Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum

How Humans Took Control of Climate

Bibliographic Data

ID8074150
AuthorsWilliam F Ruddiman (corresponding author)
Year2010
Pages240
Publication date2010-03-22
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenuePlows, Plagues, and Petroleum (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPrinceton University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/j.ctt7s0qg
OpenAlexW118741697
Open LibraryOL22634481M
ISBN9781400834730
LanguageEN
Citations received17

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

Biology · Climate change · Climatology · Environmental ethics · Geography · Global warming · Petroleum · Petroleum engineering · Physical geography · Political science · Politics · American History and Culture · Chemistry · Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature · Ecology · Engineering · Environmental Science · Geology · Global Energy and Sustainability Research · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Anthropogene Klimaa nderung · Atmospheric Greenhouse effect · Climatic changes · Earth Sciences · Earth Sciences - Meteorology & Climatology · Environmental · Global temperature changes · Greenhouse effect, Atmospheric · History of Science and Medicine, Philosophy of Science · Industriële revolutie · Klimaänderung · Klimaatveranderingen · Landbouw · Menselijke invloed · Philosophy & Social Aspects · Pollution control · Popular science · Science · Science/Mathematics · Technology & Engineering · Treibhauseffekt · Ziekten

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