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The cover of Not the End of the World

Not the End of the World

Hannah Ritchie, 2024

Long run data on air pollution, climate, forests, food, wildlife, plastics and fishing show how we could be the first generation to build a sustainable planet.

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10 parts, about 21 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Learn the two halves of sustainable development and why neither depopulation nor degrowth alone delivers both
  • See how widely repeated claims on the Amazon, wildlife loss, ocean plastic and empty oceans change once the data are checked
  • Find the real levers across seven problem areas, such as clean cooking fuels, beef, waste management and a carbon price

Who it is for

  • Young readers anxious that climate change makes the future hopeless
  • Readers who want the data behind climate and nature headlines
  • People deciding which personal and political actions actually count

What the summary covers

  1. Introduction2 min
  2. Sustainability2 min
  3. Air Pollution2 min
  4. Climate Change3 min
  5. Deforestation2 min
  6. Food3 min
  7. Biodiversity Loss2 min
  8. Ocean Plastics2 min
  9. Overfishing2 min
  10. Conclusion1 min

Recommended by

  • Bill GatesAuthor of How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
    Not the End of the World is eye-opening and essential. With comprehensive data and sometimes counterintuitive conclusions, Hannah Ritchie does for the environment what Hans Rosling did for health.
  • David Wallace WellsAuthor of The Uninhabitable Earth
    The climate and environmental crisis now has its Hans Rosling. Hannah Ritchie has charted an invigorating, inspiring, often surprising tour of recent human history and the many marks of progress it contains.
  • Rutger BregmanAuthor of Humankind
    Her book shines with practicality and positivity. It will banish your feelings of doom, help you focus on what’s really important, and make you want to be a part of the most effective solutions to our greatest challenges.
  • Margaret AtwoodWriter, quoted from TED2023
    An inspiring data-mine which gives us not only real guidance, but the most necessary ingredient of all: hope . . . truly essential
  • Stewart BrandFounder of Whole Earth Catalog and author of Whole Earth Discipline
    The surprising message in the data is that human civilization is far along toward solving planetary problems. Hannah Ritchie shows how building on the successful trends can finish the job.
  • Tim HarfordAuthor of How to Make the World Add Up
    Such a clear-eyed view of the state we're in, giving a sharp picture of the challenges ahead, and an inspiring vision of the problems we've already solved. Everyone who reads it will learn a lot – I did.

About the author

  • Hannah RitchieOxford researcher and deputy editor at Our World in Data
    • She was born in 1993 in Falkirk, Scotland.
    • She studied environmental geoscience and carbon management at the University of Edinburgh, then stayed in Scotland for a PhD on malnutrition and global food systems.
    • She started her career as a lecturer in sustainability at the University of Edinburgh.
    • In 2017 she joined Our World in Data as Head of Research.
    • In 2023 she became Deputy Editor and Lead Researcher at Our World in Data.
    • She is a senior researcher in the Programme for Global Development at the University of Oxford.
    • The Royal Statistical Society made her an honorary fellow in 2024.
    • In April 2026 the Publishers Association named her the winner of the Unwin Award for non fiction authors in the earlier stages of their careers.

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