With a foreword by Sir David Attenborough, breathtakingly beautiful still photography, specially commissioned maps and graphics, and compelling text expanding on the remarkable TV stories and giving the reader a depth of information that is impossible on screen, this companion to the groundbreaking NETFLIX series presents a whole new view of the place we call home.

Featuring some of the world's rarest creatures and previously unseen parts of the Earth—from deep oceans to remote forests to ice caps—Our Planet takes nature-lovers deep into the science of our natural world. Revealing the most amazing sights on Earth in unprecedented ways, alongside stories of the ways humans are affecting the world’s ecosystems—from the wildebeest migrations in Africa to the penguin colonies of Antarctica—this book captures in one concise narrative a fundamental message:

What we do in the next twenty years will determine the future of not just the natural world but humanity itself. If we don't act now to protect and preserve our planet, the beauty we're lucky enough to witness on these pages will have disappeared...

FULLY UPDATED FOR 2019 We cannot live without water. But with 7.5 billion people competing for this single unevenly-distributed resource, the planet is drying up. In When the Rivers Run Dry, Fred Pearce explores the growing world water crisis, from Kent to Kenya. His powerful reportage takes us to places where waterways are turning to sand before they reach the ocean; where fields are parched and crops no longer grow; where once fertile ground has turned to desert; where wars are fought over access to water and cultures are dying out. But he offers us hope for the future - if we can radically revolutionise the way we treat water, and take personal responsibility for the water we use. This landmark work, from a respected and accomplished scientist, will transform the way we view the water in our reservoirs and rivers, and change the way we treat the water in our taps.

"A vivid, important, and inspiring book."-- Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Sixth Extinction and Under a White Sky "Eloquently mulls the ecological dynamics of forests as well as the social, economic, cultural, and political forces that determine their fate."--LA REVIEW OF BOOKS A powerful book about the decline and recovery of the world's forests--with a provocative argument for their survival. In A Trillion Trees, veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce takes readers on a whirlwind journey through some of the most spectacular forests around the world. Along the way, he charts the extraordinary pace of forest destruction, and explores why some are beginning to recover. With vivid, observant reporting, Pearce transports readers to the remote cloud forests of Ecuador, the remains of a forest civilization in Nigeria, a mystifying mountain peak in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and the boreal forests of western Canada and the United States, where devastating wildfires are linked to suppressing the natural fire cycles of forests and the maintenance practices of Indigenous peoples. Throughout the book, Pearce interviews the people who traditionally live in forests. He speaks to Indigenous peoples in western Canada and the United States who are fighting to control their traditional forested lands and manage them according to their traditional practices. He visits and speaks with Nepalese hill dwellers, Kenyan farmers, and West African sawyers who show him that forests are as much human landscapes as they are natural paradises. The lives of humans are now imprinted in forest ecology. At the heart of Pearce's investigationis a provocative argument: planting more trees isn't the answer to declining forests. If given room and left to their own devices, forests and the people who live in them will fight back to restore their own domain.

At a moment when a new generation of power stations and weapons are being developed, Fallout is a measured and fascinating exploration of our most misunderstood energy source and asks: what can we learn from our past mistakes, and what role should nuclear play in our future? Hiroshima. Bikini Atoll. Windscale. Chernobyl. Fukushima. These names no longer denote a place, but a disaster. In a few syllables, they evoke the heights of human ingenuity clashing with the worst of human error. Individually, each place has its own sobering story to tell; together, they form a timeline of the nuclear age. In this compelling and deeply researched book, Fred Pearce investigates the greatest nuclear incidents and accidents of the past 80 years by visiting their now iconic landscapes. He tours former power stations and abandoned testing sites in the company of scientists and engineers, and in previously toxic wastelands, where radioactive wolves now stalk the streets and genetically-malformed flora blooms, he witnesses the surprising resilience of nature. As well as the physical legacy, Pearce also considers the psychological impact of these disasters. Amid rumours of state cover-ups, corporate deception, and hushed-up medical epidemics, Pearce weighs the evidence on either side of the argument to disentangle the facts from the fear.

**A Book of the Year in The Times and The Sunday Times ** Trees are essential, for nature and for us. Yet we are cutting and burning them at such a rate that we are fast approaching a tipping point. But there is still hope. If we had a trillion more trees, the damage could be undone. Combining cutting-edge scientific research with vivid travel writing, Fred Pearce shows how we achieve this. Challenging received wisdom about the need for planting, he explains why the best strategy is to stand back, stop the destruction and let nature - and those who dwell in the forests - do the rest. Lucid, revelatory and often surprising, A Trillion Trees is an environmental call to arms, and a celebration of our planet's vast arboreal riches.

Where water meets land, life abounds. This is the story of the nature and people of the wetlands of the world. From Wetlands International comes Water Lands, a beautifully illustrated book about this life-giving, global ecosystem. From the peat bogs of Ireland to the bayous of Louisiana; from the flooded forests of Cambodia to the permafrost of Siberia; from the mangroves of the Ganges Delta to the 'everlasting swamps' of the Nile; and from the marshes of the Brazilian Pantanal to the boggy upland pastures of Tibet, wetlands are in-between and ever-changing worlds. Sometimes wet and sometimes dry, sometimes land and sometimes water, sometimes saline and sometimes fresh; they change character with the seasons, or may lie dormant for decades before bursting into life. Through this highly accessible book, the authors tell intriguing and untold stories of how people interact with wetlands around the world, from the mountains to the sea. They emphasise how wetland communities have shaped and nurtured natural resources over the centuries - and how vital this knowledge and practices are in shaping future plans for managing land and water. They assert a positive narrative for wetlands and their role as climate buffers and in preventing and reducing droughts, floods and human conflicts over water. Water Lands brings together a world of experience and presents a new vision as well as real-life examples, to inspire and influence actions to revive wetlands. Wetlands International is the global not-for-profit organisation dedicated to safeguarding and restoring wetlands for people and nature. Their vision is a world where wetlands are treasured and nurtured for their beauty, the life they support and the resources they provide. With 20 offices around the world, Wetlands International has a strong global presence and a wealth of experience.

A leading environmental writer looks at the unexpected effects--and possible benefits--of a shrinking, graying population
Over the last century, the world's population quadrupled and fears of overpopulation flared, with baby booms blamed for genocide and terrorism, and overpopulation singled out as the primary factor driving global warming. Yet, surprisingly, it appears that the population explosion is past its peak--by mid-century, the world's population will be declining for the first time in over seven hundred years. In "The Coming Population Crash, " veteran environmental writer Fred Pearce reveals the dynamics behind this dramatic shift and describes the environmental, social, and economic effects of our surprising demographic future.

A 2008 Indie Next Pick
In "Confessions of an Eco-Sinner," Fred Pearce surveys his home and then sets out to track down the people behind the production and distribution of everything in his daily life, from his socks to his computer to the food in his fridge. It's a fascinating portrait, by turns sobering and hopeful, of the effects the world's more than six billion inhabitants have on our planet--and of the working and living conditions of the people who produce most of these goods.

"Nature is fragile, environmentalists often tell us. But the lesson of this book is that it is not so. The truth is far more worrying. Nature is strong and packs a serious counterpunch . . . Global warming will very probably unleash unstoppable planetary forces. And they will not be gradual. The history of our planet's climate shows that it does not do gradual change. Under pressure, whether from sunspots or orbital wobbles or the depredations of humans, it lurches-virtually overnight. --from the Introduction"
Fred Pearce has been writing about climate change for eighteen years, and the more he learns, the worse things look. Where once scientists were concerned about gradual climate change, now more and more of them fear we will soon be dealing with abrupt change resulting from triggering hidden tipping points. Even President Bush's top climate modeler, Jim Hansen, warned in 2005 that "we are on the precipice of climate system tipping points beyond which there is no redemption."
As Pearce began working on this book, normally cautious scientists beat a path to his door to tell him about their fears and their latest findings. "With Speed and Violence" tells the stories of these scientists and their work-from the implications of melting permafrost in Siberia and the huge river systems of meltwater beneath the icecaps of Greenland and Antarctica to the effects of the "ocean conveyor" and a rare molecule that runs virtually the entire cleanup system for the planet.
Above all, the scientists told him what they're now learning about the speed and violence of past natural climate change-and what it portends for our future. "With Speed and Violence" is the most up-to-date and readable book yet about the growing evidence for global warming and the large climatic effects it may unleash.

Wherever we look, population is the driver of the most toxic issues on the political agenda. But the population bomb is being defused. Half the world's women are having two children or fewer. Within a generation, the world's population will be falling. And we will all be getting very old. So should we welcome the return to centre stage of the tribal elders? Or is humanity facing a fate worse than environmental apocalypse? Brilliant, heretical and accessible to all, Fred Pearce takes on the matter that is fundamental to who we are and how we live, confronting our demographic demons.

Water has long been the object of political ambition and conflict. Recent history is full of leaders who tried to harness water to realize national dreams. Yet the people who most need water-farmers, rural villages, impoverished communities-are too often left, paradoxically, with desiccated fields, unfulfilled promises, and refugee status. It doesn't have to be this way, according to Fred Pearce. A veteran science news correspondent, Pearce has for over fifteen years chronicled the development of large-scale water projects like China's vast Three Gorges dam and India's Sardar Sarovar. But, as he and numerous other authors have pointed out, far from solving our water problems, these industrial scale projects, and others now in the planning, are bringing us to the brink of a global water crisis. Pearce decided there had to be a better way. To find it, he traveled the globe in search of alternatives to mega-engineering projects. In Keepers of the Spring, he brings back intriguing stories from people like Yannis Mitsis, an ethnic Greek Cypriot, who is the last in his line to know the ways and whereabouts of a network of underground tunnels that have for centuries delivered to farming communities the water they need to survive on an arid landscape. He recounts the inspiring experiences of small-scale water stewards like Kenyan Jane Ngei, who reclaimed for her people a land abandoned by her government as a wasteland. And he tells of many others who are developing new techniques and rediscovering ancient ones to capture water for themselves. In so doing, Pearce documents that these "keepers" are not merely isolated examples, but collectively constitute an entire alternative tradition of working with natural flows rather than trying to reengineer nature to provide water for human needs. The solution to our water problems, he finds, may not lie in new technologies-though they will play a role-but in recovering ancient traditions, using water more efficiently, and better understanding local hydrology. Are these approaches adequate to serve the world's growing populations? The answer remains unclear. But we ignore them at our own peril.

An investigation into our complicated 7-decade-long relationship with nuclear technology, from the bomb to nuclear accidents to nuclear waste.

From Hiroshima to Chernobyl, Fukushima to the growing legacy of lethal radioactive waste, humanity's struggle to conquer atomic energy is rife with secrecy, deceit, human error, blatant disregard for life, short-sighted politics, and fear. Fallout is an eye-opening odyssey through the first eight decades of this struggle and the radioactive landscapes it has left behind. We are, he finds, forever torn between technological hubris and all-too-human terror about what we have created.

At first, Pearce reminds us, America loved the bomb. Las Vegas, only seventy miles from the Nevada site of some hundred atmospheric tests, crowned four Miss Atomic Bombs in 1950s. Later, communities downwind of these tests suffered high cancer rates. The fate of a group of Japanese fishermen, who suffered high radiation doses from the first hydrogen bomb test in Bikini atoll, was worse. The United States Atomic Energy Commission accused them of being Red spies and ignored requests from the doctors desperately trying to treat them.

Pearce moves on to explore the closed cities of the Soviet Union, where plutonium was refined and nuclear bombs tested throughout the '50s and '60s, and where the full extent of environmental and human damage is only now coming to light. Exploring the radioactive badlands created by nuclear accidents--not only the well-known examples of Chernobyl and Fukushima, but also the little known area around Satlykovo in the Russian Ural Mountains and the Windscale fire in the UK--Pearce describes the compulsive secrecy, deviousness, and lack of accountability that have persisted even as the technology has morphed from military to civilian uses.

Finally, Pearce turns to the toxic legacies of nuclear technology: the emerging dilemmas over handling its waste and decommissioning of the great radioactive structures of the nuclear age, and the fearful doublethink over the world's growing stockpiles of plutonium, the most lethal and ubiquitous product of nuclear technologies.

For any reader who craves a clear-headed examination of the tangled relationship between a powerful technology and human politics, foibles, fears, and arrogance, Fallout is the definitive look at humanity's nuclear adventure.