Every year, the climate is impacted by gigantic amounts of carbon dioxide that enter the air. But CO₂ isn’t merely the dangerous byproduct of burning fossil fuels—it is also fundamental to how the Earth works. All life is ultimately made from CO₂, which has kept the planet’s climate livable, its air breathable, and its oceans hospitable to complex life for hundreds of millions of years. In short, says science journalist Peter Brannen, it is the most important substance on Earth. But how can something so essential to life be capable of destroying it?

Moving from almost 4 billion years ago to today’s global climate crisis and beyond, Brannen illuminates how CO₂ has been responsible for the planet’s many deaths and rebirths, for shaping the evolution of life, and for the development of modern human society. And, he argues, by reckoning with this deep planetary history we can understand the environmental stakes of the current moment and try to avert catastrophes in the future.

Brannen’s book The Story of CO₂ Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World (HarperCollins) is available for purchase.

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