Modern science has endowed humanity with unprecedented power and the ability to influence the world around us. It is obvious that the wise use of the hidden powers of chemical elements is the path to progress, and the unreasonable use is the path to destruction. This book is about how we humans are changing the planet. How, using a rich arsenal of chemical elements for good, and at times for harm, we uncontrollably strive for new limits: knowledge, wealth, power and influence. How we create new industries and cities, how we destroy and destroy what tens of generations have used before us. Will humanity today be able to direct its strength and energy for the benefit of itself and the planet, and refrain from rash actions, of which many have already been committed? John Brown, an English businessman, engineer and historian, who for 12 years headed one of the largest oil-producing corporations in the world - British Petroleum, seeks to find an answer to this question.