Book Review - Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth's Past and Will Shape Our Future - Princeton University Press

 

     As humans around the world face the consequences of our historical profligacy, with climatic catastrophe occurring at an ever increasing rate, more and more prescriptive books are being written, with impassioned pleas to tackle the issue of global warming to escape a terrifying future for all life on Earth. The science is solid, the path forward obvious; societal and (especially) political will, however, are often seriously lacking. But make no mistake, we are perilously close to the brink.

     Stephen Porder has written an important account of how the five fundamental elements of life on Earth - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus - have shaped the past and have the ability, if used wisely, to mould the future in a way that will sustain a healthy, rich lifestyle without jeopardizing our very survival.

     Porder writes with precision, style, clarity and logic. His prose reminds me somewhat of Richard Dawkins, no mean wordsmith himself, and in the same manner as Dawkins he takes the reader through concepts, both basic and challenging, in a step-by-step fashion that is easy to follow. Furthermore, perhaps like me you will be left with the feeling that Porder is the very epitome of a "nice guy" - the sort you'd love to have dinner with. For a scientist to convey important information, yet leave the reader with that impression seems to me quite remarkable, and it makes it all the more likely you will pay heed to the message.

     The energy we need to sustain our modern life style is fully available, without burning carbon (the root of all our problems), p. 76 - "If we rapidly transition from carbon-based energy, an option available to us but not to our cyanobacterial or plant predecessors, Earth will continue to warm, but it will remain fairly recognizable. If, however, we continue as we have been, the world really won't be recognizable."

     Please get that last statement imprinted on your brain. The world will not be recognizable!

     Porder offers a way forward, filled with optimism and driven by consumers of energy, by regular folks, by you and me; how I wish I could share his optimism! When one has to listen over and over again to the tendentious hubris of climate-denying politicians and conspiracy theorists, it is not easy to sustain hope for the future. I devoutly hope that I am wrong.

     

     I don't think that I have ever before turned to the Acknowledgements when reviewing a book, but I am compelled to do so this time around. Phoebe, Porder's daughter was the inevitable "victim" of her father's intensity over this pressing issue and "By the time she had reached sixth grade, Phoebe had heard several hour-long seminars about these topics at her school, on a trip to Antarctica, and during various monologues at the dinner table. Her patience with me and all things sustainability occasionally wears thin, but her innate curiosity usually wins out." 

     Don't stop learning from your dad, Phoebe. we are going to need you - and many other Phoebes too. Perhaps you can succeed where we have failed so miserably. It's the only hope we have.

Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth's Past and Will Shape Our Future - Princeton University Press

Stephen Porder

Hardcover - US$27.95 - ISBN 978069177298

240 pages - 5.5 x 8.5 inches (13.75 x 21.25 cm)

15 black-and-white illustrations

Publication Date: 12 September, 2023