Earth Transformed

by Ruddiman, William F.

• ISBN13: 9781464107764
• ISBN10: 1464107769
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-01-01
• Publisher: W H FREEMAN & CO

Summary

Explore possible answers to the question, "When did human activity start to signficantly impact the environment?" through the historical review found in Earth Transformed.

Table of Contents

Prologue Did Civilization Develop in a Naturally Warm World?

PART 1 A Mystery: Wrong-Way Greenhouse-Gas Trends
1. Natures Climatic Cycles
2. Wrong-Way Methane Trend
3. Wrong-Way Carbon Dioxide Trend

PART 2 Early Agriculture: Answer to the CO2 and CH4 Mysteries?
4. The Fertile Crescent and Europe
5. China and Southern Asia
6. The Americas
7. Africa, Australia, and Oceania

PART 3 Debating a New Hypothesis
8. Early Farming and Per Capita Land Use
9. How Should Interglacial Gas Trends Be Compared?
10. Natural Versus Anthropogenic CH4 Sources: Closer Scrutiny
11. Natural Versus Anthropogenic CO2 Sources: Closer Scrutiny

PART 4 How Science Moves Forward
12. Falsification
13. Paradigm Shifts
14. An Emerging Paradigm for the Anthropogenic Era?

PART 5 Early Human Effects on Climate
15. Is the Next Glaciation Overdue?
16. Other Climatic Effects of Early Land Clearance
17. The End of Northern Hemisphere Glaciations

PART 6 Small Steps Back Toward an Ice Age
18. The Little Ice Age
19. Were the Drops in CO2 and CH4 Natural?
20. Mass Human Mortality and CO2 Decreases
21. Effects of Humans on Short-Term Greenhouse-Gas Reductions

Epilogue
Glossary
Index