Not the End of the World

Features

This book has been chosen by Mike Rogge for the 2024 Community Book Initiative as a reflection of the theme, stewardship. All profits from the purchases of this book during the 2024 Community Book Initiative event (running from 5/13/24-6/10/24) benefits local nonprofit Clean Up the Lake. 

About the Book:

This "eye-opening and essential" book (Bill Gates) will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems—and explains how we can solve them.

It’s become common to tell kids that they’re going to die from climate change. We are constantly bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and that we should reconsider having children.

But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. In fact, the data shows we’ve made so much progress on these problems that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in human history. Did you know that: 

• Carbon emissions per capita are actually down
• Deforestation peaked back in the 1980s
• The air we breathe now is vastly improved from centuries ago
• And more people died from natural disasters a hundred years ago?

Packed with the latest research, practical guidance, and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you’ve been told about the environment.Not the End of the Worldwill give you the tools to understand our current crisis and make lifestyle changes that actually have an impact. Hannah cuts through the noise by outlining what works, what doesn’t, and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.      

These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let’s turn that opportunity into reality.

About Mike Rogge:

Mike Rogge is the editor and owner of Mountain Gazette, a bi-annual outdoor culture magazine made right here in Tahoe. A ski journalist for nearly 21 years, Rogge lives in North Lake Tahoe, California, with his wife Meghan, two sons, and two dogs. He’s a good enough skier to know there’s a lot of people much better than he is. At 38, he still skis backwards and grabs his skis in the air and suggests you do those things, too, and not take yourself so seriously.

Why Mike Chose This Book:

Do you ever feel the pressure and weight of climate change? I know I did. Hannah Ritchie’s book reframes the progress made and being made in the fight for a more sustainable planet. I’m left feeling optimistic after learning we’re in the midst of the fastest energy transition in human history, renewable power is making our planet more equitable, and food structures are changing for the better. Of course, now is not the time to slow down this transition, but rather, using this book, take stock of how far we’ve come, learn from past mistakes in rhetoric and process, and recognize the promise of real technology, not sci-fi speculation, that can help lead us to a sustainable planet. Ritchie uses real world stats to demonstrate just how far we’ve come and where we need to go. Maybe, just maybe, we’re going to be alright.