Losing Earth
‘Nathaniel Rich’s account starts in Washington in the 1990s and tells the story of how climate change could have been stopped back then, if only the powerful had acted. But they didn’t want to.’ – Observer
By 1979, we knew all that we know now about the science of climate change – what was happening, why it was happening, and how to stop it. Over the next ten years, we had the very real opportunity to stop it. Obviously, we failed. Nathaniel Rich tells the essential story of why and how, thanks to the actions of politicians and businessmen, that failure came about. It is crucial to an understanding of where we are today.
‘The excellent and appalling Losing Earth by Nathaniel Rich describes how close we came in the 70s to dealing with the causes of global warming and how US big business and Reaganite politicians in the 80s ensured it didn’t happen. Read it.’ – John Simpson
‘An eloquent science history, and an urgent eleventh-hour call to save what can be saved.’ – Nature
‘To change the future, we must first understand our past, and Losing Earth is a crucial part of that when it comes to the environmental battles we’re facing.’– Stylist
Nathaniel Rich is the author of two previous novels, Odds Against Tomorrow and The Mayor’s Tongue, and a work of nonfiction, Losing Earth: A Recent History. His short fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and VICE, and he is a writer at large for The New York Times Magazine. He lives in New Orleans.