Big Picture of Energy

• The Co-Creation by Olivia Judson [1]
  • She divides planetary history into five epochs—rock, light, oxygen, flesh, and fire—each unlocking of a new source of energy, which coincides with new organisms able to exploit that source and alter their planet. Judson calls it a “stepwise construction of a life-planet system,” explaining how these successive energy revolutions created the conditions for a rich array of life, from amoebas, to cabbages, to humans. There is an epic, stirring, and enduring symbiosis between life and Earth, in her telling, and we are all participants.