Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do It Again

A compelling and pragmatic argument: solutions to yesterday’s environmental problems reveal today’s path forward.

We solved planet-threatening problems before, Susan Solomon argues, and we can do it again. Solomon knows firsthand what those solutions entail. She first gained international fame as the leader of an expedition to Antarctica in 1986, making discoveries that were key to healing the damaged ozone layer. She saw a path--from scientific and public awareness to political engagement, international agreement, industry involvement, and effective action. Solomon, an atmospheric scientist and award-winning author, connects this career-defining triumph to the inside stories of other past environmental victories--against ozone depletion, smog, pesticides, and lead--to extract the essential elements of what makes change possible.

The path to success begins when an environmental problem becomes both personal and perceptible to the general public. Lawmakers, diplomats, industries, and international agencies respond to popular momentum, and effective change takes place in tandem with consumer pressure when legislation and regulation yield practical solutions. Healing the planet is a long game won not by fear and panic but by the union of public, political, and regulatory pressure.

Solvable is a book for anyone who has ever despaired about the climate crisis. As Solomon reminds us, doom and gloom get us nowhere, and idealism will only take us so far. The heroes in these stories range from angry mothers to gang members turned social activists, to upset Long Island birdwatchers to iconoclastic scientists (often women) to brilliant legislative craftsmen. Solomon’s authoritative point of view is an inspiration, a reality check, a road map, and a much-needed dose of realism. The problems facing our planet are Solvable. Solomon shows us how.

Susan Solomon is professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was the Founding Director of the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative. She is known for pioneering work on the Antarctic ozone layer and for landmark studies of the timescales of climate change. She has received many scientific honors and awards, including the US National Medal of Science, the Grande Medaille from the French Academy of Sciences, and the Crafoord Prize from the Swedish Academy of Sciences. She is the author of The Coldest March, which was named a New York Times notable book and an Economist book of the year.