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The Decarbonization Delusion: What 3.5 Billion Years of Biological Sustainability Can Teach Us

Online ISBN:
9780197664865
Print ISBN:
9780197664834
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Decarbonization Delusion: What 3.5 Billion Years of Biological Sustainability Can Teach Us

Andrew Moore
Andrew Moore
Freelance Science Writer and Communications Advisor, Self-Employed
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Published online:
21 March 2024
Published in print:
1 February 2024
Online ISBN:
9780197664865
Print ISBN:
9780197664834
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

People take carbon for granted so much that they rarely consider how carbon’s amazing properties lead to its ubiquity in the energy and fabric of life and human civilization. And yet humans are now trying to decarbonize. This book gives an overview and analysis of some of the most pressing challenges and considerations in the area of the decarbonization of economies. It does so from the perspective of chemistry and biology, and it comes to the conclusion that we are likely to do more environmental damage by breaking free from carbon than if we embrace the impressive capacity that carbon-based energy carriers and materials have for creating circular economies with zero net carbon dioxide emissions. Biology has done this sustainably for around 3.5 billion years, and humans must learn from that enormous lesson.

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