Customer Reviews

Gaia: An Atlas of Planet Management

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This book has easy to understand diagrams that explain the ways the Earth's resources are distributed. Most importantly, it shows how we will be in serious trouble in the future if we do not change the lifestyles of all consumers.

This book has easy to understand diagrams that explain the ways the Earth's resources are distributed. Most importantly, it shows how we will be in serious trouble in the future if we do not change the lifestyles of all consumers.

This visionary book helps us see ahead by giving us a global close-up of the past and present. It's not easy to face all the facts illustrated and explained so clearly by this book -- that the soil is disappearing; deserts are expanding; and tropical forests are being cut down. And it's not easy to read page 22 -- and learn that world hunger is caused not by scarcity, but by improper management of the world's food resources, such as animals being used for meat to feed the affluent while millions of children starve for want of a little grain.

Hopeful solutions are provided, including worldwide practices of sustainable farming methods, such as China illustrated when succeeding at feeding all of its people.

The vision enlarges and darkens. Ocean, climate, and energy problems are introduced, leading to historically pervasive problems facing our species, such as war. The world view gets pretty dark in that chapter, so move quickly through it to page 252. On that page, we are described as a "privileged generation," full of opportunities to create the future by saving our biosphere and ourselves for many generations yet privileged to come.

This book was exhausting to read, but I'm glad I did. It reminds me that we are the "transition generation." It suggests hopefully that all of us on this Earth today have a huge responsibility in forging new pathways for our species to follow towards surviving and thriving, by taking better care of the Earth and ourselves. This book shows us ways we can create the future we wish for our world.

I admit this book is pretty unsettling, but I highly recommend this book to everybody. And I highly recommend reading it with hope and realization of the positive difference each person can make in the world.