Leo Hickman - Will Jellyfish Rule the World?: A Book About Climate Change

A re jellyfish really going to rule the world? Perhaps the better question to think about is: why would it ever be likely that jellyfish end up ruling the world? And the answer to that question is the subject of this book: climate change.

Climate change has become the most important issue of our age perhaps of all human history because it affects every single person on this planet.

For the first time in our planets history just one species human beings: you and me is causing the climate to change. And if we continue to pollute our environment, we will see more and more disastrous events: flooding, hurricanes, heatwaves, animal extinctions, failed harvests and so on.

But! There really are lots of things that you, your friends and family can do that will make a difference. In this book you will discover what the climate actually is, as well as how and why its changing, but most importantly you will learn how together we can help minimize the impact of climate change.

So, come on if you want to prevent a future in which jellyfish might end up ruling the world (for full scary details turn to page ), then sit down, make yourself comfortable and start reading this book!

T his planet we call home is very special. In fact, when you look at the long history of Earth, its remarkable that theres any life to be found here at all, let alone so-called advanced life-forms such as ourselves. Our planets seen it all: fires, ice, poisonous gases and huge volcanic eruptions. But its now, at this precise moment in time, that all the elements are just right to produce the perfect conditions for life from the very highest mountains to the depths of the deepest seas, life can be found

Humans havent been on this planet for long. And in terms of the looooong history of Planet Earth, we will only be a mere sentence. In fact, if you imagine the lifespan of Earth as the 12 hours of a clock, with each hour representing one billion years, we are currently only at half past four . The entire period in which advanced animal and plant life-forms (which, for a comparatively short time, will include humans) are expected to be on Earth represents just one hour and we are already about 30 minutes into that hour. By 8 oclock , scientists believe, the sun will have expanded and heated up so much that all our oceans will have evaporated into space. And at 12 oclock in 7.5 billion years time the Earth will end, engulfed by the sun which itself will be in its death-throes. Therefore, not only is Planet Earth a special place, but we are alive during a very, very special time during its lifespan.

If the lifetime of the Earth was compressed into a single hour, then mankind has been here for 0.157 seconds .

Turn to page for a timeline of life on Earth

Its unique ! We know of no other place like it anywhere else in the universe. Most importantly, the one thing that makes it so special to us is that it is home to life. We have looked long and hard out into space the moon, Mars and beyond but, so far, we havent found any other life out there. Were like a paradise island in the middle of a vast ocean. Its a lonely, but lucky, place to be.

And, of course, its our home . Its all weve got until, that is, we start building space colonies, but thats a few years off and its probably best to get the hang of looking after this home first before we make such plans. Like anything thats precious to us, we need to work hard to protect it.

Many different ingredients have come together for a brief period of time to produce exactly the right conditions to create the world we see today, and a big one of these is temperature . Remember how Goldilocks preferred porridge that wasnt too hot or too cold, but just right? Well, Planet Earth is just the right distance from the sun to allow life to thrive. Any closer and it would be too hot, any further away and it would be too cold. We can look at the different average temperatures on Venus, Earth and Mars to see just how lucky we are to have such a hospitable one. Venus is closer to the sun than Earth, and its surface temperature is 460C about twice as hot as the oven in your kitchen gets. Meanwhile, on Mars, which is further away from the sun than Earth, the average temperature is 46C about as warm as it ever gets on the South Pole during winter. Here on Earth, the average temperature is 14C just right for life.