Global Change and the Earth System by W. Steffen and others, Springer-Verlag, £77/$129, ISBN 3540408002 Reviewed by Fred Pearce
THERE are two sorts of concern for the environment. There is all that touchy-feely stuff about saving cuddly animals, and there is saving the planet from humanity’s mega-depredations. Earth-system science deals with the latter. It deals with how our planet works, and offers suggestions about how we might avoid the Gulf Stream shutting down, save the ozone layer and stop the oceans from turning so acid that they dissolve the coral reefs.
It’s a crowded agenda. And this scholarly but highly readable primer to the fate of…
