I don't think I could have - and I wouldn't have wanted to - write a book about climate change that wasn't about justice and equality.

Computers and cellphones - which require semiconductors and microchips to work - have become so essential to life all over the world that it's easy to ignore the problems with building them.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence applications are proving to be especially useful in the ocean, where there is both so much data - big surfaces, deep depths - and not enough data - it is too expensive and not necessarily useful to collect samples of any kind from all over.

Computers and cellphones - which require semiconductors and microchips to work - have become so essential to life all over the world that it's easy to ignore the problems with building them.

Coal ash gets far less attention than toxic and greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, but it has created environmental and health problems - every major river in the Southeast has at least one coal ash pond - and continuing legal troubles and large cleanup costs for the authority and other utilities.

Textile manufacturers use complicated chemical and industrial processes to make clothing materials, from cotton to synthetic fibers. And while the environmental consequences aren't always clear, consumption is growing.

I think people who speak and write about climate change and environmental degradation need to convey how interesting and important this topic is, because I'm not sure people will feel empowered to help if they don't feel engaged and called to action.