Read The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis Online
Authors: Ruth DeFries
view of biotechnology,
187
Bosch, Carl,
109
Boserup, Ester,
13–14
Bowen, Samuel,
139
Brain
evolution of human,
42–43
intelligent,
40
Brandt, Hennig,
66
Brazil
deforestation,
ix–xi
diet transformation in,
192
overweight people,
194
soybean production,
x
Breastfeeding,
57
Britain, guano trade,
90–91
Bubonic plague,
80
Buffalo bones, phosphorus from,
114
Calories burned to produce food,
122
Canals,
71
Capron, Horace,
138
Capuchin monkeys,
44
Carbon, cycling of,
23–24
,
26–27
,
125
Carbon dioxide
global warming and,
27
nitrous oxide compared to,
121
in photosynthesis,
74
temperature effect on atmospheric,
27
weathering and,
26
Carnivore,
74
Carter, Jimmy,
182
Catton, William, Jr.,
13
Chemical poisonings,
167–168
Children, number of,
6
China
agriculture in ancient,
75–78
diet transformation,
191–192
pest control in,
151
soybean domestication in,
139
Chrysanthemum,
151
,
152
,
154
,
158
,
167
,
169
Cities, growth of population in,
5
Civilization
farming link to,
8
food as engine of,
7–10
overshoot and,
13–14
Clear Lake, California,
160–161
Climate
agriculture’s impact on,
196–197
change from greenhouse gases,
125
fluctuations in,
43
shift from foraging to farming and,
55–56
Coal
energy from,
81–82
industrial revolution and,
81–82
opening of energy bottleneck by,
123
steam engine tractors,
123
Coffee, as New World commodity,
96
Collar harnesses,
78
Colorado potato beetle,
158–159
Columbus, Christopher,
10
,
93–94
Comets,
30
Communication
by animals,
50
cumulative learning,
44–46
genetic inheritance,
39
language,
50–51
transition to cooked meals and,
49
Continents,
24–25
Continuously Habitable Zone,
20
Cooking,
49
Corals, phosphorus from,
116
Corn,
133–136
as biofuel,
198
farming in Amazon region,
60
fungal disease of,
148
high-fructose corn syrup,
193
Cortés, Hernando,
94
Cows, greenhouse gases released in production of,
196
Crick, Francis,
186
Crookes, Sir William,
105–106
,
107
,
108
,
136
,
141
Crop rotation
in China,
75–76
in Egypt,
78
in Europe,
80
Crops, genetically engineered,
168
,
186
Crosby, Alfred,
94
Cross-fertilization,
130–131
Crows, tool use by,
48
Culsius, Carolus,
98
Culture
cumulative learning and,
45–46
genes and,
46
role in human evolution,
37–38
Cumulative learning,
44–46
,
49
,
50
Dairy farming,
46
Dalrymple, Oliver,
123
Darwin, Charles
hybrid vigor principle,
129
inbreeding,
128–129
natural selection and,
37–38
,
127–128
On the Origin of Species,
128
Dawkins, Richard,
10
DDT.
See
Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane
de la Vega, Garcilaso,
89
Dead zone,
121
Death rates,
6
Deforestation,
ix–xi
,
60
,
69–70
,
197
Demographic transition,
6
The Descent of Man
(Darwin),
38
Detasseling,
148–149
Detergents, phosphate,
119
Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT),
151
ban on,
163–164
biomagnification of,
160–161
,
164
consequences of use,
157
,
159–165
,
199
early synthesis of,
153
exemptions for use of,
165
for gypsy moth control,
156
human health effects of,
164–165
long-range transport of,
164
persistence in the environment,
160
resistance to,
157–159
in World War II,
154
Dickens, Charles,
86
Diet
changed by Haber-Bosch process,
112
eating locally and sustainably-produced foods,
202
fat in,
191–193
movement toward more plant-based,
202
overweight and obesity increase and,
193–195
protein-deficient,
61
shift to more meat, less starch,
142–144
,
191–192
transformation by New World crops,
96
transformation from farmer to urbanite and,
192–195
in transition from foraging to farming,
191
Digestive tracts, short,
43
Dinosaurs, extinction of,
32
“Dirty dozen” chemicals,
164
Disease
in ancient China,
77
spread from Old World to New
World,
95
spread with crowding of people,
55
water contaminated with human waste and,
86
,
87
Diversity of life,
29–32
Dobzhansky, Theodosius,
38
Domesticated animals,
52–53
human labor supplemented by,
73
,
74–75
,
78–79
of New World,
93
transport to New World,
94–95
,
97
Domesticated plants,
52–55
,
184–185
Dominant gene,
131–132
Doomsday vault,
185
Dorset, Bill,
139
Drake Well,
124
Drinks, sugary,
193
Drought, in England (1790s),
82
Dutch Elm disease,
156
Earth
average temperature,
20
basic machinery of,
18–19
life development on,
30–32
life supported on,
18–19
magnetic field,
21
number of species on,
30
recycling machinery of,
23–28
tilt of,
22–23
Earthquakes,
25
East India Company,
139
Ecuador,
90
Egypt
crop rotation in,
78
Nile River and,
71–72
pest control by ancient Egyptians,
151
Einkorn,
52
Elephants, learning by,
40
Emerson, Ralph Waldo,
109–110