Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum (eBook)

How Humans Took Control of Climate

William F. Ruddiman (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2010
240 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-3473-0 (ISBN)

Infos

The impact on climate from 200 years of industrial development is an everyday fact of life, but did humankind's active involvement in climate change really begin with the industrial revolution, as commonly believed? Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum has sparked lively scientific debate since it was first published--arguing that humans have actually been changing the climate for some 8,000 years--as a result of the earlier discovery of agriculture.The "e;Ruddiman Hypothesis"e; will spark intense debate. We learn that the impact of farming on greenhouse-gas levels, thousands of years before the industrial revolution, kept our planet notably warmer than if natural climate cycles had prevailed--quite possibly forestalling a new ice age.Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum is the first book to trace the full historical sweep of human interaction with Earth's climate. Ruddiman takes us through three broad stages of human history: when nature was in control; when humans began to take control, discovering agriculture and affecting climate through carbon dioxide and methane emissions; and, finally, the more recent human impact on climate change. Along the way he raises the fascinating possibility that plagues, by depleting human populations, also affected reforestation and thus climate--as suggested by dips in greenhouse gases when major pandemics have occurred. While our massive usage of fossil fuels has certainly contributed to modern climate change, Ruddiman shows that industrial growth is only part of the picture. The book concludes by looking to the future and critiquing the impact of special interest money on the global warming debate. In the afterword, Ruddiman explores the main challenges posed to his hypothesis, and shows how recent investigations and findings ultimately strengthen the book's original claims.

Autor

William F. Ruddiman is a paleoclimatologist and professor emeritus at the University of Virginia.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.3.2010
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Science Library
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Science Library
• Zusatzinfo: 19 halftones. 19 line illus. 5 tables. 7 maps.
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Mikrobiologie / Immunologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Geologie
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Agriculture • Agriculture (Chinese mythology) • Antarctic • Antarctic Ice Sheet • Arctic ocean • Atlantic Ocean • Atmospheric Methane • Australopithecine • Baffin Island • bubonic plague • Calculation • Carbon dioxide • cattle • Climate • climate change • climate model • climatology • coal • Crust (geology) • Deep sea • deforestation • Deglaciation • Disease • Drought • earth • Earth's orbit • Ecology • Environmentalist • Fertile Crescent • Fertilizer • Fossil fuel • fuel • Funding • General Circulation Model • Geochemistry • geologist • global warming • Greenhouse Gas • Greenland Ice Sheet • groundwater • heat wave • Holocene • Ice Age • ice cap • ice core • ice sheet • Impact event • Irrigation • Little Ice Age • livestock • Mammal • manure • Melting • meteorology • methane • Middle latitudes • monsoon • mortality rate • National Science Foundation • Natural gas • Neolithic revolution • North Africa • North America • Northern Europe • Northern Hemisphere • Pacific Ocean • Paleoclimatology • permafrost • Petroleum industry • Plague of Justinian • Plate Tectonics • plough • Polar regions of Earth • Politician • Radiocarbon Dating • Reforestation • Rice • Sahara • Scientist • sea ice • Sea Surface Temperature • seawater • Sediment • Snow • Soil • Southeast Asia • Stone tool • subtropics • Supply (economics) • surface layer • Technology • topsoil • Tropical rainforest • tropics • Types of volcanic eruptions • Vegetation • Weather • wetland • World Population • year
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-3473-2 / 1400834732
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-3473-0 / 9781400834730