Category: Review (Page 1 of 132)

5 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

Regardless of what some braying populist politicians say, climate change is real. It’s not going away and is only going to get worse as carbon dioxide levels rise in the coming years. As with any of these things, follow the money to see who is paying for these messages and be aware that they want to discredit the evidence and for people to have doubts about the science.
I have read a fair number of books about the coming environmental crisis caused by climate change and CO2 levels in the atmosphere, but this probably has the bleakest start of any book that I have read. Not only does he say that we are all doomed, but he then goes on to detail just how and why we are doomed.

He begins with heat. The human body is versatile and can cope with a range of temperatures, from Arctic to desert, but go beyond those, and we very quickly expire. Some of the more recent heatwaves that we have had, there are 700 people per day dying from these extreme temperatures. It doesn’t just affect us; these high temperatures stop plants growing and turn fertile zones into arid wastelands.

For those alongside the seaside, not only are you going to get sunburn, but the gulls will still be desperate for your chips, and the sea level is rising. A lot. Predictions for sea level rises are eight foot by the end of this century and realistically much more if the ice melts much faster than it has been doing up until now.
So far, so bad.

If the heat and sea level rises don’t get you, then maybe the wildfires will. The hazards all combine in some way, and the magnitude of the effects is increased each time.
If you’ve survived all that, then the weather might get you. Storms are increasing in power, and as warm air holds more moisture, it means that the rain is heavier and more intense than before. Or you might be struck by lightning…Even though you’ve been soaked in the storm, the chances of being able to find potable water will be diminishing.
The rising seas are also dying, or more accurately, being killed by us. Coral bleaching, dramatic temperature changes, less oxygen in warmer oceans, carbon dioxide poisoning and a slowdown in the water cycles that have regulated the planet for millennia.

Having read all of that, you may need to take a deep breath. Not the best idea, though, given that the air pollution is rising. Plus, there is a rise in particulates, micro plastics and other aerosols in the atmosphere now, which, surprise, surprise, isn’t doing us any good at all.

As the natural world becomes more stressed, viruses proliferate. Wallace-Well mentions some that have transferred from the animal domain to ours, but as this was written pre-COVID, then that isn’t mentioned. The viruses he does write about are pretty grim, though. The chapter on economic collapse was fascinating, and is a reminder that everything on the tiny blue dot is interlinked. Everything! He follows that with a chapter on conflict, and how the stresses caused by climate change can cause wars internationally and internally. Grim reading.

To top it all off, he then writes about systems, or more specifically, how the systematic collapse of societies and all we hold dear will finish us off. Even grimmer reading.

The third section of the book considers why. With all the science and hard evidence of climate change, we are still taking the head-in-the-sand approach. It is possible that people are fatigued by the relentless bad news or that the disinformation campaign run by the oil industry is having more effect. Only time will tell, and by then it may be too late…
He explores if capitalism can extract us from the mess we are currently in and reaches the blatantly obvious conclusion, before considering if technology may have a solution to the climate crisis. It might, if done in conjunction with lots of other things, such as green energy and decarbonisation.

Since the end of World War II, the neo liberal capitalist agenda has driven the economies of most of the world. The emphasis has shifted, and we now have autocratic capitalist states that not so long ago had a very different hue of politicians in charge. They have very different agendas from the rest of the world.

I have read a number of different books about the climate crisis ( 52 at the last count), and I can categorically say that this is the bleakest that I have read and probably the most brutally honest of them all. If you have any environmental anxiety at all, then you probably shouldn’t read this. The people who should read it are our political leaders, but they won’t…

4.5 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

Humanity has always been on the move. We came out of Africa and have swirled about the planet until we will have filled it. Modern migration has gone from a humanitarian need to a political hot potato. It doesn’t mean that it has gone away, though…

Crossing borders is always a focus of nerves, at the beginning of this journey. Moving from Turkey to Syria has its moments, but a new country has its delights too; learning about the people and the country are two of Watson’s favourite things to do.

One of the best places to do this is to go to a market in a town. It isn’t long before they are accosted and persuaded to visit the stall run by Mahoud. He then invites them to the family home, which, according to him, is only a 20-minute bus ride away.

