The Story of More (Adapted for Young Adults): How We Got to Climate Change and Where We Go from Here

Gr 7-10–Esteemed geo-chemist Jahren breathes life into the social history and science of climate change by focusing on the action-oriented latter half of that term: change. This popular science treatise begins with trends and developments in human population from ancient history to the modern age and does the same with food production and energy generation and consumption before devoting the final segment of the book to the impact of all of this change on our planet. Jahren uses eye-opening statistical data, as well as examples from throughout history and from diverse corners of the globe, to illustrate how cultural shifts and technological developments have changed the world we live in and the possibilities of our ecological future—for good and for ill. The final chapter discusses a variety of proposed solutions to the problems of climate change and sets the stage for the several appendices that discuss specific actions that each of us can take to slow global warming, frame the particular significance of the U.S.’s role in this struggle, marshal a powerful catalog of facts regarding the global scale and seriousness of climate change, and make suggestions for further reading.