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Description

An inspiring call to action that links today's climate crisis to Earth's evolution throughout history.

Our Time is a true story. Alasdair Skelton takes readers through time, from the formation of the Earth to the present day, reflecting on the finely tuned climate system and its elegant workings that have made it possible for living things to thrive on Earth for three-and-a-half billion years. Skelton explores what happened when Earth's climate spiraled out of control and how it repaired itself time and time again, and as we plunge into our own chapter of time, he highlights our separation from nature as a root cause of the crisis in which we now find ourselves.

Skelton tells this story as a geologist who was awoken to climate activism by the voices of his own students. He shares a perspective on the climate crisis as a blink of an eye amidst the enormity of time. Concluding with what will happen if we fail to act, and what will happen if we do act, Skelton compares alternative futures and explains how we can still choose a good one. Throughout, and without ever betraying scientific truth, Our Time navigates the narrow path from the inaction of denial and despair to the action of hope. This is a beautiful history of planet Earth and the role humans can play in its evolving climate story.

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Table of Contents

Prologue: Four Million Years
Chapter 1: Boxing Day
Chapter 2: Time
Chapter 3: Climate
Chapter 4: Stromatolites
Chapter 5: Granite
Chapter 6: Snowball Earth
Chapter 7: The Hyperthermal
Chapter 8: The Ice Age
Chapter 9: Queen Kristina
Chapter 10: The Last Dance
Chapter 11: 2020
Chapter 12: Climate Live
Chapter 13: Heat Waves
Chapter 14: Floods and Droughts
Chapter 15: Melting Ice and Rising Seas
Chapter 16: Niko
Chapter 17: Sophia
Chapter 18: Conference of the Parties
Chapter 19: Alternative Futures
Chapter 20: Our Story
Chapter 21: The Oak Tree
Notes
Index
About the Author

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 08 Jan 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 216
ISBN 9798765163474
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 20 bw photos
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Alasdair Skelton

Alasdair Skelton is professor of geochemistry and…

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