How deeply felt and embodied is our connection to the wellbeing of the planet?
Neuroscientist and environmental journalist Clayton Aldern has travelled the world to meet scientists and doctors working at the intersections of environmental science, psychology and neuroscience to synthesize a new, interdisciplinary approach to a novel field — the neuroscience of climate change.
His new book The Weight of Nature is an impassioned work of research and storytelling, documenting the emotional and physical toll of a warming climate on our minds, brains and bodies.
In the book, he explores how our beliefs, language, communities, family ties, cultural narratives, imagery and soundscapes are all being warped by the repeated shocks and stresses of climate change, reshaping our very humanity, and contributing to a growing public health crisis that has gone largely unreported.
Watch Clayton Aldern give his public talk at the RSA as he argues that it is only by living in fuller intimacy with our planet that we will apply the compassion, resilience and courage to act to save it.
