Carbon is often stigmatised in the modern climate change debate, but Paul Hawken argues that the element is the basis of life on the planet. (Photo: Beate Whitehead/Getty Images)
The oxidized form of carbon is at the center of the climate change debate. Carbon is often blamed and blamed for global warming, destruction and loss.
But we tend to forget that carbon is the key to life. We are the only species on Earth that disrupts the natural carbon cycle, notes ecologist and author Paul Hawken.
In his new book, Carbon: The Book of Life (Viking, 2025), Hawken looks at the myriad flows of carbon that support life, from individual cells to vast underground fungal networks to entire human societies. Through the lens of carbon, the author takes readers on a journey through corporate retreats, the pharmaceutical sector, the food industry, and the worlds of plants, insects, and fungi.
Live Science caught up with Hawken ahead of the book's release on March 18 to discuss the language we use to talk about climate and the paradigm shift needed to begin valuing, restoring, and protecting Earth's natural flow of carbon.
Q: Carbon shows that carbon is not just a problem to be neutralized, but a life force that permeates every living thing and system on Earth. How does this challenge us to think differently about climate change?
Hawken: The narrative [around global warming] is really distorted, to be frank, because it objectifies carbon, the atmosphere, climate change, etc. It's the same mentality that created the problem: we see the living world as an object and we see ourselves as separate from it, as something to be exploited, to be taken advantage of, to be used for our own ends.
When people say that we’re going to “fix” the climate or “manage” climate change or “fight” climate change, to me that’s just symbolic of the deep disconnect between us and the rest of the world. We don’t have a climate crisis; the climate can’t have a crisis. We are the crisis. That’s what I want to explore. [I’m looking to] go to a place that’s not just isolated and inward-looking, but actually [creates] a sense of being in the world that can form a community. Because all life as we know it exists in community.
Paul Hawken is an author, environmentalist, and entrepreneur.
Q: I found your book very inspiring and hopeful. How do you find the strength to write about climate when everything we hear from scientists is so bleak?
Hawken: What I try to do in my life and in my communication is create a context in which people can see reality. What you see and
Sourse: www.livescience.com
