Dust may seem inconsequential, so tiny and mundane as to slip below the threshold of thought. Yet within the next one hundred years, life on Earth will be profoundly changed by heat and drought and that means dust. In this ground-breaking book, Jay Owens shows how the modern world is made through both the creation and expulsion of dust. From particle air pollution and burning fossil fuels to land degradation, desertification & nuclear fallout, we find out the immense challenges confronting people and the planet. With clarity and insight, Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles helps us understand our legacy and discovers the biggest ideas can be found in the smallest particles.