Description

A captivating exploration of climate change, through the lens of nine different emotions, to better understand the science, history, and future of our changing planet.

Dr Kate Marvel is a renowned climate scientist and researcher whose work on climate change led her to grapple with strong, complicated emotions. Initially, she resisted those feelings, afraid they would interfere with her objective scientific judgement. But over time she realised that there is no one way to think – or feel – about climate change. To live on and care for our changing planet, we need to embrace the full spectrum of human emotion.

As Marvel argues, we need every emotion we can muster if we’re going to counter the usual myopic perspectives on climate change and care enough to make better decisions. And this book is a dazzling call to care.

In Human Nature, each chapter uses a different emotion to illustrate the science behind our changing climate. We feel the wonder of being able to use climate models to predict the future. We feel anger at those who have knowingly destroyed the planet for profit. We feel love for our beautiful Earth, the only good planet. With Marvel as our guide, we get to feel it all – and we can begin to turn our strong feelings into strong action.

Human Nature is a remarkable, hopeful look at climate science that prioritises feelings – and in doing so charts a path forward for life together.

Publisher Review

‘In this impassioned debut report, climatologist Marvel uses the emotions engendered by the climate crisis to explore the science of global warming … The history and climate science enlighten, and the poignant final chapter … is a bona fide tearjerker. This unique take on the climate crisis stands out.’ * Publishers Weekly * ‘A highly readable argument for tackling climate change that reckons with both cold hard facts and the human heart.’ * Kirkus Reviews * ‘This is the best climate book I’ve ever read. It’s magnificent – both planetary and personal, saturated with electric metaphors, incisive vignettes, legitimately funny jokes, and an unflappable, knowing love for Earth, our home.’ — Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of What If We Get It Right? and cofounder of Urban Ocean Lab ‘Scientist Kate Marvel has examined the data and read through the evidence of climate change. But Human Nature looks at what climate change feels like for humanity. In a combination of evidence and storytelling, Marvel brings forth the emotions of climate change with passion and clarity.’ * Book Riot * ‘Few books I’ve encountered have felt more immediately timely. Over and over again I was, and remain, struck and challenged by the fierce, wise beauty in these pages. Reading and feeling these words now – as scientists are silenced and defunded, and as our climate convulses – gives it the heft of a forbidden samizdat text, making the sharing of it that much more urgent.’ — John Vaillant, bestselling author of The Tiger and Pulitzer Prize finalist Fire Weather ‘This is the book we’ve been waiting for. Both brilliant and hard-won, Marvel’s Human Nature gives us ways not only to think about our planet in crisis but also to honour the powerful connection we have to this place we call home. Deeply personal and scientifically wise, this book will serve as a guide and an anchor for years to come.’ — Ada Limon, 24th U.S. Poet Laureate, author of Startlement: New and Selected Poems ‘The brilliant gift of Human Nature is that not only does it educate, delight, and inspire, but it allows us to finally feel a multitude of responses to climate change – what many books fail to recognise, and yet what humans actually do. This is essential reading from one of the kindest and most whip-smart guides for understanding our planet. Kate Marvel’s writing is very much a marvel – I’m left astonished and so grateful this book finally exists for my family, my students, and our broken and beautiful world.’ — Aimee Nezhukumatathil, New York Times bestselling author of World of Wonders and Bite by Bite ‘An extraordinary, epoch-hopping meditation on life on our changing world. Marvel writes with the authority and urgency of a world-leading scientist who knows what is coming to our destabilising planet, and the vulnerability of a human being who has to live on it.’ — Peter Brannen, author of The Ends of the World ‘Impassioned, deeply moving, fast-paced, and witty, Human Nature connects us to the climate crisis through our mythologies, our histories, and our very human emotions. Marvel implores and inspires us to create a better future.’ — Sasha Sagan, author of For Small Creatures Such As We ‘As Kate Marvel observes in this exquisitely wrought work about what it means to be a climate scientist, “pretending we feel nothing about our changing world doesn’t make us objective. It makes us liars.” … Honouring this, Marvel puts emotions back into the equations that underlie climate science. The result is a work on the subject unlike anything you will have read before. Rigorous yet lyrical, steely eyed yet deeply felt, it is a hymn to our precious, precarious world.’ — Fiona Capp * The Sydney Morning Herald * ‘Scientist Kate Marvel has examined the data and read through the evidence of climate change. But Human Nature looks at what climate change feels like for humanity. In a combination of evidence and storytelling, Marvel brings forth the emotions of climate change with passion and clarity.’ * Book Riot * ‘Across nine chapters, Marvel draws you into an unapologetic and unflinching account of our climate: what has already happened, where we are now, and what sobering futures await us … and then to the hope and love that she cultivates nonetheless, this is a book steeped in emotion; a book that defiantly refuses to take an impartial, clinical view. Marvel wants us to feel … Marvel reminds us that the fight against climate change is as much about protecting the small, fragile corners of Earth that we love as it is about averting catastrophic collapse … I can’t imagine a better voice to listen to about our collective future.’ — Joe Murray * Readings *