I find myself increasingly fascinated by history: the ups and downs of civilisations that considered themselves to be immortal; the telltale traces that ancient humans left behind as they explored Britain, from cave paintings at Creswell Crags to middens of hazelnut husks on Colonsay; and the rapid growth in human population over the last 1000 years. For roughly 199,000 years we numbered less than 300 million, yet in the last 1000 years (or 0.5% of our time on the earth) we have added an extra 7.3 billion. Can an exploration how we got to here, inform us about the direction humanity takes in the 21st Century?
Our next book “Pandora’s Seed” by Spencer Wells, may help us to answer this question by examining the seismic shift humans made from hunter-gathering to farming, beginning about 10,000 years ago. What effect did this change in lifestyle have on us as a species and what effect did it have on the planet that sustains us?
We will meet to discuss this book on 5th July 2018 at ‘The Tyneside Coffee Rooms’ on the second floor of the Tyneside Cinema. Gather from 7pm to start the discussion at 7.30pm. Light meals and drinks are available.
The meeting is free but please let me know if you can make it so that I can plan numbers for the venue.
green-thinkers 