As humans accelerate global warming--while laying waste to the environment to erect cities and roads and clear wilderness for farmland--animals and plants flee to the margins: on scattered nature reserves, between major highways, or among urban sprawl. And when even these places become too hot and inhospitable, wildlife is left with only one path to survival: an often harrowing journey toward the poles in search of refuge, as they race to find a new home in a warming world.
Tropical zones lose their inhabitants, beavers settle in Alaska, and gigantic shoals of fish disappear--just to reappear in front of foreign coastlines. Sea creatures move an average of 45 miles a year--land creatures, an average of 11 miles. Some animals, such as fish, beavers, and butterflies, make haste; less mobile species, such as corals and especially plants--and those already at the poles, including polar bears--have nowhere to go.
Acclaimed environmental journalist Benjamin von Brackel shows us which species are moving where, tracing their often awe-inspiring long-distance journeys and celebrating their remarkable resilience. But the lengths plants and animals must go is as tragic as it is inspirational, revealing entire species teetering on the brink of extinction. The dramatic consequences of climate change couldn't be clearer: We've destroyed our planet and left the living things all around us with one last chance at survival.
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