Adventures in the Anthropocene
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“A beautifully written book that raises the most profound question of our “A remarkable journey. Environment / $30 VINCE time: ‘How should we live?’ In the past this has been primarily a personal VINCE Conservation GAIA GAIA Read this and you can believe in the future.” question, but now it has become the central question for us as a species— and the fate of nearly every species on our planet (including our own) rests —FRED PEARCE, author of When the Rivers Run Dry on our answer.” — KEN CALDEIRA, STANFORD UNIVERSITY We live in times of great change on Earth. In fact, while previous “Vince has an exceptionally fluent understanding of Earth’s geophysics and shifts from one geological epoch the gift for conveying this knowledge with lucidity and zest. She is also to another were caused by events an intrepid traveler with a mission. She celebrates the wonders of nature and ADVENTURES ANTHROPOCENE A beyond human control, the dramatic reminds us that we are a superbly adaptive species.”— BOOKLIST (STARRED) JOURNEY results of our emission of carbon to the atmosphere over the past “A well-documented, upbeat alternative to doom-and-gloom prognostications.”— KIRKUS REVIEWS (STARRED) century—climate change, species extinction, and widespread environ- GAIA VINCE is a journalist and “A book that is all but impossible to put down.”— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED) mental degradation— have moved broadcaster specializing in science and G AIA VINCE many scientists to declare the dawn TO of a new era: the Anthropocene, or the environment. She has been the “Gaia Vince eortlessly weaves individual stories into an epic global narrative, IN THE editor of the journal Nature Climate to present us with a positive vision of a humane, brave new world.” Age of Man. THE Change, the news editor of Nature, — ALICE ROBERTS, author of The Incredible Human Journey and the online editor of New Scientist. HEART Watching this consensus develop Her print journalism has been widely “A fine and timely book.”— JAMES LOVELOCK, author of from her seat as an editor at Nature, published in such publications as the Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth Gaia Vince couldn’t help but wonder Guardian, Scientific American , and the IN THE if the greatest cause of this dramatic planetary change—humans’ singular Times, and her broadcast journalism ANTHROPOCENE ADVENTURES has been featured on the BBC. She OF ability to adapt and innovate—might resides in London. also hold the key to our survival. THE And so she left her professional life Cover artwork © Nick Pattinson PLANET WE MADE in London and set out to travel the world in search of ordinary people ANTHROPOCENE making extraordinary changes and, A TO THE OF in many cases, thriving. Along the JOURNEY HEART way, she met Nepalese engineers THE PLANET WE MADE creating artificial glaciers, a man in the Caribbean who created an entire island out of garbage, and numerous other innovators—from Uganda, the Maldives, Colombia, and countless points between. Part science journal, part travelogue, Adventures in the Anthropocene ENVIRONMENT / CONSERVATION recounts Vince’s journey, and intro- I SBN 978-0-701-18734-7 duces an essential new perspective Jacket photography: front: Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia; on the future of life on Earth. back: Rio de Janeiro © Nick Pattinson www.milkweed.org www.nmp-photography.com 9 780701 187347 Chatto & Windus LONDON 429HH_tx.indd 3 30/01/2014 11:49 © 2014, Text by Gaia Vince First published by Chatto & Windus, a division of The Random House Group Ltd. © 2014, Cover photograph by Nick Pattinson All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415. (800) 520-6455 www.milkweed.org Published 2014 by Milkweed Editions Printed in the United States of America All photographs by Nick Tucker Map by Jane Randfield Geological timescale by Francisco Izzo / Nautilus 14 15 16 17 18 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from the Bush Foundation; the Patrick and Aimee Butler Foundation; the Driscoll Foundation; the Jerome Foundation; the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation; the McKnight Foun- dation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Target Foundation; and other generous con- tributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Also, this activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota. For a full listing of Milkweed Editions supporters, please visit www.milkweed.org. