The Human Footprint : A Global Environmental History.

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The Nature of World History -- The Nature of Big History -- The Nature of World Environmental History -- Earth's History and Human Origins -- Mass Migrations and the Rise of Agriculture -- Population Growth and the Rise of Cities -- Cities and the Rise of Manufacturing and Industry -- World Trade and New World Ecology -- Fossil Fuels and Climate Change -- Notes -- Chapter 1: An Evolving Earth -- Introduction -- The Origins of Earth and Its Unique Atmosphere: From Hot to Cold Planet -- Icehouse Planet and Greenhouse Planet -- Plate Tectonics, Super-continents, and Climate Change -- The Warming -- The Cooling -- The Elevation of the Tibetan Plateau and Its Effect on the Global Climate -- The Birth, Death, and Rebirth of the Mediterranean Sea and Its Hemispheric Environmental Effects -- The Impact of the Isthmus of Panama on Global Climate Change -- The Mid-Pliocene, Glacial and Interglacial Cycles, and "Modern" Times -- Notes -- Chapter 2: Evolving Humanity -- Introduction -- Climatic Changes and Evolution -- Another Effect of the Closing of the Mediterranean Sea -- Human Ancestry -- The Birth of Human Intelligence -- Early Diets and Their Nutritional Value -- Translating Human Intelligence into Action -- Tectonic Upheavals, Landscape Changes, and Climate -- Population Migration and Expansion -- Homo Neanderthalensis vs. Homo Sapiens -- The Broad Spectrum: An Economic Revolution -- Notes -- Chapter 3: Foraging, Cultivating, and Food Production -- Introduction -- Early Farming and a Warming Climate -- Settlement and Domestication -- Early Agricultural Communities -- Early Agriculture in China -- Early Agriculture in Africa -- Early Agriculture in Mesoamerica -- Early Agriculture in Europe.

World Agriculture during the Age of Manufacture and Industry -- The First Green Revolution, 1840-1930 -- The Second Green Revolution, 1945- -- Agro-business, Food Prices, and Climate Change -- Notes -- Chapter 4: Populating the Earth: Diet, Domestication, and Disease -- Introduction -- A Modern Demographic Scenario -- The Role of Disease in Calculating Population Size -- The Impact of Migration and Settlement on Global Population Growth -- The Role of Nutrition in Early Population Growth -- The Role of Animal Domestication in the Spread of Infectious Disease -- Nutrition, Climate Change, and Population -- A Population Bomb or Not? -- Notes -- Chapter 5: The Making of an Urban World -- Introduction -- What Does "Urban" Mean? -- Early Urbanization and Its Environmental Effects -- Ancient Urbanization -- The Origin of Writing -- The Impact of Changing Rivers on Environmental Quality -- Urbanization in the Indus Valley -- China's Early Cities -- Ancient Mesoamerican Cities -- Early European Cities -- Notes -- Chapter 6: Mining, Making, and Manufacturing -- Introduction -- The Age of Copper and Bronze -- The Effects of Ancient Mining on Human Health and the Environment -- Mining in the Roman World -- The Age of Iron -- Iron-Making in China and India -- Iron-Making in Premodern Europe -- Manufacturing in West Africa, 1350-1800 CE -- Manufacturing in Colonial America -- Manufacturing in the Modern World -- Notes -- Chapter 7: Industrial Work -- Introduction -- The Economies of China and India -- European Hegemony and British Industrialization -- Economic Developments in China, Japan, and India -- Harnessing the Power of Water -- Disease, Death, and a Public Health Response -- The Power of Steam -- The Role of Invention and Innovation -- Comparing Industrialization in the United States and Britain -- Coal, Iron, and Steel.

Industrial Transformation and Global Auto Mobility -- Notes -- Chapter 8: Trade and Consumption -- Introduction -- Global Trading Networks -- Distancing Consumers from Producers -- Material Goods -- Luxury Foods Become Commodities -- Tobacco -- Sugar -- Coffee and Tea -- Environmental Effects of Increased Cultivation of Coffee -- Conspicuous Consumption -- Global Consumption -- The Automobile and Electronics in Emerging Markets -- The Great Recession, 2008-2013 -- Notes -- Chapter 9: Fossil Fuels and Wind, Water, Nuclear, and Solar Energy -- Introduction -- The Eotechnic World: Waterwheels and Windmills -- The Paleotechnic World: Energy from Coal -- The Neotechnic World: Energy from Oil -- The Developing World's Demands for Energy -- The Case for Natural Gas: A Neotechnic Energy Solution -- Hydraulic Fracturing of Rock, or "Fracking," to Release Natural Gas Deposits -- The Case for Nuclear Energy: Another Neotechnic Solution -- The Case for Renewable Wind and Solar Power: A Return to the Eotechnic -- Notes -- Chapter 10: A Warming Climate -- Introduction -- The Rise and Fall of the Mayan Civilization -- The Medieval Warm Period (1000-1300 CE) and Little Ice Age (1300-1850 CE) -- Current Global Climate Conditions -- The Role of Solar Energy -- The Role of the Atlantic Circulation Energy Exchange -- The Role of Fossil Fuel Emissions -- What Is to Be Done? -- Notes -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Index -- End User License Agreement.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.