Cataclysms : an environmental history of humanity

著者

書誌事項

Cataclysms : an environmental history of humanity

Laurent Testot ; translated by Katharine Throssell

The University of Chicago Press, 2020

  • : cloth

タイトル別名

Cataclysmes : une histoire environnementale de l'humanité

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注記

Includes bibliographical references and index

内容説明・目次

内容説明

Humanity is by many measures the biggest success story in the animal kingdom; but what are the costs of this triumph? Over its three million years of existence, the human species has continuously modified nature and drained its resources. In Cataclysms, Laurent Testot provides the full tally, offering a comprehensive environmental history of humanity's unmatched and perhaps irreversible influence on the world. Testot explores the interconnected histories of human evolution and planetary deterioration, arguing that our development from naked apes to Homo sapiens has entailed wide-scale environmental harm. Testot makes the case that humans have usually been catastrophic for the planet, "hyperpredators" responsible for mass extinctions, deforestation, global warming, ocean acidification, and unchecked pollution, as well as the slaughter of our own species. Organized chronologically around seven technological revolutions, Cataclysms unspools the intertwined saga of humanity and our environment, from our shy beginnings in Africa to today's domination of the planet, revealing how we have blown past any limits along the way--whether by exploding our own population numbers, domesticating countless other species, or harnessing energy from fossils. Testot's book, while sweeping, is light and approachable, telling the stories--sometimes rambunctious, sometimes appalling--of how a glorified monkey transformed its own environment beyond all recognition. In order to begin reversing our environmental disaster, we must have a better understanding of our own past and the incalculable environmental costs incurred at every stage of human innovation. Cataclysms offers that understanding and the hope that we can now begin to reform our relationship to the Earth.

目次

Introduction Part I: Monkey Conquers the World 1 We Are the Children of the Climate 2 The End of the Elephants 3 The Wheat Deal 4 Collapse Part II: Monkey Dominates Nature 5 When Gods Guide the Way 6 All Empires Will Fall 7 After Summer Comes Winter 8 Biological Hazards 9 Demographic Hazards Part III: Monkey Transforms the Earth 10 The Promises of Quicksilver 11 Cold, Cold Earth 12 Dying for the Forest 13 Unlimited Energy 14 The Cold Chill of Catastrophe 15 A Time of Excess 16 The Blind Flock 17 Tomorrow's World Conclusion Epilogue to the English Edition: Two and a Half Years after the French Edition . . . Appendix A: Glossary Appendix B: Chronology Notes Bibliography Index

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