Can we imagine a world where we leave half the earth to the natural environment and use the other half for ourselves? Can we change history and protect the Indigenous, the vulnerable, and the very poorest in society?

Mark Maslin is a Professor of Earth System Science at University College London. Maslin is a leading expert in understanding the anthropocene and how it relates to the major challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. He has written a number of books on the issue of climate change, his most book is How to Save Our Planet: The Facts.

"I think that young people should understand our history. And I think this is incredibly important. So it is sometimes very difficult to talk to young people in the UK about relations with other countries. Because they don't have the history, they don't understand the colonial history. They don't understand where the British Empire slaughtered people or imposed draconian measures or actually had huge impacts on different societies. And I think if you understand where your society has come from with all the good and bad bits, you can then say: Okay, now I understand where we are situated. I can understand where economics has come from. I understand that neoliberalism was an effort to try and lift everybody out of poverty, but it hass failed. So for me, it is understanding where we've come from, understanding the struggles, and understanding why the poorest, vulnerable people and Indigenous people are always at the front end of any conflict or crisis. And therefore thinking about how do we actually deal with this current crisis in a way that those people are not adversely affected for the first time in history? Can we actually change history and protect the Indigenous, the vulnerable, and the very poorest in society? And therefore, because we have actually read our history and learn from it, can we actually understand how to move on and not repeat the mistakes of the past?"

www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/people/academic-staff/mark-maslin
www.penguin.co.uk/books/320155/how-to-save-our-planet-by-maslin-mark/9780241472521

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All images courtesy of Mark Maslin