History

Freinkel treks through history, science and the global economy to assess the real impact of plastic in our lives through eight familiar plastic objects. Each one illuminates a different facet of our synthetic world to give us a new way of thinking about a substance that has become the defining medium—and metaphor—of our age. 

Read about the science behind the key inventions—from electric power to large-scale farming to automobiles—that, even as they help us, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere like never before. This author explains the current and projected consequences of global warming—from superstorms to rising sea levels—and the actions that we all can take to fight back.

By 1979, we knew nearly everything we understand today about climate change—including how to stop it. Over the next decade, a handful of scientists, politicians, and strategists, led by two unlikely heroes, risked their careers in a desperate, escalating campaign to convince the world to act. This is their story, and ours.

I loved this book for its utterly fresh angle on climate disaster as well as Bengal-born Ghosh’s quiet, erudite reflection on why it is so difficult for Americans even to conceive of the reality of what is facing us. It is devastatingly revelatory.

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.