But, by releasing the energy locked away some 300 million years ago in fossil fuels, we have upset the delicate balance of the carbon cycle and made “the atmosphere itself as artificial as a Capability Brown landscape”. [Brown was an 18th century English landscape architect whose gardens were more “naturalistic” than the formal style of the time.]
From molecules to the planetary scale, Morton’s beautifully written book reveals how life is made from light. The living landscapes we inhabit are shaped by photosynthesis, and Morton’s sense of wonder at the pervasive influence of this process is nowhere stronger than while walking across the South Downs near his home in southern England: “It’s grassland like this, more than any other habitat, that gives us both homes and horizons.” A rich and wide-ranging study.
Eating the Sun: The Everyday Miracle of How Plants Power the Planet
Oliver Morton
Fourth Estate, 2009
— By PD Smith
Copyright Guardian News and Media Limited 2010