Since the time of the Industrial Revolution, humans have altered the planet "beyond anything it has experienced in its 4.5 billion-year history." As journalist Gaia Vince explains, "No system on Earth is ever truly isolated from another, which is why the human changes we make to even small parts of the planet can have such enormous consequences." This extraordinary period deserves its own epochal designation, so many scientists have taken to calling it the anthropocene.
Vince struck out on a stunning world tour personally to examine some of these era-making changes and see how they are affecting those most closely connected to them. The result of her trek is Adventures in the Anthropocene, a passionate illustration of the planet and its inhabitants, broken down into sections that correspond with the building blocks that help make up the Earth, such as rivers, farmlands, oceans and cities.
In each section, Vince offers background on the problem plaguing that region and then introduces people who live there as well as those who are battling their predicament in astonishing ways, like Salamon Parco who is painting the Chalon Sombrero mountain peak in Peru white in an effort to encourage ice formation on the once-glaciated peak.
Vince offers multiple perspectives on each issue, sharing the costs and benefits of all options in terms and examples understandable to those without a scientific degree. The power of this weighty read, however, comes from Vince's obvious love and respect for the planet. Her poetic descriptions are breathtaking and her zeal will certainly inspire readers to examine their world in a different light. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts