Sophie's Planet - by Hansen (Hardcover)

About the Book

In a series of letters to his granddaughter Sophie, the world's leading climatologist shows how it is still possible to ensure that young people inherit a clean world.

Book Synopsis

In a series of letters to his granddaughter, Sophie, the world's leading climatologist shows how it is still possible to ensure that young people inherit a clean world.

Dr. James Hansen is the single most credible scientific voice worldwide on the issue of global warming. In his celebrated first book, Storms of My Grandchildren, he presented the full truth about climate change, a truth born out in the years since as climate disasters continue to ravage our world. The urgency is apparent; the response so far, inadequate.

But Hansen remains an optimist. In a series of moving and insightful letters to his granddaughter, Sophie, he speaks about the fight to preserve life on the planet, a fight that for her generation will be as personal as it is political-as much about policy actions as about the right of the monarch, Sophie's favorite butterfly, to live and thrive on this earth. Sophie's Planet turns toward solutions, asking: How can we connect the dots from climate observations to necessary policies? What can be done to preserve our planet for the young people who will follow us? And how can we make the climate story clear to these young people, to prepare them for what will be one of their generation's central struggles: the fight for environmental justice?

Hansen's conversations with Sophie offer a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of a life spent at the highest levels of environmental research and policy-including the realms where dark motives prevail-as well as a moving clarion call for the future of the climate change fight.

Review Quotes

"A scientist who is sick of silence and compromise ... An urgent book." --Los Angeles Times on STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN

"Jim Hansen is the planet's great hero. He offered us the warning we needed twenty years ago, and has worked with enormous courage ever since to try and make sure we heeded it. We'll know before long if that effort bears fruit--if it does, literally no one deserves more credit than Dr. Hansen." --Bill McKibben

"If you want to know the scientific consensus on global warming, read the reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But if you want to know what the consensus will be ten years from now, read Jim Hansen's work." --Dr. Chuck Kutscher, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

"When the history of the climate crisis is written, Hansen will be seen as the scientist with the most powerful and consistent voice calling for intelligent action to preserve our planet's environment." --Al Gore, Time Magazine

"The most comprehensible, realistic, and courageous call to prevent climate change yet." --Booklist, starred review of STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN

"The best, most informative, brilliantly written book on general climate science I've ever read." --DailyKos.com on STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN

"With urgency and authority, Hansen urges readers to speak out--taking to the streets if necessary--to protect the Earth from calamity for the sake of their children and grandchildren." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review of STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN

About the Author

Dr. James Hansen is the climate scientist who first brought global warming to the world's attention in the 1980s, when he first testified before Congress. An adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, he is the former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. His background in space and earth sciences allows a broad perspective on the status and prospects of our home planet. He is the author of Storms of My Grandchildren. He lives in Pennsylvania.