The Best of Times, The Worst of Times Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science

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 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 author is an Assistant Professor at Leiden University and is both a highly-qualified scientist and an award-winning educational communicator• The book was printed with two different jackets, to illustrate the unique duality of the author’s approach• The book has been praised by Gaia Vince and James Shapiro, among other leading non-fiction writers• A unique, highly readable and measured approach to the environmental crisis