The Weight of Nature

£25.00

The climate crisis is wreaking havoc across the globe, raising sea levels, disrupting ancient weather patterns and decimating biodiversity worldwide. But new research shows that the warming climate is not just affecting the planet’s physical systems – it is affecting us all individually too. In ‘The Weight of Nature’, the neuroscientist and journalist Clayton Page Aldern examines, the seismic consequences of climate change on the human mind, brain, and body. The now-familiar concept of climate anxiety, he shows us, is just the tip of the iceberg: a revolution is taking place in the deepest recesses of our neurochemistry. The rapidly changing environment is directly intervening in our brain health, behaviour, cognition and decision-making in real time, affecting everything from aggravated assault and online hate speech to productivity and the global dementia epidemic.

In stock

Description

‘Penetrating, intensely personal, and impossible to put down, this is a book you need to read.’ Annie Proulx, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

‘This book is a triumph.’ Bill McKibben

A riveting, revelatory account of how the climate emergency is changing us from the inside out

It is now inarguable that climate change threatens the future of life on Earth. But in The Weight of Nature, award-winning journalist and neuroscientist Clayton Page Aldern shows that the warming climate is not just affecting our planet – it is affecting our brains and bodies too.

Drawing on seven years of ground-breaking research, Aldern documents a burgeoning public health crisis that has gone largely unreported. Eco-anxiety, he shows us, is just the tip of the iceberg. The rapidly changing environment is directly intervening in our brain health, behaviour, decision-making and cognition in real time, affecting everything from spikes in aggravated assault to lower levels of productivity and concentration, to the global dementia epidemic. Travelling the world to meet the scientists and doctors unravelling the tangled connections between us and our environment, and reporting the stories of those who are already feeling these shifts most keenly, Aldern shows how climate change isn’t just around us, but within us.

Lucid, urgent and at times deeply moving, The Weight of Nature is a revelation, bringing to light the myriad ways in which the natural world tugs and prods at the decisions you make; how it twists and folds your memories and mental states; how this nebulous everywhere we call the environment is changing our very humanity from the inside out.

Additional information

Weight 540 g
Dimensions 236 × 160 × 32 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

256

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

304.25 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K