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Not the End of the World review: Crunching the data on saving Earth

Hannah Ritchie's smart new book is sure to whip up major controversy by arguing that the data shows we can win the battle to save the planet. But are its solutions credible?

By Madeleine Cuff

10 January 2024

BF3CDY girl and tree in front of solar panel — Advances in green energy such as solar power show how to quit fossil fuels
Luc Beziat/Cultura RM/Alamy

Hannah Ritchie

IS THE world doomed? If you have read much of the news in recent years, you would be forgiven for thinking the planet is rushing headlong into environmental catastrophe, dragging humankind to almost certain annihilation. Reports will tell you that 2023 is set to have been the hottest year on record by a huge margin, and that the poles are melting, forests are disappearing and corals are bleaching.

But we shouldn’t be consumed…

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