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new technologies to combat climate change, by and large we have lost ground.
Sadly, we are reaping what we have sowed in the form of apocalyptic forest fires in
the Western US, Siberia and Alaska, “300 hundred-year” rainstorms occurring
annually, protracted droughts, massive garbage patches and dead zones in the
oceans, huge glacial melting events in Greenland and Antarctica, increasing frequencies of hurricanes and typhoons, and a pandemic. Ironically, each of these
events was predicted beforehand, including the pandemic, where Michael and Jane
were among the first to note the linkage of disease spread from animals to humans
to the “wet markets” of China.
Because it has proven difficult to mobilize the collective will of humanity and its
governments to take the actions needed, the authors conclude that our hopes lie with
the individual and free will. Individuals who not only deeply understand the need
for transformation but that it must be done at speed. As the book concludes,
“Otherwise, and all too clearly, our worst emergent nightmare, collectively, will be
shown to have been the very paradox of our presence on earth.”
G. Wayne Clough
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC, USA
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA, USA
Prologue