Clearing the Air

If there were a Nobel Prize for clear thinking, Hannah Ritchie would have my vote. She doesn’t just cut through the noise — she vaporizes it. With a scientist’s rigor and a storyteller’s grace, she shows us what the data actually says about the biggest challenges of our time. Her work is essential reading for anyone who still believes facts can change minds and optimism can change the world – RUTGER BREGMAN, author of Utopia for Realists and HumankindThe best thing you can do for the climate is to read this book – now – MARK LYNAS, author of Six DegreesThis book is such a pleasure. Each question snaps another piece of the jigsaw puzzle satisfyingly into place, presenting a big picture that is vivid, accurate and hopeful. I learned so much – TIM HARFORD, author of How To Make The World Add UpThank goodness for Hannah Ritchie and her clear, data-led optimism. An essential myth-busting primer on climate actions for everyone navigating the blizzard of confusing opinions and misinformation around the defining issue of our time – GAIA VINCE, author of Nomad Century

Dr Hannah Ritchie is Senior Researcher in the Programme for Global Development at the University of Oxford. She is also Deputy Editor at Our World in Data and has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Statistical Society. Her research appears regularly in The Economist, New York Times, Financial Times, BBC, WIRED and New Scientist. In 2022, Ritchie was named Scotland’s Youth Climate Champion and New Scientist called her ‘The woman who gave COVID-19 data to the world’. In 2024, she was selected by Prospect magazine as one of their ‘Top 25 Thinkers’.