Review of David Livingstone’s ‘The Empire of Climate: A History of an Idea’ (Princeton, 2024)

Book cover featuring the title "The Empire of Climate" by David N. Livingstone in bold white text on a muted background, reflecting themes of climate history and environmental change.

The Journal of Historical Geography have newly published (June 2025) a ‘review forum’ based on David Livingstone’s recent book, ‘The Empire of Climate’. As well as myself, five other historical geographers — Awadhendra Sharan, Li Zhang, Louis S. Warren, Margarita Gascón, and Simon Naylor — also reviewed the book, and the journal has gathered these […]

‘The Unbearable Weight of Displaced Weather’

A train covered in snow moves along tracks at a station during heavy snowfall, with snow piling on the ground and overhead wires.

Read my new essay in The Rachel Carson Centre’s quarterly magazine, SPRINGS, Issue #7, May 27th 2025 Summary: Decades of scientific research have made clear that human presence on the planet is changing the world’s climates. Making them warmer on average, yes. But climate and weather are not the same thing, so as climates warm, […]

‘There is no climate niche’

Co-written with colleagues Jan Selby and Wolfgang Cramer, you can read the full essay in the July issue of One Earth … “The idea that there exists a ‘human climate niche’ has become increasingly influential. But this idea rests on flawed and anachronistic determinist premises. It is overly climate-centric in its characterization of the challenges […]