As a parallel to our Guest Selected strand of events on the oceans by Tania Kovats, this series of events looks at the precarious pact between people and planet Earth. On the one hand there are imaginative, inspiring studies celebrating our natural world and the wondrous origins of life. On the other, there are eye-opening accounts of industrialised farming methods, an alarming inventory of the world’s depleting resources, and uncomfortable questions on energy usage, environmental politics and unfettered urbanisation. It’s time to act while the future of the planet is still in our hands.