The Anthropocene

B. L. Turner II

Description

The Anthropocene is an authoritative desk-top reference work for students of geography, the environment and sustainability. Through a series of 101 interconnected questions and answers spanning ten thematic sections, the book provides a comprehensive survey of humankind's impact on the global environment from the Late Stone Age to the present day.

Unrivalled in scope, the book distills the latest research findings and scholarship across a remarkable range of topics concerning the evolving human–environment relationship. These include the broad history of human-induced changes in the environmental conditions of the planet; the major human impacts on the Earth and their consequences; and the different causes and rationales applied to understanding these environmental changes. All questions are answered succinctly and rigorously and draw on a wealth of contemporary evidence and scientific theories. The book is colour illustrated throughout, answers are fully cross-referenced and further readings are suggested for those wishing to delve deeper. For anyone seeking to understand the human-induced changes to our planet and the challenges these pose for sustainability, this book is an invaluable resource. It provides a masterly presentation of the human footprint on the Earth system.

Introduction

Section I The Anthropocene and the Earth System: foundational concepts

Section II The emergence of the Anthropocene

Section III Human changes to the land surface/lithosphere

Section IV Human changes to the hydrosphere

Section V Human changes to the atmosphere

Section VI Human changes to life in the biosphere

Section VII The human causes of the Anthropocene

Section VIII Understanding our relationship with nature

Section IX Sustainability in the Anthropocene

Sujets

• Energie & environnement
• General
• Development
• Engineering
• Technology
• Environment
• Environmental science
• General officer
• Sustainability
• Geography
• Sciences et techniques
• Environmental
• Atlases
• Sustainable Development

Informations

• Publié par: Agenda Publishing
• Date de parution: 02 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781788215121
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 22 Mo

Extrait

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THE ANTHROPOCENE

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THE ANTHROPOCENE 101 Questîons and Answers for Understandîng the Human ïmpact on the Goba Envîronment

B . L . T U R N E R ï ï

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© B. L. Turner II 2023

his book is copyrigted under te Berne Convention. No reproduction witout permission. All rigts reserved.

First publised in 2023 by Agenda Publising

Agenda Publising Limited heCore Bat Lane Newcastle Helix Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5TF www.agendapub.com

ISBN 978-1-78821-511-4 (paper) ISBN 978-1-78821-512-1 (ePdf ) ISBN 978-1-78821-513-8 (ePub)

Britis Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for tis book is available from te Britis Library

Typeset by Newgen Publising UK Printed and bound in te UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

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CONTENTS

Preface Metrics and measures

Introduction

Section I he Antropocene and te Eart system: foundational concepts

1 Wat is te Antropocene?

2 Is te Antropocene a geological time unit?

3 Wat is te Eart system?

4 Wat are biogeocemical cycles?

5 Wat is albedo?

6 Wat are ecosystems, landscapes and biomes?

7 Wat are environmental (ecosystem) services?

8 Are global environmental cange and climate cange different?

9 Are te totality of uman impacts on te Eart system novel?

Section II he emergence of te Antropocene

10 Did Stone Age people cange te Eart system?

11 Did early agriculturalists cange te Eart system as proposed by te Ruddiman ypotesis?

12 Did te early colonial era cange te Eart system?

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Contents

13 Has te industrial era affected te Eart system?

14 Are we entering a new tecnological era beyond te industrial one?

15 Is te Antropocene concept applicable in te distant past?

Section III Human canges to te land surface/litospere

16 Has uman activity canged te land surface of te Eart?

17 Has uman activity canged forests?

18 Wy does tropical deforestation attract so muc attention?

19 Wat is te forest transition tesis and its relevance to global forests?

20 How muc land is cultivated and wat are its environmental consequences?

21 Has uman activity eroded and degraded soils globally?

22 Will agriculture require less land in te future as proposed by te Borlaug ypotesis?

23 Does land taken out of cultivation decrease te global area cultivated or lead to displacement and land-grabbing?

24 How muc grasslands and pastures ave been altered or degraded globally?

25 Wat are co-adapted landscapes?

26 Wat is desertification and ow muc as occurred?

27 Does uman landscape burning ave Eart system impacts?

28 Has uman activity reduced mangrove forests?

29 Has uman activity on tundra influenced climate warming?

30 Has uman activity created land subsidence worldwide?

31 Does urbanization impact te Eart system?

Section IV Human canges to te ydrospere

32 Has uman activity altered te ydrological (water) cycle?

33 Wat are water witdrawal, water consumption and water footprint, and teir implications for water availability?

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34 Has uman activity altered freswater surface stocks and wit wat environmental consequences?

35 Has uman activity degraded groundwater and aquifer stocks globally?

36 Has uman activity depleted wetlands globally?

37 Has uman activity reduced frozen water –te cryospere –globally?

38 Has uman activity increased ocean eat?

39 Has uman activity raised sea levels?

40 Has uman activity disrupted te termoaline circulation/meridional overturning circulation, and wat are te consequences?

41 Has uman activity acidified and deoxygenated te oceans?

42 Has uman activity polluted te oceans globally in new ways?

Section V Human canges to te atmospere

Contents

43 Has uman activity altered te functioning of te tropospere and stratospere?

44 Has uman activity increased greenouse gases in te atmospere?

45 Has uman activity increased aerosols in te atmospere?

46 Is te Eart system warming –is climate cange real –and ow do we know?

47 Wat is te Eart’s average temperature and ow is it determined?

48 Wat is te evidence for uman-induced global climate warming?

49 Do El Niño and La Niña (ENSO) events cause warming of te Eart system?

50 Will uman activity increase te occurrence of drougts globally?

51 Has uman activity increased tropical storms?

52 Is te extreme cold of te polar vortex uman-induced and does it negate te trends in global warming?

53 Has uman activity damaged te ozone layer?

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Contents

54 Do cities amplify local temperatures and precipitation and contribute to global warming?

Section VI Human canges to life in te biospere

55 Is uman activity creating a new mass extinction?

56 Has te uman movement of domesticated and oter biota canged te Eart system?

57 Do pollutants from uman activities degrade land biota worldwide?

58 Has uman activity reduced marine fis stocks?

59 Has uman activity affected coral reefs?

60 Has uman activity affected microorganisms and teir links to te Eart system?

61 Does te built environment of cities alter biota dynamics?

Section VII he uman causes of te Antropocene

62 Does IPAT explain environmental cange?

63 Does an increasing population alter environments?

64 Does increasing affluence alter environments?

65 Does tecnology create environmental cange?

66 Do institutions create environmental cange?

67 Are some economies and political economies more environmentally degrading tan oters?

68 Do cultural values and norms sape environmental beaviour?

Section VIII Understanding our relationsip wit nature

69 Wat is –and ougt to be –our relationsip wit nature?

70 How as science treated uman–environment relationsips conceptually and analytically?

71 Wat is te social–environment system in uman–environmental science?

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