Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet Kate Marvel Ecco (2025)

The idea that rising carbon dioxide concentrations could warm the planet dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. Women’s rights campaigner and scientist Eunice Foote showed in 1856 that CO₂ and water vapour trap heat in the atmosphere¹. Her work, which was mostly overlooked at the time, has been validated by decades of research that has built a remarkably clear picture. Average global temperatures have risen since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels release CO₂ that push up greenhouse-gas levels and human activity is the main cause of global warming.

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Yet, as climate scientist Kate Marvel observes in Human Nature, policymakers have taken surprisingly little action in response to the mounting evidence. Efforts have been hindered by decades of lobbying by powerful organizations such as oil companies. In this persuasive book, Marvel argues that people need to embrace an emotional response, not just a data-driven one, to prompt widespread action. Climate scientists and activists would be familiar with some of the emotions that double as chapter titles — anger, fear and grief. But Marvel insists on the need for wonder, love and hope, too.

By weaving in personal anecdotes, she makes the science behind climate change accessible: how Earth’s system functions, how greenhouse gases disrupt it, the effects of global warming and the complexity and uncertainties of models. For instance, Marvel poignantly recounts her fearful experience of living through Hurricane Ida in 2021, which caused disastrous floods that killed at least 13 people in New York City. She then explains that air can hold about 7% more water vapour for every degree Celsius it warms. When that vapour condenses, it drives short, intense bursts of rain. The chapter is especially helpful because it shows not only how storms form but also why warming leads to heavier downpours.

An unsettling truth

I can’t help but share Marvel’s anger and frustration. Climate science has advanced to the point where denying human-driven climate change feels obtuse. Her models, and thousands developed by other scientists, might differ in spatial and temporal resolution, but they all lead to the same unambiguous conclusion: Earth is warming and will keep doing so unless greenhouse-gas emissions drop to zero.

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Scientists have watched their models of a warming world come true during their own lifetimes — faster than many expected. It is exciting to see one’s predictions get confirmed, to have been able to forecast the future with remarkable accuracy. Yet, witnessing climate change unfold in real time, with the consequences already visible when they could have been avoided or mitigated, is profoundly unsettling.

The book highlights the devastating consequences of extreme weather by weaving together historical and contemporary examples: a huge volcanic eruption in 43 bc that caused political turmoil in the Roman Empire and famines in ancient Egypt; the devastating droughts of the 1930s Dust Bowl in the United States; and the catastrophic floods in Texas triggered by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. References to Greek mythology and historical events, such as the fall of ancient Egypt because of crop failures triggered by disrupted rainfall patterns after the volcanic eruption, make the narrative engaging and entertaining.

However, Marvel could have discussed social-science studies that demonstrate how climate shocks affect livelihoods and human well-being^2–4. These impacts are rarely direct or isolated; they ripple through economic, political and environmental systems.

Tracing how climate change affects livelihoods also reveals why some groups are more vulnerable than others. Droughts, for example, can fuel conflict and drive migration, especially in fragile states with weak governance and poor resource management⁵. Identifying such mechanisms is crucial, because they can help policymakers to develop targeted and effective strategies for intervention.