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Very Short Introductions #464
毓賱賲 賳馗丕賲 丕賱兀乇囟: 賲賯丿賲丞 賯氐賷乇丞 噩丿丕
毓賳丿賲丕 賳馗賻乇 丕賱亘卮乇購 賲賳 丕賱賮囟丕亍 廿賱賶 賰賵賰亘 丕賱兀乇囟 賱兀賵賱 賲乇丞貙 亘丿兀賻鬲 鬲鬲賵睾賻賾賱 賮賷 賵賻毓賷賽賳丕 賮賰乇丞購 賵賻丨賿丿丞 賴匕丕 丕賱賳馗丕賲 丕賱匕賷 賷爻鬲囟賷賮 噩賳爻賻賳丕 丕賱亘卮乇賷. 賵爻購乇毓丕賳賻 賲丕 丨馗賽賷 賲賮賴賵賲購 丕賱鬲賮丕毓賱 丕賱賵孬賷賯 亘賷賳 賲賰賵賽賾賳丕鬲 丕賱賰賵賰亘貙 賲賳 睾賱丕賮 噩賵賷貙 賵賲丨賷胤丕鬲貙 賵鬲乇亘丞貙 賵氐禺賵乇貙 亘賵氐賮賴丕 毓賳丕氐乇賻 賮賷 賳馗丕賲賺 賵丕丨丿貙 亘丕賳鬲卮丕乇賺 賵丕爻毓 賮賷 丕賱兀賵爻丕胤 丕賱毓賽賱賲賷丞. 賵賷購毓乇賻賮 賴匕丕 丕賱賲噩丕賱 丕賱毓賱賲賷 丕賱噩丿賷丿 丕賱匕賷 賷購爻賴賽賲 賮賷賴 毓賱賲丕亍購 丕賱噩睾乇丕賮賷丕 賵丕賱噩賷賵賱賵噩賷丕 賵丕賱兀丨賷丕亍貙 賵毓賱賲丕亍購 丕賱賲丨賷胤丕鬲 賵賮賷夭賷丕亍 丕賱睾賽賱丕賮 丕賱噩賵賷貙 亘丕爻賲 芦毓賽賱賲 賳馗丕賲 丕賱兀乇囟禄. 賵賷鬲賳丕賵賱 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘購 賲賳 爻賱爻賱丞 芦賲賯丿賲丞 賯氐賷乇丞 噩丿賸賾丕禄 丕賱賰賷賮賷丞賻 丕賱鬲賷 賳卮兀 亘賴丕 丕賱毓丕賱賻賲 丕賱匕賷 鬲胤賵賻賾乇 賮賷賴 丕賱亘卮乇貙 賵賰賷賮 兀賳賳丕 賳購毓賷丿 鬲卮賰賷賱賻賴 丨丕賱賷賸賾丕 亘氐賮鬲賳丕 兀丨丿賻 丕賱兀賳賵丕毓 丕賱鬲賷 鬲毓賷卮 賮賷賴貙 賰賲丕 賷鬲賳丕賵賱 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 丕賱卮賰賱賻 丕賱賲丨鬲賲賻賱 賱賱賲爻鬲賯亘賱 丕賱賲爻鬲丿丕賲 賱賱亘卮乇 囟賽賲賳 賳馗丕賲 丕賱兀乇囟貙 賵賷賻胤乇丨 鈥� 亘丕賱丕爻鬲毓丕賳丞 亘賲亘丕丿卅賻 賲賳 毓賱賵賲 丕賱噩賷賵賱賵噩賷丕 賵丕賱兀丨賷丕亍 賵丕賱賰賷賲賷丕亍 賵丕賱賮賷夭賷丕亍 賵丕賱乇賷丕囟賷丕鬲 鈥� 爻丐丕賱賸丕 賲賴賲賸賾丕 丨賵賱 廿賳 賰丕賳 毓賽賱賲購 賳馗丕賲 丕賱兀乇囟 賷購賲賰賽賳 兀賳 賷爻丕毓丿 賮賷 廿乇卮丕丿賳丕 賳丨賵賻 賲爻丕乇賺 賲爻鬲丿丕賲 賷賻丨賮馗 亘賯丕亍賻賳丕貙 賯亘賱 兀賳 賳購睾賷賽賾乇 賳馗丕賲 丕賱兀乇囟 廿賱賶 丕賱丨丿 丕賱匕賷 賳購丿賲賽賾乇 賮賷賴 兀賳賮購爻賻賳丕 賵丨囟丕乇鬲賳丕.
152 pages, ebook
First published May 1, 2016
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March 19, 2024
Big Picture of our collective and only Home鈥�
Preamble:
--Real-world economist Steve Keen got tired of debunking mainstream economics鈥� failures with financial crises (Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis?), only to realize their trivialization of climate/ecological crises is even worse (The New Economics: A Manifesto)!
