Now or Never
A sustainable future for Australia?
Sometime this century, after 4 billion years, some of Earth's regulatory systems will pass from control through evolution by natural selection, to control by human intelligence. Will humanity rise to the challenge?
This landmark essay by Tim Flannery is about sustainability, our search for it in the twenty-first century, and the impact it might have on the environmental threats that confront us today. Flannery discusses in detail three potential solutions to the most pressing of the sustainability challenges: climate change. He argues that Australia has a special responsibility when it comes to climate change, and that our prime minister could be a critical player on the global stage in Copenhagen in December 2009 – but only if we take swift and effective action and make sharp cuts in emissions.
Brilliant and terrifying, Now or Never is a call to arms by Australia's leading thinker and writer on the natural world.
Correspondence discussing Quarterly Essay 31, Now or Never:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tim Flannery is the author of more than a dozen books, including The Future Eaters, Throwim Way Leg, The Weather Makers, Now or Never and Here on Earth. In 2007, he was the Australian of the Year. He is currently Chief Commissioner of Australia’s Climate Commission.
With scientific gravitas, complemented by the skillful use of layman's language, Tim Flannery paints a serious picture of the planet's fututre, even if, as he says, he overwhelms us with the scale and the number of challenges facing humanity.
Flannery's description of the future of the planet if we don't act with extraordinary speed and commitment is as accurate as it is chilling.
Quarterly Essay News
Sign up to receive the latest news in our newsletter
