Elemental

How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past and Will Shape Our Future

Stephen Porder

$29.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Princeton University Press
01 August 2025

Ecological science, the Biosphere; Evolution; Earth sciences; Conservation of the environment; Sustainability

It is rare for life to change Earth, yet three organisms have profoundly transformed our planet over the long course of its history. Elemental reveals how microbes, plants, and people used the fundamental building blocks of life to alter the climate, and with it, the trajectory of life on Earth in the past, present, and future.

Taking readers from the deep geologic past to our current era of human dominance, Stephen Porder focuses on five of life's essential elements

hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. He describes how single-celled cyanobacteria and plants harnessed them to wildly proliferate across the oceans and the land, only to eventually precipitate environmental catastrophes. He then brings us to the present, and shows how these elements underpin the success of human civilisation, and how their mismanagement threatens similarly catastrophic unintended consequences. But, Porder argues, if we can learn from our world-changing predecessors, we can construct a more sustainable future.

Blending conversational storytelling with the latest science, Porder takes us deep into the Amazon, across fresh lava flows in Hawaii, and to the cornfields of the American Midwest to illuminate a potential path to sustainability, informed by the constraints imposed by life's essential elements and the four-billion-year history of life on Earth.

'Brown University ecologist Porder debuts with a probing exploration of how carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorous have shaped life on Earth...

It's an illuminating account of how these elements and the organisms that rely on them have influenced the course of life.'

Publishers Weekly

'[Porder] takes the time to explain considerable data to skeptics...

And this scientific information is made even more accessible because of Porder's engaging storytelling and views of different milieus like farms to illustrate what more sustainable alternatives could look like.' Joseph S. Pete, Foreword Reviews

By: Stephen Porder
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 133mm,
ISBN: 9780691248790
ISBN 10: 0691248796
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 01 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Stephen Porder is associate provost for sustainability and professor of ecology, evolution, and organismal biology at Brown University. He is also a fellow in the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Natural History, and other leading publications. He is cofounder of Possibly, which airs on The Public's Radio and provides practical advice on sustainability to a general audience.

Reviews for Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past and Will Shape Our Future

""Brown University ecologist Porder debuts with a probing exploration of how carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorous have shaped life on Earth. . . . It’s an illuminating account of how these elements and the organisms that rely on them have influenced the course of life."" * Publishers Weekly * ""[Porder] takes the time to explain considerable data to skeptics. . . . And this scientific information is made even more accessible because of Porder’s engaging storytelling and views of different milieus like farms to illustrate what more sustainable alternatives could look like.""---Joseph S. Pete, Foreword Reviews ""Porder writes with precision, style, clarity and logic. . . . [He] offers a way forward, filled with optimism and driven by consumers of energy, by regular folks, by you and me.""---David Gascoigne, Travels with Birds ""An original take on geology and evolution focusing on the role of five of life’s essential elements."" * Paradigm Explorer * ""The biogeochemistryof the C, N, H, O, and P combines into the various compounds that make up life-forms. [This book] shows the need to more completely understand the roles these elements play in everyday life and be better stewards.""---J.L. Hatfield, Choice ""Porder's clear and concise writing is perfect for teens interested in ecology, climate science, and chemistry.""---George Kendall, Booklist