Harvesting the biosphere : what we have taken from nature / Vaclav Smil.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smil, Vaclav.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biomass.

Biosphere.

Natural resources--Accounting.

Natural resources.

Environmental auditing.

Earth (Planet)--Surface.

Earth (Planet).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (317 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"The biosphere -- the Earth's thin layer of life -- dates from nearly four billion years ago, when the first simple organisms appeared. Many species have exerted enormous influence on the biosphere's character and productivity, but none has transformed the Earth in so many ways and on such a scale as Homo sapiens. In Harvesting the Biosphere, Vaclav Smil offers an interdisciplinary and quantitative account of human claims on the biosphere's stores of living matter, from prehistory to the present day. Smil examines all harvests -- from prehistoric man's hunting of megafauna to modern crop production -- and all uses of harvested biomass, including energy, food, and raw materials. Without harvesting of the biomass, Smil points out, there would be no story of human evolution and advancing civilization; but at the same time, the increasing extent and intensity of present-day biomass harvests are changing the very foundations of civilization's well-being. In his detailed and comprehensive account, Smil presents the best possible quantifications of past and current global losses in order to assess the evolution and extent of biomass harvests. Drawing on the latest work in disciplines ranging from anthropology to environmental science, Smil offers a valuable long-term, planet-wide perspective on human-caused environmental change."--Jacket.

Contents:

Contents; Preface; I The Earth's Biomass: Stores, Productivity, Harvests; 1 Biomass: Definitions and Compositions; 2 Biomass Stores: Means and Extremes; 3 Biomass Productivities; 4 Phytomass Harvests; 5 Zoomass Harvests; 6 Land Cover and Productivity Changes; II History of the Harvests: From Foraging to Globalization; 7 The Evolution of Foraging; 8 Crops and Animals; 9 Biomass Fuels and Raw Materials; III Adding Up the Claims: Harvests, Losses, and Trends; 10 Changing Land Cover and Land Use; 11 Harvesting the Biosphere; 12 Long-Term Trends and Possible Worlds; Scientific Units and Prefixes

ReferencesSubject Index; Species Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-262-31227-1

1-283-93888-X

0-262-31226-3

OCLC:

823578213