The story of more : how we got to climate change and where to go from here / Hope Jahren.

"A Vintage books original"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

Life. Our story begins ; Who we are ; How we are ; Where we are -- Food. Growing grain ; Raising meat ; Finding fish ; Making sugar ; Throwing it all away -- Energy. Keeping the lights on ; Moving around ; The plants we burn ; The wheels we turn -- Earth. Altered air ; Warming weather ; Melting ice ; Rising waters ; The big good-bye ; Another page.

"Hope Jahren is an award-winning geobiologist, a brilliant writer, and one of the seven billion people with whom we share this earth. The Story of More is her impassioned open letter to humanity as we stand at the crossroads of survival and extinction. Jahren celebrates the long history of our enterprising spirit--which has tamed wild crops, cured diseases, and sent us to the moon--but also shows how that spirit has created excesses that are quickly warming our planet to dangerous levels. In short, highly readable chapters, she takes us through the science behind the key inventions--from electric power to large-scale farming and automobiles--that, even as they help us, release untenable amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. She explains the current and projected consequences of greenhouse gases--from superstorms to rising sea levels--and shares the science-based tools that could help us fight back. At once an explainer on the mechanisms of warming and a capsule history of human development, The Story of More illuminates the link between our consumption habits and our endangered earth. It is the essential pocket primer on climate change that will leave an indelible impact on everyone who reads it."-- Provided by publisher.