The Planet Remade

Product Description The risks of global warming are real, and potentially vast. The difficulty of doing without fossil fuels is daunting, and possible insurmountable. So there is an urgent need for new thinking on climate. To meet that need, a small but increasingly influential group of scientists is exploring proposals for planned human intervention in the climate system. A stratospheric veil against the sun; the cultivation of photosynthetic plankton; a fleet of unmanned ships seeding clouds: these are the radical technologies of climate geoengineering. It is chilling to think of such power, and such scope for misadventure or malice, in humans hands. And yet we are now at the point where we have no choice but to take them very seriously indeed. The Planet Remade explores the science, history and politics behind these strategies. It looks at who might want to see geoengineering put to use - and why others would be dead set against it. In the last two centuries, changes to the planet - to the clouds and soils, to the winds and the seas, to the great cycles of nitrogen and carbon - have been far more profound than most of us realize. Appreciating the scale of that change compels us to rethink not just our responses to global warming, but our relationship to nature. With sensitivity, insight and expert science, Oliver Morton unpicks the moral implications of climate change, our fear that people have become a force of nature, and what it might mean to try and use that force for good. The Planet Remade is about imagining a world where people take care instead of taking control. Review Longlisted for the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction 'If you are going to read one book on climate engineering, it should be "The Planet Remade [which] is as much an exploration of science and engineering as it is of people and attitudes.'-- Jane C.S. Long, Nature '[An] ambitious, enthralling, and slightly strange book.' -- Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times 'Morton accomplishes the difficult task of explaining high-level scientific concepts in pragmatic terms, with enough history, first-person reporting, anecdotes, and humour that The Planet Remade is as enjoyable to read as it is informative.' -- Foreword Reviews 'Oliver Morton produced 2015's most important and insightful book about the environment in The Planet Remade... Several people who should know better argued this year that humanity needs to adopt a more 'religious' view of climate change. It does not. What it needs is books by Oliver Morton.' -- Richard Benson, Independent '[A] dizzying, exhausting, exhilarating read.' -- New Scientist 'Morton affords us a fascinating look at the perils and promise of geoengineering on a warming planet.' -- Wan Lixin, Shanghai Daily '[A] thoughtfully written and meticulously reported volume that explores the nascent and controversial field of deliberate technological interventions in the climate--interventions meant to cool the planet.' -- Pacific Standard 'Morton offers a calm, rational discussion of deliberate technological interventions to cool the planet's climate system... An important account of cutting-edge research that will fascinate serious readers and demand the attention of policymakers.' --Kirkus (Starred Review) 'Through pages of rigorous scientific groundwork wrapped in elegant prose, Morton provides a guided tour of why we need geoengineering... The Planet Remade is a delightful introduction to the seemingly absurd proposals that could be our fragile world's final hope.' -- Science News 'Morton gives a comprehensive, in-depth and highly readable discussion of geo-engineering and its wider content... [Focusing] more on the the actual workings of the climate system [he] elevate[s] the book beyond the mere imparting of information... Morton has put one of the options firmly on the table - the world can either take it or leave it, but it can no longer put off considering it.' --Richard Betts, Times Literary Standard 'Few science