Nonfiction

Adventures in the Anthropocene

A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made

Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books

We live in times of great change on Earth. In fact, while previous shifts from one geological epoch to another were caused by events beyond human control, the dramatic results of our emission of carbon to the atmosphere over the past century have moved many scientists to declare the dawn of a new era: the Anthropocene, or Age of Man.

Watching this consensus develop from her seat as an editor at Nature, Gaia Vince couldn’t help but wonder if the greatest cause of this dramatic planetary change—humans’ singular ability to adapt and innovate—might also hold the key to our survival. And so she left her professional life in London and set out to travel the world in search of ordinary people making extraordinary changes and, in many cases, thriving.

Part science journal, part travelogue, Adventures in the Anthropocene recounts Vince’s journey, and introduces an essential new perspective on the future of life on Earth.

Keywords

amazon river, climate migration, climate science, climate solutions, clmate change, Ecology, ecology books, enviromentalist books, environmental solutions, erosion, grasslands, great acceleration, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases, hydroelectric plants, melting icecaps, pollution, rising sea levels, science books, science journalism, sea level rise, solar power, south american wilderness, travel writing, urban farming

ISBN

9781571313577

Publish Date

12/09/2014

Pages

454

Dimensions

6 × 9 × 1.31 in

Weight

29 oz

Cover Art

Author

Gaia Vince

Gaia Vince is the author of Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made, which received the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, the largest international prize celebrating science writing for non-specialist audiences. Her work has been featured on the BBC and in the Guardian, Scientific American, Science, and elsewhere.

Praise and Prizes

“By the end of this self-help guide for humanity, one is left convinced that we are not only the cause but also the potential cure of our sick planet.”

Science
“An engaging travelogue … Gaia Vince’s case studies are fascinating. She is levelheaded and analytical, and does not overromanticise the natural world… . Vince’s focus on individuals and places helps ground the science in reality.”

Economist
“A fascinating tour of the human side of climate change, complete with its perils, and the inspired efforts ordinary people are nonetheless finding to adapt and survive with grace.”

Diane Ackerman

author of The Human Age
“An impressive book, encyclopedic in its scope and relentless in its gumshoe derring-do. An emporium of fascinating information.”

American Scholar
“Gaia Vince has produced a book, simultaneously deeply depressing and thoroughly uplifting, that is all but impossible to put down.”

Publishers Weekly

(starred review)
“A well-documented, upbeat alternative to doom-and-gloom prognostications.”

Kirkus

(starred review)
“This is a remarkable journey from a remarkable journalist. The Anthropocene era she documents emerges as something richer, more vital, and more interesting than any previous era. In her eyes people are heroes rather than villains. Read this and you can believe in the future.”

Fred Pearce

author of When the Rivers Run Dry
“A fine and timely book. Gaia Vince shows us how to stay steady and cheerful despite the ever intensifying drama of the Anthropocene.”

James Lovelock

author of Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth

Adventures in the Anthropocene

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