...While scientists are warning of existential consequences from a 2-degrees rise (an unintuitive global average that must be contextualized with Earth鈥檚 geological timescale of millions-of-years and uninhabitable extremes), mainstream economists are twiddling their thumbs predicting trivial-to-manageable (8.5-20%) GDP loses from terminal rises (6-10 degrees)! See .
--So, Keen has elsewhere teamed up with this book's author, climate/Earth Systems scientist Tim Lenton, to warn the science (and engineering) communities that mainstream economics is not a science, but a cult. Keen/Lenton translated Keen鈥檚 social science paper 鈥淭he appallingly bad neoclassical economics of climate change鈥� () into a science paper ().
--Coming from political economy, I naturally wanted to learn more about the science half (materialism) and see how Lenton applies science to society (dialectics of materialism + idealism)鈥�
Highlights:
1) Materialism: (5/5)
--As eco-socialists note with concepts like 鈥渕etabolic rift鈥�, Marx was fascinated with understanding the material world and the ongoing scientific debates, from Darwin to land fertility (vs. let-the-poor-die Malthus); Earth Systems science is a natural progression, to see the big picture structures (鈥渕etabolism鈥�, similar to Marx鈥檚 conception of "capital鈥� as a process, a flow) beyond surface phenomenon. Complex systems are greater than the sum of their parts due to various interactions between the parts, creating emergent properties (鈥渄ialectics鈥�?).
--鈥淭here is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths have a chance of gaining its luminous summits.鈥� -Marx on his Capital project
--For such a massive topic, Lenton鈥檚 concise writing/organization provides firm steps for the arduous climb (compared to, say, The Goldilocks Planet: The 4 Billion Year Story of Earth's Climate). My interest here is in application to social issues (why else would I care about chemical reactions of rocks?), which is often taught much later in the sciences. I stayed patient with the start (Earth鈥檚 geological history) and end (beyond Earth generalizations) to focus on: recycling/regulation/revolutions/Anthropocene/modeling projections/sustainability options.
--If the Earth was a lifeless rock, we wouldn鈥檛 be here thinking about any of this. So, the core topic is Earth鈥檚 complex life system, what sustains it and what threatens it:
i) Earth鈥檚 Revolutions until Complex Life:
--We trace Earth鈥檚 geological history (millions of years), considering the faint young sun brightening (billions of years), tectonic cycling of Earth鈥檚 crust (i.e. silicate rock weathering regulating CO2), water cycle, greenhouse gases (GHGs) etc.
--Eventually, CO2 + sunlight were harnessed with photosynthesis by cyanobacteria, followed by the Great Oxidation setting oxygen levels for aerobic life. It wasn鈥檛 until after several 鈥淪nowball Earth鈥� runaway glaciations events that we finally reach the 鈥淐ambrian Explosion鈥� of life starting with ocean life and eventually land plants.
ii) Sustainability vs. Anthropocene:
--Complex life system鈥檚 sustainability revolves around regulating the necessary conditions via renewable energy + biogeochemical materials recycling (thus, many 鈥渃ycles鈥�).
--Lenton鈥檚 mentor is James Lovelock, who popularized the 鈥淕aia Hypothesis鈥� where life itself is key in amplifying the conditions for life. Thus, the biosphere鈥檚 key interactions with the atmosphere/ocean + land surfaces in biogeochemical cycling.
--Regulation = negative (balancing) feedback loops to maintain temperature, CO2/O2/nutrient levels, etc. The carbon cycle includes long-run silicate rock weathering + short-run ocean/land biomass carbon sinks (disturbed by burning emissions + land-use changes + ocean acidification). Accumulated GHG emissions result in temperature increases, with positive (re-enforcing) feedback loops escalating this process, ex. melting ice losing albedo effect (reflecting sunlight) thus further heating. Key nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen cycles are disturbed by linear (wasted, not recycled) use of chemical fertilizer (causing ocean runoffs). Regardless of how we conceptualize the start of the 鈥淎nthropocene鈥�, the post-WWII 鈥淕reat Acceleration鈥� of fossil capital鈥檚 ecological footprint is clear: Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System.
--With such a massive topic in 鈥淎 Very Short Introduction鈥�, application to current crises is truncated; so, we're left piecing together scale (time + space) + risk (how do you even quantify end-of-civilization?) for prioritization. After reviewing systems modeling (Thinking in Systems: A Primer), Earth System science鈥檚 9 planetary boundaries are only listed; climate change and biogeochemical flows are already covered, but biosphere integrity (biodiversity loss) and land-use changes are not. The latter are dire crises and emphasized in A People鈥檚 Green New Deal (centering Global South decolonization).
...Lenton does cover his research area of tipping points (nonlinear abrupt and often irreversible change), listing ice-sheet/sea-ice losses, permafrost thawing, boreal/rainforest diebacks, monsoon/ENSO shifts, collapse of Atlantic overturning circulation, and Sahara greening (curious).
