There’s a new book out by Tim Flannery called Here on Earth: A New Beginning in which the author looks at both the evolution of the planet and our species. There is documentation about the changing conditions on the planet and how our species gained dominance and began to impact all other life on earth. The text embraces the idea of the Earth as a super-organism that optimizes for life upon it (the Gaia hypothesis), but that it is in need of humankind to provide a brain and nervous system, with the ultimate vision of humanity as nature’s steward. This is Flannery’s first book since The Weather Makers (2005) that pointed to man’s impact on climate change.
There’s a good review of the book in The Guardian, with the following excerpt:
“The more acutely we perceive its degradation, the more intensely we map, image and quantify its condition. Here we are on Earth like bystanders with mobile phones, recording mishaps and misdeeds, sharing them but not undoing them. The question facing us is whether we can channel the torrents of information we are generating into systems that will enable us to live in peace with the planet and one another.”
Sounds like a compelling call to arms to both optimize our systems, and to point their analysis toward action. This book is now on my reading list, and I hope to share more details soon.