Another day, another town and a new market to explore. Watson’s descriptions of the produce and goods piled up on the stalls is very evocative. There is a rich mix of people and cultures in Syria, but finding an individual with red hair in this melting pot was most unexpected.
They wander around Roman remains in Apamea, absorbing just how good the Romans were and designing and building things.

Cycling into Damascus is somewhat problematic as they have to battle against a sandstorm. It is really tough going, and they end up pushing against the wind for some of the ride. Leaving a city is much harder, not just navigation-wise; the clear route in is often very complicated going the other way, but also leaving behind some of the creature comforts that city life brings. Their next leg would be doubly hard as they would be crossing a desert with precious few places to get water.

One aspect that comes across in this book is that we share a common humanity, even though the cultural differences are huge between Watson and the people of Syria that she meets. They are constantly reminded of the geopolitical conflicts that have affected this country and its place on the world stage.

Next up is Turkey. It is different in lots of ways, but also very familiar. The culture and foods are very similar in both countries, probably because the way that people farm in a region is broadly similar, regardless of what side of the border you are on. Looking at the map, lots of the places that they were considering cycling through were marks as red. Bandit country! It was both worrying and slightly exciting at the same time. They decide to go for it. Spoiler alert. They survive. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be reading this book.

They spend a short while contemplating their next route. Cycling through Iran had made one member of Watson’s family worried and unhappy. However, all of the people that they met in their first days cycling through had been warm and welcoming. There were delays in getting their next visas, so they knew they would have to change their route.

Tehran is a crowded and busy metropolis. Because of things that have happened and being pragmatic, they decide to take a bus for the next leg of the journey, and then cycle from that place onto the next border. Being back on the bikes was good, but their deadline to reach the next border was fast approaching, and they still had to obtain the next visa for Turkmenistan, which led to a surreal moment before they got to that. The message from the people of Iran was: tell the world what we’re actually like.
They pass through Turkmenistan in a handful of days, battling against the headwinds through the desert. They found the people to be warm and generous all the way through the country.

Uzbekistan beckoned. They didn’t have the best start there, but they warmed to the people after a while. It took a while, but they did find them to be as welcoming and warm as the other countries that they had passed through.

As they passed through the border into Tajikistan, the fatigue from the physical endurance began to show. The upside was that as they cycled through the mountains, the views were spectacular. The grinding relentlessness of the ride was evident, though.

They cycle past minefields and end up camping alongside a Swiss organisation that is helping clear the mines. They endure a two-day uphill ride (!!) along the Wakhan, but are assisted by numerous children who help push them up the steepest bends. They are in border country now, where Tajikistan meets Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, with India nearby. The people have lived in the region for years and are not really concerned about the swirl of geopolitical posturing around them. Every pedal stroke takes them closer to their final destination, China.

I found this to be a really enjoyable travel book. Watson is an engaging writer with a keen eye for the human story in all of the countries that they pass through. She and her partner, Ed, go through all the elation and trauma that cycle touring can throw at them on this journey and yet they still keep smiling and pedalling. Either they were very lucky with their bikes, or she didn’t write much about the wear and tear that the bikes would have inevitably suffered from. I have read a lot of travel books over the years, and I can confidently say that this is one of the good ones. Well worth reading.

5 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

One of my favourite words is susurrations. This is the word that describes the sound that the wind makes as it rustles the leaves in a tree. The sound is as wonderful as the word.

When we go into a landscape, we need to use all our senses, including our hearing. This book is an exploration of the sound in the landscape. And wind is one of those strange elements. We can hear it and see its effects, but you cannot see the wind itself.

Sounds have been with us since big bang (can you imagine how loud that was?). Though there was nothing living around to hear it back then, the sounds can still be detected as a background white noise. This was discovered by accident by two astronomers in New Jersey.

Humans have made instruments for thousands of years for ritual and (we assume) entertainment purposes, but can a building be an instrument too? In the Vittala Temple in Hampi, India, the pillars holding the structure up are musical. When tapped, they resonate and oscillate, giving off different notes. I would love to hear it one day.

Before that, humans, have used the acoustic properties of caves. Probably for ritual purposes, but we can’t be certain, though. Ancient instruments that have been played in caves in Spain have an extra depth and almost an ethereal element to the sound. It is also speculated that stone circles have the ability to reflect sounds back into the centre of the circle too.
Animals can make a fair amount of noise too. The chirp of cicadas whilst sitting in the balmy heat of a Mediterranean summer is a happy memory. I remember hearing the roar of a lion at Dublin Zoo, and that sound triggered something deep inside my brain; no doubt the fight or flight response left over from an ancestor long gone. Even the pets we still have at home can be noisy in their own way.

