Synopses & Reviews
"The power of Gary Braasch's personal witness to the climate crisis makes this essential reading for every citizen."and#151;Al Gore
and#147;Earth under Fire is an important work documenting climate change. With an accessible text and startling photographs, it takes the reader on a world tour of the human effect on our climate.and#8221;and#151;Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
"Braasch's descriptions and photographs of how climate change is unraveling ecosystems and human lives make real and vivid what for too many remains speculative and abstract. Each deeply researched storyand#151;the rising suicide rate in a melting Inuit village, fields of European butterflies killed by a false spring, coastal houses falling into the sea in North Carolinaand#151;becomes a memorable character in a rapidly unfolding drama that threatens to engulf us all."and#151;Amory B. Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute
"There are scant books equal to the task of spelling out the greatest challenge in human history-global climate change. Rarer still is an author who can both write and photograph it, seamlessly marrying text and images. Earth under Fire is that rare book."and#151;Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest and The Ecology of Commerce
"This is a well-written description of the effects of human-driven climate change on our all-too-vulnerable planet. The pictures give a marvelously direct account of what is happening almost before our eyes."and#151;Sir Crispin Tickell, former British Ambassador to the United Nations
"Global warming has found its Baedeker in Gary Braasch. Braasch has traveled all over our changing world and recorded in word and photograph what's going on. We all need to see what he saw, and Earth under Fire does a beautiful job of that."and#151;James Gustave Speth, author of Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment
Review
"While the science underlying global warming is complex, its impact is made comprehensible in this richly photographic blend of memoir and reportage....This lucid, accessible, and handsome volume's cogent commentary includes discussion of social and political issues, including the Kyoto agreement....Braasch and his contributors pull no punches about the seriousness of the consequences of global warming, and conclude with a chapter detailing the positive steps that can be taken toward using resources more responsibly." Booklist
Review
"Braasch's stories and photographs of how climate change is unraveling ecosystems and human lives make real and vivid what for too many remains speculative and abstract. Each deeply researched story the rising suicide rate in a melting Inuit village, fields of European butterflies killed by a false spring, coastal houses falling into the sea in North Carolina becomes a memorable character in a rapidly unfolding drama that threatens to engulf us all. By making fathomable the specific consequences of inaction, this book helps motivate us to pay attention and to grasp the simple, profitable climate solutions now within our grasp." Amory B. Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute, Inc.
Review
"There are scant books equal to the task of spelling out the greatest challenge in human history, global climate change. Rarer still is an author who can both write and photograph it, seamlessly marrying text and images. Earth Under Fire is that rare book, a vivid and consequential work that needs to be held, studied, and pondered. No one who reads this can ignore our collective destiny." Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest and The Ecology of Commerce
Synopsis
Six years ago, award-winning photojournalist Gary Braasch began an extraordinary journey around the world to observe and document environmental changes resulting from the warming of our climate. In this stunning, eye-opening book, he brings us along to witness firsthand what he saw as he crossed both the Antarctic and Arctic Circles, trekked above 15,000 feet in the Andes, dove on damaged coral reefs, and followed scientists into the field on four continents. In more than one hundred photographs, including dramatic before-and-after comparisons, Braasch records communities, landscapes, and animals at risk because of receding glaciers, eroding coastlines, rising sea levels, and thawing permafrost. In the accompanying text he surveys the science behind climate change and introduces native people, lifelong observers, scientists, and others who are noticing striking changes right now. Alongside Braasch's compelling words and images, essays by eminent scientists discuss the impacts of climate change on the oceans, biodiversity, fresh water, mountain cultures, plants and animals, and our health. More than a warning, Earth under Fire, the most complete illustrated guide to the effects of climate change now available, offers an upbeat and intelligent account of how we can lessen the effects of our near total dependence on fossil fuel using technologies and energy sources already available.
About the Author
Gary Braasch is an Ansel Adams Award-winning photojournalist and a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He contributes to Time, US News and World Report, Smithsonian, Discover, Natural History, LIFE, Scientific American, GEO, American Photo, the BBC News website and other publications. He is the author of Photographing the Patterns of Nature and coauthor of Secrets of the Old-Growth Forest, Entering the Grove, and Northwest.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction
1. Fire on the Ice
2. Polar Thaw
3. Breaking the Boundaries of Life
4. Tomorrowand#8217;s Climate Today
5. Neros or Heroes: Choosing a Better, Safer, Cleanerand#151;and Coolerand#151;World
Epilogue: Emissions Accomplishedand#151;Now the Battle Must Be Fought
Afterword
Acknowledgments
References
Index