Our Dying Planet: An ecologist's view of the crisis we face

"It’s basically a eulogy – coral reefs are going to be the first ecosystems that go extinct. If you’re a diver like I am, that’s unimaginable. There’s nothing more beautiful, nothing more magical than being underwater with the brilliance and the otherworldliness of coral reefs. You don’t see that anywhere else on the planet: the colours, the diversity. And in, say, 20, 30 years it will be extremely rare and extremely difficult to find that. It is. As a child growing up partly in Australia I used to snorkel on coral reefs and already, when diving as an adult, I’ve never seen anything like I used to see back then. I’ve never seen anything like that brilliance and that expanse. The thought that it’s humans that have done this, that we might make an entire ecosystem go extinct, it’s shocking but it’s also a very profound change, something difficult to comprehend. Apart from the sadness you might feel at coral reefs going extinct, they are extremely important to us. Sandy beaches are formed by coral. Reefs perform a protective function. They are the nurseries for fisheries. And they are the basis for atolls, so islands like the Maldives or Kiribati that are entirely made of coral reefs, what’s going to happen to them? His solutions are very prosaic. We need to emit fewer carbon emissions, we need to cut down on consumption. It’s not rocket science. None of the books I’ve chosen really come up with solutions apart from the fundamental ‘we need to emit less carbon dioxide’, which of course we do. I’ve chosen these books because they are all well written and they all do the job of explaining the problem of what we’re doing to our planet. But I wanted to do something different. I didn’t want to just report the terrible state of our planet, I wanted to look further ahead and say what sort of world could we have? I also wanted the book to be from a human perspective. Apart from When the Rivers Run Dry and Field Notes , none of these books really talk about the consequences for humans. “A lot of people are suffering from the effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, or pollution, but they aren’t just sitting there sighing and crying” They’re laments for the nature that we’re destroying. And while that’s sad, of course, I’m most interested in what these changes are going to be like for people. Is it sad, and if so, why is it sad? And what’s actually going to affect us? How will these changes influence the crises we’re facing in food, resources, energy, and the big population we have? Where are we going to live? I also wanted to look beyond climate change and biodiversity, to encompass all of the issues of the Anthropocene, to see how they are related and see what people are actually doing about it. Because we are resourceful, ingenious, innovative, and endlessly adaptable. We’re capable of changing things for the better. Everywhere I found people dealing with the changes. A lot of people are suffering from the effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, or pollution, but they aren’t just sitting there sighing and crying, they’re coming up with solutions. I met a man who made his own island in the Caribbean out of garbage. That’s an innovative solution to the terrible problem of marine rubbish. I met scientists who are developing artificial reefs, and genetically engineering types of coral that can survive more acid conditions, or warmer conditions. I met islanders who are inventing all sorts of ways to nurture and protect their reefs in the hope of keeping them for longer. The books I’ve chosen have done an important job. They’ve told people that this is a big problem and needs to be sorted out. And perhaps the world is taking notice now. In December we had governments around the world agreeing to try and keep temperature rises below two degrees. I don’t know if it’s going to work, but it’s really symbolic that people are doing that. And it’s because of the warning sirens by these authors. But for me it’s really important to give hope and optimism, and to report what’s actually happening. People aren’t just throwing their hands up and walking away. They are doing something about it. We are at a really important time now in our struggle against our own nature, and the coming decades are crucial. Can we change society for the better so that we live on our planet differently? Through a mixture of technological innovation, societal change and communication changes, I think we can come through this in a positive way."