Fevered Planet

Reviews

John Vidal has travelled far and wide, and we would be wise to take seriously the reports he sends back; human lives, particularly of the rich, are not just altering the plane tin devastatingly predictable ways, they are setting us up for some nasty surprises A searing, vital work. Plagues and epidemics determine human history - now it is time to learn that how we live today is driving disease on a planetary level Drawing on a lifetime’s experience as a frontline journalist, John Vidal compellingly joins the dots between accelerating climate change, population growth, dangerously disrupted ecosystems, our obsession with economic growth – and the inevitability of future pandemics. Fevered Planet is the most illuminating and disturbing book I’ve read in years Vital, urgent, and forensic – John Vidal’s unflinching examination of pandemic risk should be a wake-up call in capitals throughout the world. Unless we change course, Covid could be just the tip of an iceberg of even more deadly and disruptive diseases to come. Transforming our relationship with the natural world is essential for both human and planetary health – Fevered Planet expertly shows us how John Vidal has written a compelling analysis of the links between our planet and environment and our health. I found it hard to put down, and it brilliantly mixes his personal experience covering environmental issues for the Guardian with novel insights into how we can and should be doing better. A must-read for all those interested in pandemics, the environment and the animal-human nexus This beautifully researched book, including Vidal’s own travels around the world, takes us through the rising number of pandemics, up to Covid-19 and beyond, to a disturbing account of our political inability to grasp what is happening and manage a safe future for our civilisation . . . Global, national and local policy makers should all read and absorb this very important contribution to the current state of the world. We must learn to understand that we are a part of Nature, not apart from Nature Urgent, fascinating and essential, Fevered Planet tells a crucial story that most of us have missed In his impressive yet scary book Fevered Planet: How Diseases Emerge When We Harm Nature (Bloomsbury), environmental journalist John Vidal makes a compelling case for humanity to transform its relationship with the natural world Vidal shows the systemic failures that lie behind today’s “age of pandemics” … By minimising our disturbance of the natural world, Vidal contends, we will reduce the chance of unpleasant pathogens crossing our path John Vidal’s credentials are impeccable – a former long-term environment editor at the Guardian and a pioneering, determined documenter of our rapacious exploitation of the planet A combination of forensic detail and human testimony drawn from the author’s long career as an environmental journalist . . . Makes the plausible and compelling case that we are now “approaching a storm of spiralling disease risk” . . . Fevered Planet exhorts us to tackle the threat, and seize the opportunity, before it is too late Expand reviews