The Amazon from space (from PBS: NOVA)

One reason I wrote The Sky Woman (Flame Tree Press — September 6th) was to explore a scenario that I think is fairly likely: human population goes way down (mostly by choice — people choosing to have fewer children) and at the same time human beings do not manage to exert meaningful control or intentional influence on climate change.

The Sky Woman takes place in the 28th century, on an Earth where sharply reduced carbon emissions (due to massive depopulation and the collapse of global industry) have triggered a premature end to the Holocene interglacial. Ice sheets have advanced, taking out Northern Europe and other far-north and far-south latitudes.