Coping with interesting times

摘要

A Chinese curse says: "May you live in interesting times." The 'interesting times' the Chinese had in mind were familiar stories from human history: battle, murder and sudden death, chaos, disease and famine. But the authors corralled by Tom Lovejoy and Lee Hannah talk of times even more 'interesting' than these: they discuss the grotesque climate changes of the greenhouse Earth. These are interesting enough for the chances of human happiness but are truly desperate for the survival of the remaining diversity of life on Earth. In the 24 chapters of Climate Change and Biodiversity, 66 authors suggest a little of what might be done to save something from the wreck. The book is written in the hope that policy-makers might read it, and it has been skilfully edited to that end by turning as much scientific prose as possible into plain English.