LOOK around — anywhere on our planet. Yes, it is burning. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, wars. Will Asia become another flashpoint?
At this moment in history, the story of nature has reached a troubling low point. It is unfathomable to me that some people can still shrug this off so easily — especially those who have children or care about the younger generation.
For many in my generation, this has become a constant and excruciating worry. Apathy, let alone denial, is no longer an acceptable option. We know that if we remain on this path, the destruction will inevitably reach us as well.
Recently, I came across the book The Burning Earth by Sunil Amrith. He is the Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History and a professor in the School of the Environment at Yale University. Since innovations in agriculture dramatically expanded food production, humanity has achieved remarkable success in reshaping nature, allowing billions of people to survive and thrive. Yet every technological innovation has also given us the power to exploit both the planet and one another with devastating consequences.
In this magisterial book, historian Sunil Amrith intertwines the stories of environment and empire, genocide and ecocide, human freedom and planetary cost. Through an environmental lens, he offers a new way of understanding war as a massive reshaping of the Earth through global mobilization of natural resources — including human beings — and explains patterns of migration as consequences of environmental harm.
Amrith writes in elegant prose and paints on the broadest canvas, creating a mind-altering epic filled with vivid stories, compelling characters, and rich archival sources.
In my opinion, it is a brilliant and paradigm-shifting global history of how humanity has reshaped the planet — and how the planet, in turn, has shaped human history over the past 500 years.
We all know that burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising global temperatures.
The main greenhouse gases driving climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These gases come from activities such as using gasoline to drive cars or burning coal to heat buildings. Clearing land and cutting down forests also release carbon dioxide.
Meanwhile, agriculture and oil and gas operations are major sources of methane emissions. Energy production, industry, transportation, buildings, agriculture, and land use are among the primary sectors contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
The Earth is feeling the heat, and humans are responsible for global warming. Climate scientists have shown that human activity accounts for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years. Activities like those mentioned above are releasing greenhouse gases that are warming the planet faster than at any point in at least the last two thousand years.
The average temperature of the Earth’s surface is now about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s, before the Industrial Revolution — and warmer than at any time in the last 100,000 years. The last decade (2011–2020) was the warmest on record, and each of the last four decades has been warmer than any previous decade since 1850.
Many people think climate change simply means rising temperatures. But temperature increase is only the beginning of the story. The Earth is a complex system where everything is interconnected. Changes in one area inevitably influence changes in others.
The consequences of climate change already include intense droughts, water scarcity, severe wildfires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms, and declining biodiversity.
We face an enormous challenge, but we already know many of the solutions. Many climate actions can deliver economic benefits while improving our quality of life and protecting the environment. Global frameworks and agreements also guide progress, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (from which I obtained some details), and the Paris Agreement.
Broadly speaking, three categories of action are required: cutting emissions, adapting to climate impacts, and financing the necessary adjustments.
Transitioning energy systems from fossil fuels to renewable sources such as solar and wind will significantly reduce the emissions driving climate change. But action must happen now. While a growing number of countries are committing to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, emissions must be cut in half by 2030 to keep warming below 1.5°C. Achieving this will require drastic reductions in the use of coal, oil, and gas. In fact, more than two-thirds of today’s proven fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground by 2050 to prevent catastrophic levels of climate change.
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