🎧 Becoming Earth with Ferris Jabr
🎧 Becoming Earth with Ferris Jabr
Get ready to rethink the world beneath your feet and around you. Don't miss out on this deep dive into Earth's resilience, the Gaia hypothesis, and the role of microorganisms in life as we know it.
Earth is not just a planet with life on its surface but a living entity where life and environment continuously influence and transform each other. Our guest this week is Ferris Jabr, a renowned science writer, to discuss his new book "Becoming Earth." We explore the dynamic interplay between life and Earth's geology, climate, and atmosphere. From the Amazon rainforest's wet breath to microbes that breathe rock miles below the surface, this episode offers insights into the complex and life-sustaining systems on Earth. Listeners will learn how life and environment co-evolve and how this knowledge influences climate change understanding and our future on this planet. Learn more and order the book at https://www.ferrisjabr.com/
About Ferris
Ferris Jabr is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and the author of the new book, Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life. He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, National Geographic, and Scientific American, among other publications.
Ferris is the recipient of a Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grant, as well as fellowships from MIT and UC Berkeley. His work has been anthologized in several editions of The Best American Science and Nature Writing series. He has an MA in journalism from New York University and a Bachelor of Science from Tufts University.
About the Book
A vivid account of a major shift in how we understand Earth, from an exceptionally talented new voice. Earth is not simply an inanimate planet on which life evolved, but rather a planet that came to life.
“Glorious . . . full of achingly beautiful passages, mind-bending conceptual twists, and wonderful characters. Jabr reveals how Earth has been profoundly, miraculously shaped by life.”—Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of An Immense World
One of humanity’s oldest beliefs is that our world is alive. Though once ridiculed by some scientists, the idea of Earth as a vast interconnected living system has gained acceptance in recent decades. We, and all living things, are more than inhabitants of Earth—we are Earth, an outgrowth of its structure and an engine of its evolution. Life and its environment have coevolved for billions of years, transforming a lump of orbiting rock into a cosmic oasis—a planet that breathes, metabolizes, and regulates its climate.
Acclaimed science writer Ferris Jabr reveals a radical new vision of Earth where lush forests spew water, pollen, and bacteria to summon rain; giant animals engineer the very landscapes they roam; microbes chew rock to shape continents; and microscopic plankton, some as glittering as carved jewels, remake the air and sea.
Humans are one of the most extreme examples of life transforming Earth. Through fossil fuel consumption, agriculture, and pollution, we have altered more layers of the planet in less time than any other species, pushing Earth into a crisis. But we are also uniquely able to understand and protect the planet’s wondrous ecology and self-stabilizing processes. Jabr introduces us to a diverse cast of fascinating people who have devoted themselves to this vital work.
Becoming Earth is an exhilarating journey through the hidden workings of our planetary symphony—its players, its instruments, and the music of life that emerges—and an invitation to reexamine our place in it. How well we play our part will determine what kind of Earth our descendants inherit for millennia to come.
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Yours in health, Dr. Quave
Cassandra L. Quave, Ph.D. is a Guggenheim Fellow, CNN Champion for Change, Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, recipient of The National Academies Award for Excellence in Science Communication, and award-winning author of The Plant Hunter. Her day job is as professor and herbarium curator at Emory University School of Medicine, where she leads a group of research scientists studying medicinal plants to find new life-saving drugs from nature. She hosts the Foodie Pharmacology podcast and writes the Nature’s Pharmacy newsletter to share the science behind natural medicines. To support her effort, consider a paid or founding subscription to Nature’s Pharmacy or donation to her lab research.
Available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and e-book formats!
