they/them, writer of optimistic sci-fi and fantasy. Latest books: The Final Chronicle of Yeneh: https://books2read.com/yeneh Tea & Treachery at the Infinite Pantry: https://books2read.com/tea-treachery Newsletter: https://www.jomiles.com/newsletter/
![Text: Beyond academia, the connection between climate change and smells is not going unnoticed. O Boticário, a Brazilian perfume brand, released a line of perfumes that capture the scents of endangered ecosystems. Called Extinto, the collection includes re-engineered olfactory renderings of the now-polluted Guanabara Bay of Rio de Janeiro, plastic-laden mangrove forests in India and critically threatened Malagasy vanilla. Not for commercial sale, the perfumes were designed as a warning, representing the scents of natural places before they were polluted by human activity.
When scents are lost or inaccessible, Bembibre’s team at UCL works with perfumers and chemists to reconstruct them—recently, they reproduced the smell of potpourri from the 1750s. There is historical value to the preservation of smells. “We are immersed in this smelly environment, and we are losing them,” she says. “The way we interact with [smells] says a lot about our way of life and who we are and how we live.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:phklcta2ouoy6zqyq3lpp57s/bafkreiem24nauibwzgu5glrozew6kwmypveto3vhzdwjilcmhik5tui3du)
they/them, writer of optimistic sci-fi and fantasy. Latest books: The Final Chronicle of Yeneh: https://books2read.com/yeneh Tea & Treachery at the Infinite Pantry: https://books2read.com/tea-treachery Newsletter: https://www.jomiles.com/newsletter/