Founder of the Rainforest Fund, Actress, Executive Producer, Environmental Advocate and      Wife of Musician Sting

In November 2009 I was invited to speak to the United Nations General Assembly on Climate Change. My credentials for such a task were primarily that since 1989, when I co-founded the Rainforest Fund with my husband Sting, I have been raising money to support indigenous rainforest peoples in the protection of their ancestral lands, and campaigning for a halt to the runaway rates of deforestation around the world.

In the lead-up to the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit (COP15) which took place in December, optimism still ran high. I tried to inspire the UN delegates to embrace a collective responsibility, and to join together in the shared goal of addressing this massive global challenge. Sadly, COP15 was not the turning point so many of us  had hoped. Despite 100,000 protestors taking to the streets of Copenhagen to call for a global agreement on climate change, as well as marches taking place across Europe, Australia and elsewhere, no binding agreement was reached by the participating countries. The Copenhagen Accord agreed by the United States, India, China, South Africa and Brazil, although a start, will certainly not be enough to address dangerous climate change in any significant way.

To the watching world, it seemed that there was neither the political will nor a sufficient sense of urgency required to make drastic changes necessary to save ourselves. We are the lobster in the pot of cold water, falling asleep as the water warms, oblivious to our impending doom.

The Watchman’s Rattle is a fascinating, in-depth analysis of what makes us, as human beings, so susceptible to extinction, even at the apparent height of our power. From the Mayan, Khmer and Roman empires, throughout our short history as a species, complex societies have grown in sophistication and ability and then suddenly collapsed, unable to solve the complex problems they faced.

Rebecca D. Costa is clearly someone who sees the bigger picture. With unusual intelligence and a knack for joining up the dots so that we can see the big picture too, Costa’s analysis of human nature, human society and the shortcomings of our evolutionary development show us exactly where we’re going wrong in our failure to recognize and react appropriately to the threat to our world. A salutary warning against inaction, lazy thinking and partisan politics, The Watchman’s Rattle should be compulsory reading for world leaders at this crisis point in our existence.