Why ‘To Nature, With Love’ tells you the greatest story on Earth

Times Evoke

presents a unique curated volume, featuring 230 of the world’s best minds, discussing the miracle of life on

Earth

— and how to preserve this:

Did you know, the story of your life began four and a half billion years ago? Life’s first forebears — microorganisms — began to evolve on this freshly created planet then, a mass of wet earth, stretching seas and towering rocks. It was amidst these strange new surroundings that the first living beings began the tenacious, tenuous and tender journey that we call ‘life’. About 541 million years ago, marine animals like molluscs appeared while 408 million years ago, the first plants began growing across Earth, transforming the sun’s energy to support others. Humans appeared about seven million years ago on a planet that had already seen an astonishing proliferation of life. It was in this extraordinary setting — huge land masses fusing and splintering, mountains and glaciers forming and mighty oceans sweeping across great horizons — that humans learnt how to walk and think,

love

and laugh, cry and try, cook, draw and write the stories of our lives.

TOI’s Times Evoke brings you this story, a grand epic where each of the 8.7 million known species on Earth evolved from a shaky infant to a polished entity whose contributions hold our lives together — plants and marine microbes create oxygen, birds and animals proliferate plants, bees pollinate crops, fish clean water, trees hold nurturing soils in place, forests call down rain and the atmospheric balance created by all these processes gives us the rhythm of seasons. These processes are the foundation of humanity’s social organisation of life, our communities and cohorts, production and consumption, elections and selections, celebrations, conflicts and co-operation over the resources of this world. But these processes are much greater than all those combined.

These metaphysical equations are the true story of your life. Times Evoke invokes this story for it is only by valuing this miracle of science and soul that we can preserve it. Over time, humans have grown alienated from their environmental origins — first, colonialism treated Earth as just mineral, vegetal and human wealth for domination. Then, the Industrial Revolution saw Earth as a factory line of goods to be bottled, tinned, plastered, packaged, sold, bought, wasted and thrown into pristine glades and cerulean seas. As humans grew enmeshed in a life of vehicles and chemicals, fabrics and foods, concrete and steel, tin and plastic, we forgot the universe of nature within which we exist. And, as we forgot, we began to treat our planet as an

ATM

for resources — not as the magical place it is.

Times Evoke’s curated volume ‘To Nature, With Love’ brings back that magic to you. Featuring 230 of the world’s leading scientists, scholars, conservationists, artists and industry leaders, this exquisitely designed volume is in response to our readers’ wish for such a collection. This unique book explores Earth and all its living beings, humans an interesting addition among many. It explains why our species is causing the Anthropocene where our production, consumption and pollution are harming Earth’s meticulously woven web of life. It shows the science of how our impacts are endangering us as the world heats up due to emissions, changing the planet’s balance between warm and cool, sun and rain, winds, seasons, lands and tides. It celebrates the stories of the champions of life, striving against huge odds to protect this balance. And it outlines solutions to keep Earth whole, including key insights from

ET Evoke

’s business leaders who see that business can’t go on as usual — we need ways of living that are more sustainable.

Most importantly, ‘To Nature, With Love’ evokes your appreciation for your planet — and your life. You are part of an incredible web of existence that stretches back billions of years. Reading this book will illuminate how you can help that shimmering web support the young too. Humanity stands at a crossroads in time. Our actions are literally changing a planet. Our impacts — scientists find carbon emissions rose to a historic 36.4 billion tonnes-plus in 2021 — are reflecting in temperature changes, causing extreme weather events and enormous hardships as farmers and urban dwellers find their fields and homes wrecked. Alongside, humans, who have changed 70% of Earth’s surface, are causing a mass extinction of other life forms — over a million plant and animal species face the end of their existence. Snatching their land, water, limbs and lives, we threaten the very species that enable our existence.

Carrying on heedlessly could end the great story that started billions of years ago — but our choices could also ensure a happy continuum. These choices, from renewable energy to rewilding, sustainable agriculture to rainwater harvesting, afforestation to biodegradable packaging, habitat conservation to responsible consumption and much more, are detailed in ‘To Nature, With Love’. Millions around the world are making these choices now — the tremendous endeavour to stop our beautiful planet from turning into an entity we cannot recognise is the greatest story on Earth. The

Times of India

brings this story to you. Times Evoke’s ‘To Nature, With Love’ invites you warmly to its pages for you are writing this tale too.


Share your thoughts at: timesevoke@timesgroup.comRead Times Evoke online at: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/times-evoke