Water is capable of making a whole range of sounds. The relaxing sound of a stream in a woodland has a similar effect to the gentle lapping waves by the beach. Add high winds and low pressure to the ocean, though, and the roar of the waves then is a very different sound. Take a walk outside when it has snowed, and you’ll notice how quiet it is. Partly that is because there are fewer cars moving about, but the snow absorbs sounds very well indeed. However, the crack of ice as you are traversing a crevasse is a very different sound, and not really one that you’d want to hear at that moment.

Most of the noise we hear every day is the din that we humans make. And we make a lot of noise; road and other transport noise, sounds from factories and other industry and so on. However, some of the sounds we can make are just beautiful, singing, and the sounds of instruments played by a very talented individual. Other sounds can be more distressing, though, the keening sounds made by mourners, someone in a lot of pain. One of the sounds of my childhood has long gone now, the long base note of a foghorn; it was powerful enough to be heard through fog over a distance of many miles.

One of the loudest noises ever heard on this planet was the volcano of Krakatoa, which was heard around 3000 miles away. Humans have made some of the next loudest noises when they exploded atomic bombs in various parts of the world. Years later these bombs are still making a sound as they trigger the Geiger counters.

In this world of sound there are some people that seek silence. The closest most people can get to total silence is the inside of an anechoic chamber. It is so quiet in there that you will be able to hear the noises that your body makes. It has been known t drive some people to distraction.

You might think that you’d get some peace at the bottom of the ocean too; however, you’d be disappointed. Even 11km down in the Mariana Trench, you’d hear noises from whales, subterranean earthquakes and even the noise from a surface storm will penetrate that far down. Plus, there is the din that we make in the oceans from propellers, undersea explosions and submarine sonars. This noise is incredibly damaging to cetaceans

I thought this was a wonderful book. It is full of fascinating facts about the ocean of sound that surrounds us. If you were to pick one popular science book to read this year then I can highly recommend this one.

4 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

The majority of people, do not think about insects most of the time, or if at all. However, there are two moments when you become very aware of these six-legged creatures that we share the planet with. The first is that moment that you are just dozing off to sleep. and you can hear the tiny whine of a mosquito in the bedroom. The second is when you unfurl a picnic blanket and unpack food on a fine summers day and from nowhere the wasps arrive.

These are just two of the one million known insect species. And one million is around 10% of the total number of species that is thought to number around 10 million in total. And we are utterly dependent on them. They clear up the dead, pollinate countless plants, a lot of which we eat and are key to the immense amount of life on the planet.

I am not sure how you even begin to distil the one million known species down to the 366 different type that the authors have chosen for this book, but somehow they have managed to do it. There are insects in the book that are big, bold and beautiful. There are the weird and the wonderful, the mundane and common and a fair number that are a bit disgusting! They have chosen species that have very specific role and that fill a particular niche

The pictures of the selected insects in the book are amazing. My favourites are the butterflies and moths, but I do have a liking for the bigger beetles, such as the stag beetle, rhino beetle and the iridescent beetles. And who doesn’t love a bee, the range and colours of these insects is staggering.

I found this book endlessly fascinating. Couzens and Ashton have compiled and interesting set of facts, figures and information for each of the chosen insects as well as how they fit into the wider context of ecosystems. If you like insects then this book would be right up your street, and even if you’re not a fan then I would still recommend this book as I am sure you would learn an awful lot.

4 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

The boundary between land and sea is constantly changing. Twice a day, the tides ebb and flo,w bringing water up and down the shoreline, and the weather can give us millpond stillness on the ocean or the full wrath of a winter storm, plus everything in between.

Moving between land and sea can be as easy as launching from a shallow sandy beach or almost impossible when you mix vertical cliffs and pounding waves. A harbour makes that transition between land and sea so much easier, regardless of the size of the vessel.

Banning makes the 320-mile journey from Morecambe Bay to the Sussex coast to visit his mother on a regular basis. He sometimes will use this as a stepping stone, taking the ferry to Dieppe to holiday in France. A route that I have done myself a number of times when we have holidayed there in the past. It turns out that this route was the same one that Ho Chi Minh was also on back in the early 19th century. Who knew?

