Fighting Climate Change Takes More Than Data — It Needs Wonder, Love and Hope

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.

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.