Episode description

As global temperatures continue to rise, fossil fuel production continues to increase, forests continue to be cut down, and species are becoming extinct at rates faster than previous mass extinctions, it's hard to find any hope for a sustainable, or even habitable, future. But giving up is not an option. There are billions of people now and in the near future whose lives depend on solving the multitude of human-caused environmental and health crises plaguing the planet today.  The good news is, even though things are not good right now, they've been much worse. And they're better today because we finally know how to power our lives, feed our families, and grow our economies without destroying our environment.

Dr. Hannah Ritchie, the Deputy Editor and Lead Researcher at Our World in Data, joins the show today to talk about her new book "Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet". Dr. Ritchie has studied the data and believes that for the first time in human history, there is no longer a tradeoff between human and environmental wellbeing. After researching the climate crisis, air pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss, world hunger, and plastic pollution, Dr. Ritchie has come away with the understanding that things are bad now, but they're better than they were, and we have the real possibility of making them much better in the future.

Read "Not the End of the World"

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