

#4721
Mentioned in 6 episodes
Under a White Sky
The Nature of the Future
Book • 2021
In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert takes a hard look at the new world we are creating.
She meets biologists trying to preserve the world's rarest fish, engineers turning carbon emissions to stone in Iceland, Australian researchers developing a 'super coral' to survive on a hotter globe, and physicists contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth.
Kolbert explores how human civilization's capacity for destruction has reshaped the natural world and how the very interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation.
The book is by turns inspiring, terrifying, and darkly comic.
She meets biologists trying to preserve the world's rarest fish, engineers turning carbon emissions to stone in Iceland, Australian researchers developing a 'super coral' to survive on a hotter globe, and physicists contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth.
Kolbert explores how human civilization's capacity for destruction has reshaped the natural world and how the very interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation.
The book is by turns inspiring, terrifying, and darkly comic.
Mentioned by
Mentioned in 6 episodes
Mentioned by ![undefined]()

as a contemporary work exploring similar themes to McPhee's book.

Oliver Morton

20 snips
The Intelligence: The Economist reads
Mentioned by David Remnick as the author of "Under a White Sky" and other books.

One Environmental Journalist Thinks that the U.S. Needs More Mining
Mentioned by ![undefined]()

as a contemporary work exploring similar themes to McPhee's book.

Oliver Morton

The Intelligence: The Economist reads
Mentioned by 

while discussing geoengineering and climate change.


Tim Harford

The Man Who Played With Hurricanes
Mentioned by ![undefined]()

as her book dealing with geoengineering.

Elizabeth Kolbert

Block the sun, save the earth?
Recommended by 

as a book describing climate futures.


John Doerr

John Doerr on Sustainable Investments (Podcast)
Recommended by Pilita Clark for its unique perspective on human efforts to manage nature.

Pilita Clark’s picks for summer reading about the environment
Mentioned by 

as the author of the book discussed in the podcast episode.


Roman Mars

Oops, Our Bad
Mentioned by 

when discussing the challenges of addressing climate change through technology.


Jill Lepore

Episode 4: Iron Man
Mentioned by ![undefined]()

, who introduces Elizabeth Colbert as the author.

Flora Lichtman

How Cannibalistic Tadpoles Could Curb Invasive Cane Toads