Ferris Jabr at Town Hall

Purchase tickets here.

In Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life, Jabr examines the connections between life and geology through the many ways that living creatures, including our own species, have transformed the atmosphere, oceans, and continents throughout the planet’s history. Becoming Earth explores ecosystems, discussing plants, weather, animal engineering, the microscopic and the microbial. Additionally, Jabr scrutinizes the human impact on Earth, noting the ways that people have altered existence through fossil fuel consumption, agriculture, and pollution.

Drawing on recent scientific insights, the book reexamines the ancient idea that Earth itself is alive and investigates how this holistic perspective can help us restore longstanding ecological rhythms and possibly mitigate some of the worst outcomes of the climate crisis. From an experimental nature reserve in remote Siberia, to the heart of the Amazon rainforest, to a gold mine-turned-research lab a mile below the Earth’s surface, Jabr invites readers to journey around the world to better understand our planet and our role in it.

Ferris Jabr is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. He has also written for The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and Scientific American. He is the recipient of a Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grant and fellowships from UC Berkeley and MIT. His work has been anthologized in several editions of Best American Science and Nature Writing. Ferris Jabr lives in Portland, Oregon, with his husband, Ryan, their dog, Jack, and more plants than they can count.