logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2024
9m 43s

'Not the End of the World' takes a solut...

NPR
About this episode
There are lots of reasons to worry about climate change: rising temperatures, rising sea levels, devastating natural disasters. But in her new book, Not the End of the World, data scientist Hannah Ritchie says there's actually a lot of factors trending in the right direction, like declines in poverty rates and carbon emissions per capita. In today's episode, Ritchie speaks with NPR's Andrew Limbong about why it's important to reframe our thinking on the future of the planet, and how our decisions can actually make a difference.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Yesterday
‘Dinner with King Tut’ follows experimental archaeologists as they recreate the past
To write his latest book Dinner with King Tut, Sam Kean joined a group of experimental archaeologists who learn by doing. These researchers aim to recreate the sites, sounds, smells and tastes of lost civilizations in order to solve mysteries about how people lived. In today’s ep ... Show More
9m 39s
Aug 25
For her 25th book, Karin Slaughter wanted to capture life in small-town Georgia
Karin Slaughter’s new book opens on a hot summer night in Georgia. It’s Madison Dalrymple’s 15th birthday and she has a big night planned with her best friend. But both girls go missing and there’s no easy answer to what happened to them. We Are All Guilty Here is the crime write ... Show More
9m 6s
Aug 22
‘Cook Once, Eat Twice’ and ‘Accidentally on Purpose’ are new books from cooking stars
Nadiya Hussain and Kristen Kish are winners of two of the most popular cooking shows on television – and they’re both out with new books about life and food. First, Hussain won The Great British Baking Show in 2015. Her latest cookbook Cook Once, Eat Twice is about simplicity, ef ... Show More
19m 19s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2023
Special Report: Landslides exacerbated by climate change
How can the most vulnerable countries protect against climate change if they’re drowning in debt? A major international aid agency revealed this week that 93% of the world’s worst-affected countries can’t afford to safeguard against natural disasters. Some are being forced to sla ... Show More
55 m
Aug 2023
Defeating Doomerism: The Search For A New Climate Narrative
On the last Energy Gang we looked at the impact of record temperatures on the energy sector. This week, we discuss another impact of climate change: its effect on human psychology. We discuss how the way we talk about global warming affects how we respond to it.A recent study in ... Show More
57m 13s
Dec 2022
Who Pays the Bill for Climate Change?
Last month at COP27, the U.N. climate change conference, a yearslong campaign ended in an agreement. The rich nations of the world — the ones primarily responsible for the emissions that have caused climate change — agreed to pay into a fund to help poorer nations that bear the b ... Show More
45m 40s
Jan 2022
Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future
In this episode of Red Menace, Alyson and Breht discuss and analyze "Climate Leviathan" by authors Geoff Mann and Joel Wainwright. Book description: "Despite the science and the summits, leading capitalist states have not achieved anything close to an adequate level of carbon mit ... Show More
1h 57m
Oct 2018
Climate Change
Twelve years to save the world. While we're squabbling about Brexit, climate scientists are reminding us that the existential threat of our day is global warming. This week’s report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issues the most extensive warning yet on ... Show More
42m 55s
Aug 2020
Bjorn Lomborg, "False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet" (Basic Books, 2020)
Should climate change policy be subject to a cost-benefit analysis leading to a variety of policy choices? Or is it so critical that the only "proper" path is immediate and extreme carbon reduction, regardless of the costs and the impact of those measures on the welfare of the po ... Show More
54m 18s