lead researcher at the authoritative Our World in Data group, is mere foolishness. In her first book, she sets the record straight, drawing on a wealth of data to show a pattern of steady improvement in everything from infant mortality to deforestation to air pollution. On the issue of climate change, she notes that global per capita emissions are steadily falling, and the trends point toward an absolute decrease in the foreseeable future. In the U.S., since 2005 “emissions have fallen by a quarter both domestically and when we adjust for offshoring.” Ritchie makes clear that she is a firm believer in climate change; her thesis is that improvements have happened, and should continue to happen, through concerted action at the government and regulatory levels, as well as technological advances. Hand-wringing and whining get you nowhere, and the author points to problems that have been addressed—e.g., acid rain and the deterioration of the ozone layer, to show that co-operative answers are achievable. She has sharp words for journalists who take a few lines from a detailed scientific report out of context in search of a sensational headline, and for those people who seem determined to believe the worst. “Doomsayers are not interested in solutions,” she says. “They have already given up. They often try to stand in the way of them.” Ignore them, Ritchie suggests, and get to work instead.

This book is a refreshing change and, as a call to further action, puts forward a sensible, equitable agenda.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160095936
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	01/09/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	665,080

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