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Headlines on the state of the planet are bleak, warning of dangers to soil and fish stocks and asking us to reconsider having children. In this book, Hannah Ritchie, lead researcher at the online publication Our World in Data strikes a different tone. In her reading of the data, the progress on many issues is such that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in history.
Packed with the latest research, practical guidance and enlightening graphics, this book reconsiders today's narrative, from the virtues of eating locally and living in the countryside, to the evils of overpopulation, plastic straws and palm oil. It will give you the tools to understand what works, what doesn't and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.
Ritchie argues that, though the problems are big, they can be solved. This book urges people not to let despair take hold, but instead try to build a better future for everyone.
Dr Hannah Ritchie is a Senior Researcher in the Programme for Global Development at the University of Oxford. She is also Deputy Editor and Lead Researcher at the highly influential online publication Our World in Data, which brings together the latest data and research on the world's largest problems and makes it accessible to a general audience. Her research appears regularly in the New York Times, Economist, Financial Times, BBC, WIRED, New Scientist and Vox and in bestselling books including Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now, Hans Rosling's Factfulness and Bill Gates's How to Avoid a Climate Disaster. In 2022, Ritchie was named Scotland's Youth Climate Champion and New Scientist called her 'The woman who gave COVID-19 data to the world'.
– The Sunday Times bestseller
– A Stylist best non-fiction 2024
– A Guardian biggest fiction and non-fiction for 2024
– A Waterstones ‘Book You Need to Read in 2024’
– A Guardian ‘Five Great Reads’
"This is a book for anyone who finds it difficult to believe in a better future. It's the most uplifting book I've read all year"
– Ben Cooke, The Times
"An unmissable myth-busting book to save our planet – read it"
– Tim Spector
"Full of pragmatic, hopeful solutions [...] We urgently need her and people like her – optimists who'll say: you know what, we can turn this around; look at these numbers, look at these solutions"
– Bibi van der Zee, Guardian
"An antidote to the hyper-pessimism that pervades climate discourse"
– Martha Muir, Financial Times
"I love Hannah Ritchie [...] I love this book. I emerged from it feeling hopeful, which is a high-priced commodity these days"
– John Green
"That all is not lost and that there is hope is the main message to take away from this well-argued, well-evidenced book"
– Nick Renninson, Daily Mail
"Full of "radical hope" digging behind the doomsday predictions to find out ways we can and will make the world a better place"
– Stylist
"There is real peril in our widespread failure to understand just how much human lives have been improved through societal efforts [...] As Ritchie demonstrates, a better future for both people and planet is possible and even achievable"
– Earl C. Ellis, Science
"It is rare to find a book covering climate change with such an optimistic message [...] An admirable feat [...] a highly readable guide to fixing the planet"
– Madeleine Cuff, New Scientist
"Ritchie dismantles many of the worst predictions of ecological doomism, lays out clearly what is already happening, and what tools we have available to us to halt the worst environmental destruction"
– Emma Gatten, Telegraph
"Ritchie makes it clear that progress is already happening [...] Now, we must keep that momentum going"
– Megan Kenyon, New Statesman
"An inspiring data-mine which gives us not only real guidance, but the most necessary ingredient of all: hope"
– Margaret Atwood, TED2023
"Invigorating, inspiring, often surprising"
– David Wallace-Wells
"It shines with practicality and positivity [...] Let's get it into the hands of as many policy makers, politicians and fellow citizens as possible"
– Rutger Bregman
"Such a clear-eyed view of the state we're in"
– Tim Harford, author of How to Make the World Add Up
