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: 9781788215138
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Anthropocene
The Anthropocene
101 Questions and Answers for Understanding the Human Impact on the Global Environment
B. L. Turner II
© B. L. Turner II 2023
This book is copyrighted under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2023 by Agenda Publishing
Agenda Publishing Limited
The Core
Bath 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)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Newgen Publishing UK
Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Contents
Preface
Metrics and measures
Introduction
Section I The Anthropocene and the Earth system: foundational concepts
1 What is the Anthropocene?
2 Is the Anthropocene a geological time unit?
3 What is the Earth system?
4 What are biogeochemical cycles?
5 What is albedo?
6 What are ecosystems, landscapes and biomes?
7 What are environmental (ecosystem) services?
8 Are global environmental change and climate change different?
9 Are the totality of human impacts on the Earth system novel?
Section II The emergence of the Anthropocene
10 Did Stone Age people change the Earth system?
11 Did early agriculturalists change the Earth system as proposed by the Ruddiman hypothesis?
12 Did the early colonial era change the Earth system?
13 Has the industrial era affected the Earth system?
14 Are we entering a new technological era beyond the industrial one?
15 Is the Anthropocene concept applicable in the distant past?
Section III Human changes to the land surface/lithosphere
16 Has human activity changed the land surface of the Earth?
17 Has human activity changed forests?
18 Why does tropical deforestation attract so much attention?
19 What is the forest transition thesis and its relevance to global forests?
20 How much land is cultivated and what are its environmental consequences?
21 Has human activity eroded and degraded soils globally?
22 Will agriculture require less land in the future as proposed by the Borlaug hypothesis?
23 Does land taken out of cultivation decrease the global area cultivated or lead to displacement and land-grabbing?
24 How much grasslands and pastures have been altered or degraded globally?
25 What are co-adapted landscapes?
26 What is desertification and how much has occurred?
27 Does human landscape burning have Earth system impacts?
28 Has human activity reduced mangrove forests?
29 Has human activity on tundra influenced climate warming?
30 Has human activity created land subsidence worldwide?
31 Does urbanization impact the Earth system?
Section IV Human changes to the hydrosphere
32 Has human activity altered the hydrological (water) cycle?
33 What are water withdrawal, water consumption and water footprint, and their implications for water availability?
34 Has human activity altered freshwater surface stocks and with what environmental consequences?
35 Has human activity degraded groundwater and aquifer stocks globally?
36 Has human activity depleted wetlands globally?
37 Has human activity reduced frozen water – the cryosphere – globally?
38 Has human activity increased ocean heat?
39 Has human activity raised sea levels?
40 Has human activity disrupted the thermohaline circulation/meridional overturning circulation, and what are the consequences?
41 Has human activity acidified and deoxygenated the oceans?
42 Has human activity polluted the oceans globally in new ways?
Section V Human changes to the atmosphere
43 Has human activity altered the functioning of the troposphere and stratosphere?
44 Has human activity increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?
45 Has human activity increased aerosols in the atmosphere?
46 Is the Earth system warming – is climate change real – and how do we know?
47 What is the Earth’s average temperature and how is it determined?
48 What is the evidence for human-induced global climate warming?
49 Do El Niño and La Niña (ENSO) events cause warming of the Earth system?
50 Will human activity increase the occurrence of droughts globally?
51 Has human activity increased tropical storms?
52 Is the extreme cold of the polar vortex human-induced and does it negate the trends in global warming?
53 Has human activity damaged the ozone layer?
54 Do cities amplify local temperatures and precipitation and contribute to global warming?
Section VI Human changes to life in the biosphere
55 Is human activity creating a new mass extinction?
56 Has the human movement of domesticated and other biota changed the Earth system?
57 Do pollutants from human activities degrade land biota worldwide?
58 Has human activity reduced marine fish stocks?
59 Has human activity affected coral reefs?
60 Has human activity affected microorganisms and their links to the Earth system?
61 Does the built environment of cities alter biota dynamics?
Section VII The human causes of the Anthropocene
62 Does IPAT explain environmental change?
63 Does an increasing population alter environments?
64 Does increasing affluence alter environments?
65 Does technology create environmental change?
66 Do institutions create environmental change?
67 Are some economies and political economies more environmentally degrading than others?
68 Do cultural values and norms shape environmental behaviour?
Section VIII Understanding our relationship with nature
69 What is – and ought to be – our relationship with nature?
70 How has science treated human–environment relationships conceptually and analytically?
71 What is the social–environment system in human–environmental science?
72 Do views about human–environment relationships cross-cut cultures and social groups?
73 How do the Cassandra and Cornucopian perspectives shape views on human–environment relationships?
74 How does the Malthusian thesis and its implications apply to human–environment relationships?
75 Does carrying capacity apply to conditions in the Anthropocene?
76 How does the Boserupian thesis and its implications apply to human–environment relationships?
77 Can the Malthusian and Boserupian theses be reconciled and what are the implications for understanding human–environment relationships?
78 What was “The Bet” and what are its implications for understanding human–environment relationships?
79 Why is human-induced climate change so seriously challenged despite the science supporting it?
80 In what ways do humanists influence our understanding of human–environment relationships?
Section IX Sustainability in the Anthropocene
81 Do distinctions exist among approaches to sustainability?
82 In what ways does sustainability differ from previous environmental concerns?
83 What does “place-based” research mean for sustainability science?
84 How does sustainable development differ from sustainability?
85 What is the distinction between weak and strong sustainability and its implications for sustainability goals?
86 What are complex adaptive systems and their implications for sustainability?
87 Why are uncertainty, surprise and the precautionary principle applied throughout sustainability problems?
88 Is the Earth system approaching its planetary boundaries to function?
89 Are tipping elements in the Earth system reaching their tipping points?
90 What is the Gaia hypothesis and what are its implications for Earth system sustainability?
91 What is the environmentalist’s paradox and what does it mean for sustainability?
92 In what ways are the concepts of vulnerability and resilience applicable to sustainability interests?
93 Do the vulnerability and resilience of past human–environment relationships provide insights about current sustainability?
94 Can the economic value of global environmental services – the biosphere and Earth system – be calculated?
95 What is inclusive wealth and its applicability to sustainability?
96 What other measures of sustainability are used?
97 What are the distinctions implications of mitigation and adaptation for climate change?
98 What can we learn from the CFC-ozone and CO 2 -climate change experiences about the pros and cons of international environmental agreements to reduce degradation of the Earth system?
99 What are the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and what are their implications for sustainability?
100 How might the knowledge of sustainability science lead to improved actions toward sustainable development?
101 Is a sustainable Anthropocene possible?
Glossary
Appendix: International programmes, conventions and platforms dealing with the environment and sustainability
Permissions and acknowledgements for figures and tables
Index
Preface
The initial inspiration for this book evolved from casual conversations with individuals who ultimately became an explicit cohort of sorts: those who engage in small cruise ship adventures, a cohort I did not encounter until later in my life when my wife insisted that we engage in such adventures. She especially enjoys the ad hoc seating arrangements at dinner involving four to six other people, usually couples, and the conversations that ensue. At the beginning of a voyage, when the cast of cruisers is unfamiliar, each seating begins with introductions of the place called home and a rendition of past cruise experiences, before questions pop up about one’s profession, usually past professions given the number of retirees present. Once I am identified as a researcher of the geographical, environmental and sustainability sciences, queries from the more inquisitive or provocative at the table invariably arise about climate change and, in rare cases, environmental change more broadly. These questions