A Scientist Audits the Earth

by Pimm, Stuart L.

• ISBN13: 9780813535401
• ISBN10: 0813535409
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-25
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

Through a globe-circling tour of the planet, a conservation ecologist checks environmental statistics and reveals the importance of understanding where these numbers come from in order to evaluate current awareness of the planet's potential environmental peril. Originally published as The World According to Pimm. Reprint.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Prologue	1	(8)
Part One: Green Forest, Yellow Desert	9	(116)
Billions of Tons of Green Stuff	15	(10)
What Earth Does for Us---And What We Do to Earth	25	(10)
Not the Forest Primeval	35	(18)
When Vegetation Rioted and Big Trees Were King	53	(24)
Peace and Quiet and Good Earth	77	(22)
``Man Eats Planet! Two-Fifths Already Gone!''	99	(10)
Water, Water Everywhere?	109	(16)
Part Two: Blue Ocean, Green Sea	125	(56)
On the Hero's Platform	129	(16)
Lots of Good Fish in the Sea	145	(20)
The Wisdom to Use Nature's Resources	165	(16)
Part Three: The Variety of Life	181	(52)
An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles	185	(16)
. . .Abode His Destined Hour, and Went His Way	201	(16)
Nature's Eggs in Few Baskets	217	(16)
Epilogue	233	(16)
Notes	249	(24)
A Guide to Areas and Weights	273	(2)
Index	275