Pyromania : fire and geopolitics in a climate-disrupted world / Simon Dalby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dalby, Simon, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Climate change mitigation.

Fire ecology.

Fossil fuels--Environmental aspects.

Fossil fuels.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 140 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Newcastle upon Tyne : Agenda Publishing, 2024.

Summary:

We are the only species that uses fire. It has determined how we have made our home on this planet and it has propelled us to the role of the dominant species in the biosphere. But at the heart of contemporary climate change is the process of combustion. Simon Dalby explores what a life without burning things might look like, and how we might get there.<br><br>Fires make the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is heating the planet, melting the ice sheets, changing weather patterns and making wildfires worse. Our civilization is burning things, especially fossil fuels, at prodigious rates. So much so that we are now heading towards a future 'Hothouse Earth' with a climate that is very different from what humans have known so far.<br><br>By focusing on fire and our partial control over one key physical force in the earth system, that of combustion, Simon Dalby is able to ask important and interesting questions about us as humans, including different ways of thinking about how we live, and how we might do so differently in the future. Simply put, there is now far too much 'firepower' loose in the world and we need to think much harder about how to live together in ways that don't require burning stuff to do so.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: a world on fire

1 The problem of firepower

2 Fire history and the making of the modern world

3 Rethinking firepower and geopolitics

4 Shaping the future: a world after firepower

Conclusion: join the fire department!

Anthropocene timeline

References

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 19 Dec 2024).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781788216524

1788216520

9781788216531

1788216539

OCLC:

1399377770