Island on Fire: The extraordinary story of Laki, the volcano that turned Europe dark

The eruption of Laki is one of history's great untold natural disasters. The eruption, spewing out a poisionous fog, lasted for eight months, but its effects lingered across Europe for years, causing the death of people as far away as the Nile, and creating famine that may have triggered the French revolution. Island on Fire is the story not only of a volcano but also of the people whose lives it changed, such as the pastor Jon Steingrimsson, who witnessed and recorded the events in Iceland. It is the story, too, of modern volcanology, and looks at how events might work out should Laki erupt again in our time. From A Text Message To A War, From A Valentine's Rose To A Flight Or Even Having A Child, How Bad Are Bananas? Gives Us The Carbon Answers We Need And Provides Plenty Of Revelations. By Talking Through A Hundred Or So Items, Mike Berners-lee Sets Out To Give Us A Carbon Instinct For The Footprint Of Literally Anything We Do, Buy And Think About. He Helps Us Pick Our Battles By Laying Out The Orders Of Magnitude. The Book Ranges From The Everyday (foods, Books, Plastic Bags, Bikes, Flights, Baths...) And The Global (deforestation, Data Centres, Rice Production, The World Cup, Volcanoes, ...) Be Warned, Some Of The Things You Thought You Knew About Green Living May Be About To Be Turned On Their Head. Never Preachy But Packed Full Of Information And Always Entertaining. We always hear the same old green advice ... fly less, turn the thermostat down, drive a hybrid car. But what about all the other things we buy and do? Part green-lifestyle guide, part popular science book, How Bad Are Bananas? is the first book to provide the facts we need to make carbon-savvy purchases and lifestyle decisions. It also helps put things into perspective with entries for the big things (bushfires, volcanic eruptions and the Iraq war) as well as the little things (newspapers, sending a letter, a pint of beer). This book is packed full of surprises - a plastic bag has the smallest Part green-lifestyle guide, part popular science, How Bad Are Bananas? is the first book to provide the information we need to make carbon-savvy purchases and informed lifestyle choices and to build carbon considerations into our everyday thinking. The book puts our decisions into perspective with entries for the big things (the World Cup, volcanic eruptions, the Iraq war) as well as the small (email, ironing, a glass of beer). And it covers the range from birth (the carbon footprint of having a child) to death (the carbon impact of cremation)