Wir Klimawandler

The biblical mandate to subdue the earth has become a grim reality: We are in the midst of a species extinction of gigantic proportions. The climate is changing because we are changing the climate. So profoundly are our actions affecting the planet that scientists speak of the Earth Age of Man, the Anthropocene. In her new book, Elizabeth Kolbert gives us a glimpse of the nature of the future. The Pulitzer Prize winner tells of engineers who are changing the course of rivers or protecting entire coastlines from rising seawater with ludicrous consequences for the ecosystem. She meets biologists who want to save the devilfish, probably the rarest fish on earth, and she reports on the bold plans to suck CO2 out of the air or distribute tiny diamonds in the stratosphere. Pacey, Kolbert describes the dilemma we face: Our interventions in the environment have led us to a point where these experiments are the last hope in the fight against global warming. But perhaps they are also the last step on the road to climate catastrophe.