Carbon

From the New York Times bestselling author of Regeneration comes a fresh and insightful look at life on Earth through the lens of carbon- the element essential to every living thing.

Carbon animates the entirety of the living world. Though it comprises only a tiny fraction of Earth's composition, our planet would be lifeless without it. From the intricate microscopic networks of fungi in the Earth's soils to the tallest trees of the forests to every cell in every animal, the very fabric of life on Earth is shaped by carbon. Though it is much maligned as a driver of climate change, blamed for the possible demise of civilisation, that is only one part of its story.

In this stirring, hopeful and deeply humane book, Paul Hawken illuminates the omnipresence of this life-giving element and the possibilities it provides for the future of human endeavour, inviting us to see nature, carbon and ourselves as exquisitely intertwined and inseparably connected.

PRAISE-

'Carbon is an enormously hopeful book-hopeful about the creatures we live among and about our innate human capacities.' Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction

'Endlessly, endlessly fascinating!...There's information, and then there's wisdom-and this book is a compendium of the latter.' Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

'A book you'll find yourself quoting and reading aloud to anyone who will listen. Hawken tells the beautiful story of carbon's role in our world-as our lifeblood, our synthesis with all living things, our planet's protector-with the grace and fluency of a deep, compassionate thinker. A masterful, urgent, powerful book.'Isabella Tree, conservationist and author of Wilding

'Imagine putting on a pair of glasses that suddenly revealed the world as a fabric woven of miracles. Carbon reads like an extended love poem about life's most basic chemical. Here, carbon's dance of life does not take sides; it is never right or wrong. In Paul Hawken's telling, carbon might just be the sexiest element, "available, loyal, and fickle in its versatility". In Hawken's hands and in these pages, the chemistry is always right.' Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words- What Animals Think and Feel and Alfie and Me- What Owls Know, What Humans Believe