Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future

Author: Elizabeth Kolbert

Genre: Nonfiction, Ecology

Publication Date: 2021

Introduction

Echoing her Pulitzer Prize–winning The Sixth Extinction (2014), Elizabeth Kolbert returns to the topic of the disastrous effect of human activity on the environment. Under a White Sky looks at science and engineering projects around the globe to answer the question of whether humans, having changed the natural world extensively, can possibly reverse the damage. Kolbert describes the book as being “about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems.” The book’s subtitle, “The Nature of the Future,” is a pun on the word nature. On the one hand, Kolbert’s topic is what the future will be—both if no human efforts are made to address human-made problems such as invasive species and climate change and if humans do intervene. On the other hand, she discusses what nature will become if humans intervene through technology.

A national bestseller, Under a White Sky was named one of the best books of 2021 by The Washington Post, Time, Esquire, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and other publications.