The Next One Hundred Years: Shaping the Fate of Our Living Earth

Through interviews with earth scientists and ecologists, Weiner ( Planet Earth ) takes readers to the forefront of the rapidly evolving field of global ecology. We see how the greenhouse effect, whereby gases and pollutants trapped in the earth's atmosphere contribute to planetary warming, may be linked to the thinning of the ozone shield protecting us and to the extinction of growing numbers of species. Scientists interviewed address population pressures on fragile ecosystems, effects of radioactive wastes, the Gaia hypothesis of earth as a living organism. Weiner guides us up the slopes of a Hawaiian volcano and inside dwindling Brazilian rain forests. His narrative brings a light, colloquial touch to an ominous subject. (Feb.)