The changes we humans have made in recent decades have altered our world beyond anything it has experienced in its 4.6 billion-year history. As a result, our planet is said to be crossing into the Anthropocene – the Age of Humans. It can be difficult to register the scale of change in a fast-changing world. But Gaia Vince and Fred Pearce have devoted their work and writing to doing just that. As humans melt the Arctic, turn forests into grasslands and savannahs into deserts, and choke the seas with plastic waste, Gaia and Fred discuss how they see the future of our planet.
In Adventures in the Anthropocene, Gaia Vince decided to travel the world at the start of this new age to explore what all these changes really mean, especially for the people living on the frontline. This book looks at how we are reshaping our living planet and explores how we might engineer Earth for our future. Her new book, Transcendence: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty and Time explores the astonishing story of how culture enabled us to become the most successful species on Earth.
In When the Rivers Run Dry Fred Pearce explores the growing world water crisis, from Kent to Kenya, taking us to places where waterways are turning to sand before the reach the ocean; where fields are parched and crops no longer grow; where wars are fought over access to water. But he offers us hope for the future, if we can radically revolutionise the way to treat water, and take personal responsibility for what we use.
“Adventures in the Anthropocene is in its own way far more ambitious and at the same time much easier to understand than all its competitors. It holds a mirror up to humanity and says: look what you have done to the world, the only world you will ever have…….in every sense a good book, as well as a compelling read.” - The Guardian
“If ever a book has been written that demands to be read it is this one…..a journey through a hugely important and complex subject in the company of a natural storyteller.” - Tim Smit, The Eden Project on When the Rivers Run Dry
This event is part of the Climate Change & the Environment – Futures strand of programming, inspired by Wells’ ‘History is becoming a race between education and catastrophe.’
Event chaired by Helen Sharp.
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