The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures From the Frontiers of Climate Science. This item is unavailable.The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures From the Frontiers of Climate Science

A unique, highly readable approach to the environmental crisis, with alternating chapters outlining the effects on society if left unchecked, and the radical actions we can take to prevent it..

New edition includes updated sections on Covid-19 and COP26.

The environmental emergency is the greatest threat we face. Preventing it will require an unprecedented political and social response. And yet, there is still hope.

Academic, physicist, environmental expert and award-winning science communicator Paul Behrens presents a radical analysis of a civilisation on the brink of catastrophe. Setting out the pressing existential threats we face, he writes, in alternating chapters, of what the future could look like at its most pessimistic and hopeful.

In lucid and clear-sighted prose, Behrens argues that structural problems need structural solutions, and examines critical areas in which political will is required, including women’s education, food and energy security, biodiversity and economics.

The book was printed with two different jackets, to illustrate the unique duality of the author’s approach.

Paul Behrens is Associate Professor of Environmental Change at Leiden University. His research and writing on food, energy and climate change has appeared in leading scientific journals, the New York Times, Politico, and the BBC. Paul’s work focuses on the impact of human consumption and the changes societies must make to live within environmental constraints. In 2023 he was awarded a Frontiers Planet Prize for his research into plant-based diets in high-income countries.