The Best of Times, The Worst of Times Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science

A unique, highly readable approach to the environmental crisis, with alternating chapters outlining the effects on society if left unchecked, and the radical actions we can take to prevent it

Now includes updated sections on COVID-19 and COP26

The environmental emergency is the greatest threat we face. Preventing it will require an unprecedented political and social response. And yet, there is still hope.

Academic, physicist, environmental expert and award-winning science communicator Paul Behrens presents a radical analysis of a civilization on the brink of catastrophe. Setting out the pressing existential threats we face, he writes, in alternating chapters, of what the future could look like at its most pessimistic and hopeful.

In lucid prose, Behrens argues that structural problems need structural solutions, and examines critical areas in which political will is required, including women’s education, food and energy security, biodiversity and economics.

The book was printed with two different jackets, to illustrate the unique duality of the author’s approach.

Paul Behrens is a Netherlands-based academic holding the post of Assistant Professor in Energy and Environmental Change at Universiteit Leiden. He is passionate about science outreach and his research has appeared in a number of prestigious outlets, such as the New York Times, the Independent and Scientific American. Trained as a physicist at the University of Auckland where he completed his PhD, Paul Behrens’ work focuses on the impact of human consumption and the changes society must make in order to survive within environmental constraints. 

Prologue: ‘Do you think we’re going to be okay?’ Population and Progress

Chapter One - Pessimism: Has the Bomb Exploded?
Chapter Two - Hope: Better Placed than Ever Energy
Chapter Three - Pessimism: Slaves to Power
Chapter Four - Hope: Power to the People Food
Chapter Five - Pessimism: Eating the Earth
Chapter Six - Hope: Green Shoots Climate
Chapter Seven - Pessimism: Where All Roads Meet
Chapter Eight - Hope: Making Up for Lost Time Economics
Chapter Nine - Pessimism: Counting the Costs
Chapter Ten - Hope: Valuing the Future
Epilogue - Pessimism: Are We Almost at the End?
Epilogue - Hope: The Grass Is Greener Notes

Acknowledgements

About the Author