Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

Sat, 01/08/2011 - 1:16pm by ballybeg

Eaarth? That is not a typo. That is the name Bill McKibben proposes for the planet we are living on now, which is somewhat familiar, but mostly quite different from the one we have inhabited for the previous 10,000 years of civilization. It’s a whole new world, in other words, where massive change is underway and where new rules of behavior need to be learned.

McKibben is a devoted spokesman for the planet, whichever way you spell it. A long-time environmental activist and a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College in Vermont, his message is terrifying and hopeful at the same time, if that is possible. He doesn’t gloss over the central theme of the book: we have made a mess of things and we have to wake up and do things differently. Now. Yesterday. There is no time left to equivocate. He desperately wants to rock the foundations of our complacency and inspire us with a way we can maintain our home “lightly, carefully, gracefully”.

Barbara Kingsolver’s advice about Earth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet: “What I have to say about this book is very simple: Read it, please... Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important.” I agree.