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vince, Gaia. Adventures in the anthropocene : a journey to the heart of the planet we made / Gaia Vince. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-57131-357-7 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-57131-928-9 (ebook) 1. Global environmental change. 2. Global environmental change—Social aspects. I. Title. GE149.V56 2014 577.27—dc23 2014017309 Milkweed Editions is committed to ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book produc- tion practices with this principle, and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment. We are a member of the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufactur- ers, and authors working to protect the world’s endangered forests and conserve natural resourc- es. Adventures in the Anthropocene was printed on acid-free 100% postconsumer-waste paper by Edwards Brothers Malloy. For Nick CONTENTS Geological Time Map ix Maps x-xi List of Illustrations xiii Introduction 1 1 Atmosphere 15 2 Mountains 45 3 Rivers 70 4 Farmlands 106 5 Oceans 150 6 Deserts 191 429HH_tx.indd 7 30/01/2014 11:37 7 Savannahs 221 8 Forests 262 9 Rocks 298 10 Cities 338 Epilogue 382 Acknowledgements 391 Notes 395 Index 417 429HH_tx.indd 8 30/01/2014 11:37 GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE e t Passag Wes orth N N A E G C o O bi D FRANCE ese rt N C I ITER Fusion Facility Beijing A T E N P A SPAIN CHINA C A L Tianjin O C Garbage Island T Leh Pun Hills Eco-city I A EPAL Almeria Raj Samadhiyala N F C I I I C N Kathmandu F D I I A M Shanghai C e O k o A n VIETNAM C g P R E COLOMBIA SAHARA Kampala iv e A DESERT Mumbai r N Villa Hermosa Soroti M CAMBODIA A LAOS Lake Turkana L D I V A E Y S E N K L GALAPAGOS Medellin I Z ISLANDS Manaus UGANDA R U A T P E A R N Nairobi Z B A N I Lake Eyasi A Serengeti IA N LIV Rurrenabaque Lima BO A E Potosi Kiribati E C L O I H Rio de S T R A L I A C N A U Salar Janeiro Maasai Mara A Pantanal I Salt Flat D N I Port Augusta Coyhaique Patagonia N Baker River e t Passag Wes orth N N A E G C o O bi D FRANCE ese rt N C I ITER Fusion Facility Beijing A T E N P A SPAIN CHINA C A L Tianjin O C Garbage Island T Leh Pun Hills Eco-city I A EPAL Almeria Raj Samadhiyala N F C I I I C N Kathmandu F D I I A M Shanghai C e O k o A n VIETNAM C g P R E COLOMBIA SAHARA Kampala iv e A DESERT Mumbai r N Villa Hermosa Soroti M CAMBODIA A LAOS Lake Turkana L D I V A E Y S E N K L GALAPAGOS Medellin I Z ISLANDS Manaus UGANDA R U A T P E A R N Nairobi Z B A N I Lake Eyasi A Serengeti IA N LIV Rurrenabaque Lima BO A E Potosi Kiribati E C L O I H Rio de S T R A L I A C N A U Salar Janeiro Maasai Mara A Pantanal I Salt Flat D N I Port Augusta Coyhaique Patagonia N Baker River INTRODUCTION: THE HUMAN PLANET our and a half billion years ago, out of the dirty halo of cosmic dust le over from the creation of our sun, a spinning clump of minerals F coalesced. Earth was born, the third rock from the sun. Soon aer, a big rock crashed into our planet, shaving a huge chunk o, forming the moon and knocking our world on to a tilted axis. e tilt gave us seasons and currents and the moon brought ocean tides. ese helped provide the conditions for life, which rst emerged some billion years ago. Over the next . billion years, the planet swung in and out of extreme glaciations. When the last of these ended, there was an explosion of complex multicellular life forms. e rest is history, tattooed into the planet’s skin in three-dimensional fossil portraits of fantastical creatures, such as long-necked dinosaurs and lizard birds, huge insects and alien sh. e emergence of life on Earth fundamentally changed the physics of the planet.1 Plants sped up the slow ADVENTURES IN THE ANTHROPOCENE breakdown of rocks with their roots, helping erode channels down which rainfall coursed, creating rivers. Photosynthesis transformed the chemistry of the atmosphere and oceans, imbued the Earth system with chemical energy, and altered the global climate. Animals ate the plants, modifying again the Earth’s chemistry. In return, the physical planet dictated the biology of Earth.