Publisher's Synopsis
The environmental emergency is the greatest threat we face. Preventing it will require an unprecedented political and social response. And yet, there is still hope.
Academic, physicist, environmental expert and award-winning science communicator Paul Behrens presents a radical analysis of a civilisation on the brink of catastrophe. Setting out the pressing existential threats we face, he writes, in alternating chapters, of what the future could look like at its most pessimistic and hopeful.
In lucid and clear-sighted prose, Behrens argues that structural problems need structural solutions and examines critical areas in which political will is required, including women's education, food and energy security, biodiversity and economics.
'Paul Behrens' nod to Charles Dickens in his title - The Best of Times, The Worst of Times - is a fitting one, for Behrens writes with the verve of a novelist, and the story he tells - how our environmental future is entangled in issues of equality, employment, housing, food, energy, and much else - is a page-turner. While there are many books out there on the impact of climate change, I know of no other book that weighs the evidence so even-handedly, from both optimistic and pessimistic perspectives, enabling readers to evaluate the scientific data in an informed way. This is an illuminating and deeply researched book, one that deserves a wide readership.'
Professor James Shapiro, Columbia University
'The Best of Times, The Worst of Times is written in a style that brings all the data but is clear, concise, and at times poetic. Behrens takes a deeply interdisciplinary approach, drawing upon economics, sociology, biology, and behavioural science to sort out the important causes of and solutions to our current climate crisis. Buy this book for your friends. Make them read it. It will change the way you think about the future and live your life in the present.'
Stuart Vyse, author of Going Broke
