Can We Save the Planet? (The Big Idea Series) (The Big Idea Series)

Book excerpt: This new volume in The Big Idea series surveys the detrimental impact humans have had on the planet and evaluates what we can do to reverse the damage. The effects of global warming are being felt around the world through climate change, and images of our rivers and oceans choking with plastic have provoked an instinctive, horrified reaction. In response, governments, corporations, and individuals are beginning to change their policies and behavior—but is it too little, too late? Is it still possible to reverse the damage we have done to the planet? This title in The Big Idea series, Can We Save the Planet?, provides an in-depth understanding of global warming, climate change, and the disastrous effects on our oceans through the prevalence of single-use plastics. It begins by setting out the evidence and arguments concerning the relationship of escalating carbon emissions and deforestation with the planet’s environmental decline. It offers insightful analysis of our consumerist, throwaway culture, and evaluates whether we can save the planet through a combination of proactive individual action and governmental policy, or if we can only react to the problems caused as they arise, using modern technologies. Can We Save the Planet? is an incisive, engaging, and authoritative text on one of today’s key issues, written by an expert in the field.