Plows Plagues and Petroleum H

Ruddiman, William F.

ISBN 10: 0691121648 / ISBN 13: 9780691121642

Verlag: Princeton University Press, 2005

Good condition ex-library book with usual library markings and stickers. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 00099977437

Inhaltsangabe:

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? William Ruddiman's provocative new book argues that humans have actually been changing the climate for some 8,000 years--as a result of the earlier discovery of agriculture.

The "Ruddiman Hypothesis" 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. The book concludes by looking to the future and critiquing the impact of special interest money on the global warming debate.

Eminently readable and far-reaching in argument, Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum shows us that even as civilization developed, we were already changing the climate in which we lived.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor: William F. Ruddiman is the author of "Earth's Climate: Past & Future", and has published many articles in "Scientific American", "Nature", and "Science" as well as various scientific journals. He recently retired as Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, following many years as a Doherty Senior Research Scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Plows Plagues and Petroleum H
Verlag: Princeton University Press
Erscheinungsdatum: 2005
Einband: Hardcover
Zustand: Good