This region is also on the ‘front line’. That is, if you believe the nonsense pedalled out by the right-wing press and amplified by populist far-right-wing politicians who thrive on lies and misdirection.

The truth is much more nuanced than that (read We Came by Sea for a more balanced view). Whilst there will always be the occasional troublemaker arriving in the country, they are few and far between. In fact, probably even less so than in the ranks that support the populists.

The great artist, Eric Ravilious, famous for his pastiches of the rolling Sussex downlands, is also linked to Morecambe. There he was involved in decorating the tea room in the Midland Railway Hotel on the promenade. Banning also talks about another artist that I have never come across before, Harold Mockford. Iam aware of Ravilious’ work, but not yet discovered Mockford. He writes about the decisions that we take, which shape the direction of our lives and the inherent strangeness of our lives.

We have the famous Old Harry Rocks here in Dorset, but in Sussex, that probably an even more famous set of chalk cliffs called the Seven Sisters. These are quite imposing and close to Beachy Head that I have been to the top of a few times. Banning describes them as ‘hung like white curtains’ and like Old Harry Rocks, they are a big draw for tourists, and they are both being eroded by the relentless power of the sea.

I did like this book; however, I did find it a very difficult book to categorise. It is part memoir, part art book, along with a dusting of travel writing. Along with that, it is an observation of the state of our nation through the prism of Newhaven harbour. Banning gets to see it through an outsider’s eyes, as well as noting how the artists Mockford and Ravilious interpreted it in their own  way. I really liked the art of Ian Sharp and the photos that Banning has taken. However, If I were to have one criticism of this book, I found it too short, and it left me wanting more.

3.5 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

Lieutenant Lucinda Hardy is on another commission. Her previous commission had left her with a Star of Valor award, but as it was a black op and covered under Top Secret Absolute rules. But people on her new ship knew about it, and she had no idea why it had been declassified.

Professor Frazer McLennan is investigating the inside of a Voortrekker, a ship that had crashed in the southern wastelands of Van Maartensland. He has visitors arriving soon and for someone who doesn’t like people, that is the last thing that he really wants…

Sephina L’Trel was considering her life choices. It wasn’t the most ideal moment to do so, though. She has just decapitated a mob boss, and there were lots of people trying to shoot her. On reflection, she had had better days.

A princess had been hiding in the garden playing a game with two friends. But now she has been caught and has to go and practice her scales. It was an obligation that she really didn’t want to meet, but pushing back against their will would have no effect.

A man in a cell is facing condemnation, and a priest is trying to convert him to Christianity. He doesn’t want to be converted, but relents, knowing that the outcome is, for him at least, irrelevant.

These five individuals would be there when the invasion started. They would face their greatest fears as the enemy is one that want to obliterate the human race. It is going to be messy and brutal, and their paths are inextricably linked. This story is an account of their time in the conflict.
Each of these five individuals tell the story of the invasion from their perspective, the ebb and flow as they come up against the Sturm. We learn of the alliances made between the factions, too, as the intensity of the fight back against the invaders continues after the initial surprise, but there are many losses on both sides. It builds to a high tension and fast paced ending; and that is all I will say about the plot!

It has been quite a while since I have read any military sci-fi, and I thought that this was pretty good overall. The tech feels plausible, though I can’t say I’d want to meet one of these machines that the Marines use! I thought that the plot was fairly good, thoug,h as with any series book, some of the outcomes can be guessed; it is the route there that makes the story. The characters didn’t have much depth to them, but then, this isn’t a novel for character development. I will definitely seek out the subsequent books in the series to read at some point.

4 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

Stefan Advani is on a boat heading towards an island. He has been banished from the city of Shadrapar, the last of all cities on a world that is ever more alien to humanity. The island is a place where criminals are sent. His crime is agitation, subversion, and attempting to pervert the course of justice. It is a brutal place and almost no one leaves there alive…

It is bleak there. The prison is organic and is in the middle of a swamp. It is somehow kept afloat by ancient pumps that are somehow kept going by an equally ancient engineer. As well as surviving the sadistic prison warders, he has to kowtow to the prison hierarchy which is equally brutal. He doesn’t think he is going to last a week in this hellhole.

