Screen LibraryPlows, plagues, and petroleum : how humans took control of climate /
Did humankind's active involvement in climate change really begin with the industrial revolution, as is commonly believed? While our massive use of fossil fuels has certainly contributed to modern climate change, William Ruddiman shows that industrial growth is only part of the picture. Plows,...
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| Main Authors: | |
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| Published: |
Princeton University Press,
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| Publisher Address: | Princeton, NJ : |
| Publication Dates: |
2016. ©2005 |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Edition: | New Princeton Science Library edition. |
| Series: |
Princeton Science Library
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| Subjects: | |
| Summary: |
Did humankind's active involvement in climate change really begin with the industrial revolution, as is commonly believed? While our massive use of fossil fuels has certainly contributed to modern climate change, William Ruddiman shows that industrial growth is only part of the picture. Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum is the first book to trace the full historical sweep of human interaction with Earth's climate, arguing that humans have been changing the climate since the earlier discovery of agriculture some 8000 years ago. Ruddiman takes us through three broad stages of human history: when nature was in control; when humans discovered agriculture and affected climate through carbon dioxide and methane emissions; and, finally, the more recent period when human fossil-fuel use began to impact climate. In the afterword, he explores the main challenges posed to his hypothesis, and shows how recent investigations and findings ultimately strengthen the book's original claims. -- Back cover. |
| Carrier Form: | xiv, 226 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [215]-217) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9780691173214 0691173214 |
| Index Number: | QC981 |
| CLC: | P46 |
| Call Number: | P46/R914-1 |
| Contents: | WHAT HAS CONTROLLED EARTH'S CLIMATE?: Climate and human history -- NATURE IN CONTROL: Slow going for a few million years -- Linking earth's orbit to its climate -- Orbital changes control ice-age cycles -- Orbital changes control monsoon cycles -- Stirrings of change -- HUMANS BEGIN TO TAKE CONTROL: Early agriculture and civilization -- Taking control of methane -- Taking control of CO2 -- Have we delayed a glaciation? -- Challenges and responses -- DISEASE ENTERS THE PICTURE: But what about those CO2 "wiggles"? -- The horsemen of the apocalypse: which one? -- Pandemics, CO2, and climate -- HUMANS IN CONTROL: Greenhouse warming: tortoise and hare -- Future warming: large or small? -- From the past into the distant future -- EPILOGUE: Global-change science and politics -- Consuming Earth's gifts. |