Our Fragile Moment by Michael Mann

OPL BOOK SUMMARY: 

Our Fragile Moment by Michael Mann is an enlightening read that explains how Earth’s natural, millenia-long cycles and planetary conditions became optimal to support life.  Mann takes the reader on a breathtaking journey to explore the 4.5 billion-year history of our planet, its interglacial and glacial cycles, and the climate periods that allowed the birth of proto-humans merely 2 million years ago.

Surprisingly, climate change was responsible for the gradual warming that allowed life on Earth to survive and thrive.  Gentle changes in our planet’s cycle have allowed for human exploitation and innovation over the past two million years.  But the planet’s continued warming will unfortunately, again, be the catalyst that pushes our planet to climate conditions no longer viable for life. Human activity accelerates Earth’s warming by releasing billions of years of carbon into the atmosphere at a rate faster than the planet can recapture it.  

Mann stresses the fragile and narrow climate variability that is optimal for sustaining life, and how humanity’s survival is wholly dependent on Earth’s conditions remaining in that narrow range.  Mann’s research includes the signs of tipping point behavior, as well as our scientific progress and uncertainty. Our Fragile History is eye-opening and straight-forward, stressing the gravity that our current climate crisis deserves and calling for all of us to take action before it’s too late.   

We are lucky to have an increased understanding of Earth and all its interacting cycles and systems. It is easy to realize we take a lot for granted. Earth and life are incredibly fragile – and worth protecting.

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