The Anthropocene Reviewed

Let's just start with this little nugget. “Almost one-third of all residential water use in the U.S.—clean, drinkable water—is dedicated to lawns... Americans use ten times more fertilizer and pesticide per acre of turfgrass than is used in corn or wheat fields ...and grass clippings and other yard waste constitute 12 percent of all the material that ends up in U.S. landfills.” Just wow.

As the dust jacket reminds us, this is after all a collection of essays on our human-centred planet. To that end there are stories about the discovery of the Lascaux cave paintings, the history of Teddy Bears, Piggly Wiggly and Monopoly, examinations on the Yips and the photo Young Farmers from August Sander. As a whole it is entirely enlightening.

But it is also warm and heartfelt and lovingly in awe with world around us. It is the ritual of biking to the Indianapolis 500 with friends, an unabashed love of Diet Dr Pepper, wrestling with anxiety and watching Harvey while dealing with depression that puts author John Green front and centre of these stories. I love his outsized love for his brother, his wife and children, his friends and English football. It's no mean feat to unironically wear your heart on your sleeve and not come of as narcissistic or unbearably saccharine. It helps that he's been living his values out loud online for some time now with VlogBrothers, Crash Course, Project for Awesome and now TikTok. To trust the world, to show it your belly despite the intensely fragile part of you that is terrified of turning itself to the world - that in itself is extraordinary.