This is a collection of 13 essays by Canadian anthropologist Wade
Davis. There isn't any overall theme to them, other than they are
all well worth reading.
Two of them, "Of War and Remembrance" and "The Crowning of Everest", cover some of the same ground as Davis' excellent book Into the Silence. That book and "Of War and Remembrance" provide the most graphic description of the horror of World War I that you will find anywhere.
The longest essay, and, in my opinion, the most important one, is "Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation". The primary message is just how difficult it's going to be to reduce the causes of global climate change. I'll start by saying that there are some things in here that I disagree with. Davis is skeptical about electric vehicles, and I'm suspicious about the data he uses to support that point of view. I don't know why Davis gave any oxygen to Bjorn Lomborg, a non-scientist who gets paid by a Republican vulture capitalist to talk nonsense.
But as I said, this was a long essay. Here are some facts presented that stood out for me:
Subsidies for fossil fuels are a staggering $7 trillion. This should be cut to zero.
This year, India is increasing their coal production from 700 million to one billion tons. "Coal generates 80 percent of India's electricity, a figure that has not changed in a decade, and 60 percent of China's. In 2040, China is expected to still be reliant on carbon for 76 percent of its energy needs... In 2022 alone, the Chinese government issued permits for 168 new coal-fired power plants."
Global climate conferences like COP15 and COP26 are accomplishing nothing. Davis suggests that it would be better for climate change activists to stay home and work on conserving and enhancing wetlands instead. They annually capture 6.7 million tons of greenhouse gases, but two million acres disappear each year.
I'll mention one more essay, "The Divine Leaf of Immortality". The "divine leaf" this is about is the coca leaf. The primary point here is, there is a huge difference between coca leaves (and related products such as coca leaf tea, which I have consumed) and cocaine. As Davis puts it, "Each gives a sense of well-being, but while cocaine assaults the central nervous system, the effect of coca is modified by any number of naturally occurring compounds found in the leaves and not present in cocaine." He gives us an impressive list of the benefits of chewing coca leaves, such as improving endurance, resistance to cold and high altitude (big factors in the popularity of coca leaves in Andean culture), and resistance to diseases. The essay provides an extensive history of coca leaves, including the folly of attempts to eradicate them. It concludes with a strong case for ending coca leaf prohibition.
