Harvard Science Book Talk: Kate Marvel, in conversation with Miriam Wasser,"Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet"

This is a ticketed event in Brattle Theatre:  $10.00 (admission only) or $35.00 (book included)

Scientist Kate Marvel has seen the world end before, sometimes several times a day. In the computer models she uses to study climate change, it’s easy to simulate rising temperatures, catastrophic outcomes, and bleak futures. But climate change isn’t just happening in those models. It’s happening here, to the only good planet in the universe. It’s happening to us. And she has feelings about that.  

Human Nature is a deeply felt inquiry into our rapidly changing Earth. In each chapter, Marvel uses a different emotion to explore the science and stories behind climate change. As expected, there is anger, fear, and grief—but also wonder, hope, and love. With her singular voice, Marvel takes us on a soaring journey, one filled with mythology, physics, witchcraft, bad movies, volcanoes, Roman emperors, sequoia groves, and the many small miracles of nature we usually take for granted.

Hopeful, heartbreaking, and surprisingly funny, Human Nature is a vital, wondrous exploration of how it feels to live in a changing world. 

Kate Marvel is a climate scientist and one of the premier science communicators working today. A former cosmologist, Marvel received a PhD in theoretical physics from Cambridge University. She led the “Climate Trends” chapter in the U.S. Fifth National Climate Assessment, has given a TED Talk, appeared on Meet the Press and The Ezra Klein Show, and testified before the U.S. Congress. She has written for Scientific American, Nautilus magazine, and the On Being Project. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Miriam Wasser is a senior reporter with WBUR's climate and environment team. Before coming to WBUR, she was a staff writer for the Phoenix New Times in Arizona. Her work has also appeared in Boston Magazine, The Atlantic, Narratively, DigBoston and The Big Roundtable. Miriam holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She once wrote an 11,000-word story about the quirky — and sometimes dark — world of domestic rabbit breeding. Really.

Organization/Sponsor: Harvard Book Store, Harvard Division of Science, and Harvard Library.
For more information and videos of Harvard Science Book Talks, see https://science.fas.harvard.edu/book-talks.

Contact Info: science_lectures@fas.harvard.edu