Extraction to Extinction: Rethinking our Relationship with Earth's Natural Resources

(Paperback)

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Tracing our environmental impact through time, David Howe demonstrates how humanitys exploitation of Earths natural resources has pushed our planet to its limit and asks: Whats next for our depleted planet

Everything we use started life in the earth, as a rock or a mineral vein, a layer of an ancient seabed, or perhaps the remains of a 400-million-year-old volcano.Humanity's ability to fashion nature to its own ends is by no means a new phenomenonwe have been inventing new ways to help ourselves to its bounty for tens of thousands of years. But today, we mine, quarry, pump, cut, blast, and crush Earth's resources at an unprecedented rate. We have become a dominant, even dangerous, force on the planet.

In Extraction to Extinction, David Howe traces our impact through time to unearth how our obsession with endlessly producing and throwing away more and more stuff could destroy our planet. But is there still time to turn it around

Reviews

A lyrical and questing narrative of how humans have used and abused natural resources down the ages long-brewed technical knowledge combined with an easy story-tellers acumen, fluency and wisdom. -- Michael Leeder, Professor Emeritus at UEA Norwich and author of the recent Measures for Measure: Geology and the Industrial Revolution (Dunedin)

Author Bio

David Howe OBE is a retired academic who has studied both Earth sciences and social sciences. He has written books on psychology, relationships and social work. His passions include walking, popular science, and writing, and he is the author of two previous non-fiction books.