Book Review: Glass Half Full

Reviewed by Todd Woodward, AIA 

Is it possible to tease apart the seemingly inextricable relationship between global economic prosperity and growth, on the one hand, and resource consumption and ecological degradation, on the other? 

— from Carbon, A Field Manual for Building Designers (Kuittinen, Organschi, and Ruff) 

I recently participated, as the design professional, in a contentious public task force meeting regarding the master planning for a new park. One of the task force members noted that climate change would likely have a more significant impact within the park than any of the proposed actions contemplated by the master plan. There was an immediate response from another member: “Where is your data for that?”  

Hannah Ritchie, author of Not the End of the World, has an answer to that question. Ritchie is the deputy editor of the nonprofit Our World in Data. The organization’s mission is to publish “research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems.” Our World in Data aggregates and allows appropriate use of data in a number of categories, including Energy and Environment, Poverty and Economic Development, and Human Rights and Democracy. The website is a fascinating way to explore a wide variety of information within a user-friendly interface.  

As an extension of her work with environmental data, Ritchie has written a unique book about sustainability. The book emerged from an observation that most young people have feelings of anxiety regarding the state of the environment, believe that the future is frightening, and/or fear that humanity is doomed due to climate change. It is personal, too: Dr. Ritchie notes that her own feelings regarding environmental issues as a college student verged on depression. She credits Swedish physician Hans Rosling with changing her perspective and allowing her to see environmental issues through a different lens. Rosling studied and interpreted data — big picture and long-term data — on poverty, health and other social issues. Dr. Ritchie has since been on a quest as a scientist and researcher to do the same with environmental data. She makes the argument that the world has never been sustainable, but also that we have new opportunities to make strides toward that goal. 

Not the End of the World considers issues of climate change and carbon, but also addresses other aspects of environmental concern, including deforestation, food production, biodiversity loss, and the health of oceans. In all of these realms, exaggerated negative scenarios and attention-seeking headlines have obscured genuine progress toward solutions. News reporting and social media have a strong bias towards the negative and the calamitous at the expense of positive stories, long term trends, and incremental improvement.  

Ritchie’s strategy in exploring the various categories of environmental performance is twofold. First, in the spirit of Hans Rosling, she “zooms out” to identify where underappreciated progress has been made toward sustainability. And second, she emphasizes the key points where our action today can be most impactful. Most chapters have a section entitled, “Things to Stress Less About.” She argues that if we can stress less about small things — recycling a bottle, using that plastic bag, or eating imported food — there will be more attention available to focus on the bigger decisions that impact energy use and carbon emissions.  

Not the End of the World functions as an effective call to action, especially when viewed alongside popular writing on the environment that embodies doomsday thinking. Ritchie thoughtfully walks the line between acknowledging environmental challenges and pointing out responsible future paths to sustainability. She notes that we must hold contrasting ideas in mind at once: Environmental conditions may be bad, but they are in many ways improving. And further, that conditions can in fact be much better! The message is that we should not deny the problems but also not ignore the progress. While catastrophic thinking can and does leave people feeling paralyzed with inaction, Ritchie’s approach allows room for optimism. For those interested in additional reading, this understanding pairs well with Michael Mann’s recent book, The New Climate War, in which he articulates his crusade against climate doomsayers and “inactivists.” 

I believe that the design professions and those that practice them are inherently optimistic. We are imagining future realities, constructions, and places where people’s lives will unfold. What is more optimistic than that? According to Ritchie, the world needs more urgent optimism and I interpret that, in part, as a prompt for designers. “I used to think optimists were naïve and pessimists were smart,” she writes. “But science is inherently optimistic, too.” She makes the case not for blind optimism, but for an understanding that challenges are also opportunities.  

Neil Bohr reportedly said, “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” As designers, we attempt to predict the future all the time. We need to make sure that those predictions, our proposed plans and designs, are grounded in data, and that they focus attention on the big things that will have positive environmental impact. The only way to answer the question posed at the top of this review — can we decouple the relationship between prosperity and environmental degradation? — is to understand the data and embrace an optimism that allows productive work. In the context of the prevailing media and other pressures to the contrary, Ritchie’s new book is an honest, refreshing, and insightful exploration of a better approach to pursuing sustainability. Not the End of the World is a necessary read for anyone who is concerned about the future of the planet but sometimes overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenge — and shouldn’t that be everyone? 

Todd Woodward, AIA, is a Principal of SMP Architects, a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, and co-chair of the Context Editorial Board. 

CAPTION 

Not the End of the World 

By Hannah Ritchie 

Published by Little, Brown Spark (2024).