Which way to the exit?

Butterflies and hippos.

A toucan’s beak four times larger than its head.

Winter, the taste of vanilla and olive oil.

My daily morning coffee.

Birches. At least at our latitude.

And also pines, spruces, and larches.
All this and much, much more will be lost with the world that is now disappearing. Burning in forest fires, melting with the glaciers, suffocating under a layer of carbon dioxide that is impossible to keep track of. So why don’t we feel terror? Why can’t our emotions keep up with the sensations of an overheated body? What’s the German word for the incongruity between feelings and reality? And which way out of this catastrophe?

This is a story about being lost in a future that has arrived. And about the personal dimensions of the planetary crisis. But this isn’t just another book about global warming. It is a record of a personal journey that leads from a sense of helplessness in the face of loss to new beginnings. Mourning for the natural world is intertwined with mourning for departed loved ones, and the prospect of becoming a mother is intertwined with anxiety about the world in which future generations will live.

From this intimate narrative emerges a universal picture of our shared fears, uncertainties, and hopes.