Fragile Earth: Views of a Changing World - Hardcover

Collins

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061137316 ISBN 13: 9780061137310

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2006

Synopsis

Natural disasters, climate change, resource exploitation, and human development are all changing our planet at a relentless pace.

Turn on the television, read any newspaper—one cannot avoid stories of the major changes that are taking place on Earth. Hurricanes and tornados in the Midwest, flooding along the coasts, melting of polar ice caps. What's going on?

This book is an attempt to answer some of those questions. Written by leading experts, and using unique before-and-after satellite imagery to document what's taking place, Fragile Earth presents all of the changes that are occurring and what the likely outcomes for our planet will be.

Different phenomena pose different risks. Natural phenomena, like earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, landslides, and avalanches, and wild weather, like tropical storms, tornadoes, and massive dust storms, pose risks to local populations who cannot safely escape these sudden cataclysms. But there are also more subtle changes happening that can be just as destructive in the long run.

Take, for instance, the parched earth—places where desertification, shrinking lakes and drying rivers, and drought are becoming prevalent. What are the long-term effects of these phenomena on human populations? Or the so-called "Big Thaw"—dwindling glaciers, polar ice cap changes, rising sea levels: what are the effects of these ever-increasing conditions?

The question this book poses is simple: What is to be done? There are answers to these problems, if we become more focused on solving them. The expert contributors give some of those answers, including conservation of current resources as just one of many.

Natural disasters, climate and environmental changes, exploitation of the world’s resources, and human development are all creating a planet that is rapidly changing. Fragile Earth illustrates the dramatic changes that have happened around the world through more than 150 stunning, colorful images from space, sky, and land, and gives a fascinating insight into how these changes are affecting life on earth. The book begins by illustrating the changes that have been a consequence of natural phenomenon and then looks at some of the effects of man’s actions on the world. The final chapter considers what the future holds for the planet with personal views from expert contributors and further images.

About this title

Review

Time, 1st January 2007
One of the 5 Great Photo Books of the Year

Daily Express, 18th August 2006
Worth buying if only because in a few years it may all be too late.

The Independent, 15th September 2006
...presents horrifying images of the changes in our planet wrought by climate change and relentless human development.

The Sun, 14th September 2006
Amazing pictures.

Real Travel, October 2006
'an enlightening view of a changing world'

About the Author

Foreword by Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Mark Lynas: author of High Tide and Six Degrees.
Tim Flannery: bestselling author of The Weather Makers
Fred Pearce: Science writer for New Scientist
Guy Dauncey: author of Stormy Weather
Elizabeth Kolbert: author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe
Bjorn Lomborg: Controversial author of the Skeptical Environmentalist
Michael Allaby: Prominent environmental science writer.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061137316
• ISBN 13: 9780061137310
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272