The second part of the book takes us back to the city of Shadrapar and is about the events that led up to his incarceration. He has come from a moderately privileged position, though not the upper echelons of the society there. He and some friends decide to write and publish a book. They print 50 copies of it, and no one shows any interest in it at all. Until one day they authorities decide that the book is actually very dangerous as it threatens their status quo, and if there is one thing that the people in power don’t like, it is the possibility of losing it.

His adventures take him underground, to a place that he thought only lived in the darker recesses of his imagination. To find it actually exists comes as a bit of a shock, and what he finds there makes his imagination seem quite tame in comparison. The narrative returns to the island again. Things are afoot there now, and he knows that as the tension builds, he is going to be caught up in the maelstrom.

This is quite some book. It is the first of Tchaikovsky’s that I have read, and I thought it was astonishing. Where he has imagined this world from is a complete mystery. That said, there are elements of it that do feel familiar. There are hints of Venice and the lagoon in which it is located in. The remote prison where criminals and other prisoners that the authorities want to have removed for their convenience is a common happening in societies, even today. Then he has layered that world with all sorts of things that will shock and possibly scare you in equal measure. There are two books that it reminded me of were Paradox by John Meaney and Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. If you have read and liked those books, then I can wholeheartedly recommend this too.

4 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

I first came across Lemurs when I went to Jersey Zoo (or Durrell as it was back then), and they had a number of different species that they were breeding to hopefully be able to return to the wild. They are beautiful animals and were the flagship species that they were using to promote all sorts of conservation and recovery programmes that they were undertaking in the islands of Madagascar.

This huge island off the coast of Africa is pretty unique. It has been isolated for millions of years that the evolutionary paths that the animals have taken to fill the niches that all habitats have generated richness and diversity of animals that exist nowhere else on earth. It sounds like an amazing place.

However, these animals are threatened. Partly by climate change as it slowly wreaks its havoc on global weather patterns, but mostly by humans. Yep, us. Again. So most of the 217 species that are covered in the book have some sort of habitat degradation or fragmentation, or it has just been removed wholesale because of logging and mineral extraction.

There are several sections to the book, with details on regions and habitats, places to go and see some of these fantastic mammals and even a section on those strange and often huge animals that have sadly been lost because of extinction. However, the majority of the book is about the species that can still be found there.

There is an incredibly dense amount of information in here. It is subdivided into tenrecs, bats, lemurs and carnivores. Each species has a section to itself and contains a wealth of information on the location, how threatened they are, habitat, population size and then details on where to find them should you wish to make the arduous journey to some of the more remote parts of the island.

It did take me quite a while to get through, as there is so much detailed information within. It does read like an academic journal, which is hardly surprising, really. I couldn’t quite believe how many lemur species there were! But alongside this mass of up-to-date information are wonderful photos of the species being written about, some of which are rarely photographed, given their remote location on the island. Well worth reading if you are interested in the fauna of Madagascar at any level.

This is the second Tales Of The Weird book that draws its material from Cornwall. Passey, whilst researching the first book, Cornish Horrors: Tales from the Land’s End, found loads of different stories set in the county. There were too many for that first volume, hence this second bite of the poisoned cherry…

The Spectre Ship Of Porthcurno – Robert Hunt

A very brief story of a ghost ship that would sail up the beach, across the land, and then disappear. It is linked to a man who lived in Chygwiden and who was rumoured to be a pirate or buccaneer. He loved to go to sea in the most stormy weather and always seemed to survive.

The Wrecker And The Deathship – William Bottrell

A man appeared in a village from places unknown. He was wealthy enough to live by independent means and soon married a widow. There were a suspicious number of boats wrecked on the rocks beneath his house. This would come back to haunt him in his dying days…

The Toll Of Charon – Richard Dowling

A melancholic and grim tale about a girl who is left alone in Cornwall after her father passes away. They were not from the area originally, so she had no family or other support network.
She decides that her only option is to follow her dream of selling songs and music, so heads off to London to seek her fortune…

The Ghost Of The Treasure Chamber – Emily Arnold

I liked this story about a girl who is sent from India to Cornwall to live with relatives to help with her health. On the boat over she meets a clairvoyant and is persuaded to have a session with her. She sees a man in armour in her vision and it scares and unnerves her slightly.
She settles in with her family in their house, but soon learns that they will have to leave in the coming months to service debts, unless the family legend is true…

Dr Wygram’s Son – G. M. McCrie

A very strange tale about a doctor’s son who is laid low with an illness. His father decides to treat him with a most unusual type of cure. The narrator of the story has promised in the past to be of assistance and hurries to the house in Cornwall to fulfil that.

