The Planetary

In this book, Dipesh Chakrabarty argues that climate change necessitates a dual perspective in writing history: the global, which centers on human activities, and the planetary, which de-centers the human. Chakrabarty contends that the Anthropocene era demands a reevaluation of human agency, ethics, and the relationship between human and natural histories. The book features extensive excursions into historical and philosophical literatures to frame the human condition in the context of climate change and the Anthropocene, proposing new ways to think about the human condition and its future[2][4][5].

The book is divided into two parts. The first part is a detailed and evocative account of the poverty and living conditions of the working class in northern England, particularly in mining towns like Wigan. Orwell describes the harsh realities of miners' lives, the poor housing conditions, and the economic struggles faced by these communities. The second part of the book is a more political treatise where Orwell discusses the failures of socialism and his own socialist solutions to the problems he observed. He critiques the middle class and the intellectual left, while advocating for a more practical and compassionate form of socialism[2][4][5].