The Man Who Coined His Blood Into Gold – J. H. Pearce

A moral tale of greed and a reminder of why you shouldn’t trust the little folk in everything that they promise. The story is set in that most Cornish of places, a mine. (No not a pasty shop).

A Pair Of Hands – Arthur Quiller Couch

A tale of a house and a maid, oh and a ghost. It is only a little ghost, who is hardly any trouble at all and had a rather sweet nature.

Aunt Joanna – Sabine Baring-Gould

An elderly, deeply religious and quite crotchety lady is neighbours to a couple. She passes away one night and they take on the responsibility of making arrangements for her funeral. Whilst sorting things out they make a discovery that surprises them. After she is interred, they are haunted by her ghost as she searches their house for what was once hers…

Father Brent’s Tale – R. H. Benson

A disturbance on the river sounds like a large ship passing. He can see where the bow wave has washed but there is nothing to see at all. What ever it was that passed by though has severely disturbed the boy in the house…

The Ghost of Carnaquilla – Elliott O’Donnell

This story reminded me of one of my favourite childhood stories, Stig Of The Dump. I liked it, but I didn’t find it very chilling or ghostly.

The Misanthrope – J. D. Beresford

A weird tale about a man who had chosen to isolate himself from humanity. He has a skill that means when he looks at people in a particular way, he sees their true character. Quite cleverly written.

Negotium Perambulans – E. F. Benson

A man who is living in a rebuilt church is found dead in that building one day. But how he is found and what is seen sends terror throughout the locals, who decide never to go near the place again.
Then, a Mr Dooliss comes and decides to rebuild the church, but is very reluctant to welcome visitors. Know one knows if the thing that is seen before will return…

The Iron Pineapple – Eden Phillpotts

This is a very odd story about a man who is driven by his obsessions, and that leads to a series of events…

Love

This section has a series of letters, poems and notes to this only planet that we have to keep us alive in this vast universe. They very from the simple four line poem to the complex and deep stanza. There are simple thanks you’s to a beleaguered planet and longer more intimate letters from people who see the bigger picture.

Loss

This is a really painful set of letters and poems to read. People are mourning the loss of animals and landscapes as humans exert mass destruction over almost every domain on the planet. It is full of anger and remorse for the damage we have caused so far and the destruction that is yet to come. The authors of these are also angry at themselves that they seem unable to make a difference and livid that politicians, who are often funded by vested interests, actively want to keep things as they are or make them worse.

Emergence

This is a reminder that we are at a turning point or crossroads with regards to the climate and collapse in natures diversity. The decisions that we collectively make in this emergency with determine our outcomes in the coming years. We could end up with a better world, or a shaky future, or societal collapse. Only time and history will tell…

Hope

Even though the news on climate is constantly grim, it looks like the 1.5°C target is long past now, there is a possibility that we could keep it under a 2°C global average. We just need comprehensive and fast political action. The authors of the pieces in this section still have hope; hope that change can happen; hope that change will have the desired effect and hope that actions large and small can make that difference.

Someone wise once told me, do not try to change the minds of those with power, they do not list and are never affected. She said to create change, go to the people. – Ashby Martin 18

Action

This final section is all about the action that we all need to take, both collectively and individually. The people writing these pieces really get the urgency behind taking this action now.

You may think that you are simply one small positive
droplet in an ocean of troubles. A droplet can’t do
anything. But if you search our ever expanding ocean
You will find millions of other small droplets with the
same mindset as yourself. Together you form a sea in
an ocean. That sea can stir a storm. That sea can
Make a change

Harkiran S. S. Dhingra 15

I thought that this was a well-balanced collection of letters, poems and other sorts of prose. It is a great mix of people that you might have heard of and, most importantly, people that you haven’t who are equally committed to seeing action on climate change. As has been said many times before, there is no planet B,  and the more we bugger this one up then the more we will be masters of our own doom. The plant will survive. We won’t.

Well worth reading in my opinion, and if you choose to read it too, then do everything that you can to help combat climate change.