--Our sustainability response options are even more rushed, with mere mentions of strengthening negative feedbacks (e.g. carbon sinks), positive feedbacks (e.g. greening), geo-engineering, etc. Maybe a hint of that stoic, ivory-tower scientism (if we die, we die鈥� I'm here for the science).
2) Idealism, Dialectics: (2/5)
--My great concern with scientists is how they apply their technocratic training to society; scientists are a high-risk population for undiagnosed liberalism (case in point: How the World Really Works: A Scientist鈥檚 Guide to Our Past, Present and Future). I鈥檓 delighted to see Lenton teaming up with Keen, who at least sees through mainstream fantasy economics and is familiar with the many other schools of economic thought (despite still being a capitalist reformer, thus stuck lauding real-world capitalism鈥檚 Schumpeterian entrepreneurial spirit; for a similar example: Economics: The User's Guide).
--Let鈥檚 review the symptoms of liberalism:
i) 鈥淥verpopulation鈥� myth:
--Imperialism is the shadow cast by liberalism on the Global South/indigenous. 鈥淟imits to Growth鈥� technocrats abstract away money-power (i.e. over investment/production/distribution/consumption), flattened away into per capita population; thus, the imperialist obsession with population growth/鈥渙verpopulation鈥�. Lovelock鈥檚 name is just one of many liberal technocrats that pop up in a devastating critique: Too Many People?: Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis
...I was relieved to see Lenton at least acknowledge that energy/material use have decoupled from population growth (coupling would still not pass correlation vs. causation), although he still hovers around this trope.
ii) 鈥淭ragedy of the Commons鈥� myth:
--An obvious litmus test since 鈥淐ommons鈥� represents cooperation, which is too close to the S-word. Indeed, Lenton regurgitates this myth citing 鈥渆volutionary theory鈥� that supposedly concludes 鈥渃ooperation is notoriously unstable鈥� given the free-rider problem, where the solution is putting a price on pollution. Ah, yes, liberalism鈥檚 social default of market pricing.
--This should be unacceptable even for (progressive) liberals since Elinor Ostrom somehow crashed the fake (Swedish central bank) 鈥淣obel鈥� Prize in Fantasy Economics party with the myth-busting Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (also see ). Instead, Lenton lists Jared Diamond in his further readings (palm meets face: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed).
iii) 鈥淓conomic growth = social progress鈥� myth:
--鈥淟imits to Growth鈥� engineers at least know the math here is impossible (exponential growth on a finite planet). Lenton鈥檚 take is mixed, mentioning decoupling of material use from information exchange (ugh) while also recognizing recycling of materials is trivial given its own energy costs (not to mention simply not keeping up with exponential growth). Critical analysis: Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World
iv) 鈥淕reen Revolution鈥� technocracy:
--Another example of the shadow of imperialism. I鈥檝e yet to find a comprehensive unpacking of this topic, but the brilliant Utsa Patnaik/Prabhat Patnaik are essential:
-intro: The Agrarian Question in the Neoliberal Era: Primitive Accumulation and the Peasantry
-dive: Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present
...as well as the aforementioned A People鈥檚 Green New Deal.
Preamble:
--Real-world economist Steve Keen got tired of debunking mainstream economics鈥� failures with financial crises (Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis?), only to realize their trivialization of climate/ecological crises is even worse (The New Economics: A Manifesto)!
...While scientists are warning of existential consequences from a 2-degrees rise (an unintuitive global average that must be contextualized with Earth鈥檚 geological timescale of millions-of-years and uninhabitable extremes), mainstream economists are twiddling their thumbs predicting trivial-to-manageable (8.5-20%) GDP loses from terminal rises (6-10 degrees)! See .
--So, Keen has elsewhere teamed up with this book's author, climate/Earth Systems scientist Tim Lenton, to warn the science (and engineering) communities that mainstream economics is not a science, but a cult. Keen/Lenton translated Keen鈥檚 social science paper 鈥淭he appallingly bad neoclassical economics of climate change鈥� () into a science paper ().
--Coming from political economy, I naturally wanted to learn more about the science half (materialism) and see how Lenton applies science to society (dialectics of materialism + idealism)鈥�
Highlights:
1) Materialism: (5/5)
--As eco-socialists note with concepts like 鈥渕etabolic rift鈥�, Marx was fascinated with understanding the material world and the ongoing scientific debates, from Darwin to land fertility (vs. let-the-poor-die Malthus); Earth Systems science is a natural progression, to see the big picture structures (鈥渕etabolism鈥�, similar to Marx鈥檚 conception of "capital鈥� as a process, a flow) beyond surface phenomenon. Complex systems are greater than the sum of their parts due to various interactions between the parts, creating emergent properties (鈥渄ialectics鈥�?).
--鈥淭here is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths have a chance of gaining its luminous summits.鈥� -Marx on his Capital project
--For such a massive topic, Lenton鈥檚 concise writing/organization provides firm steps for the arduous climb (compared to, say, The Goldilocks Planet: The 4 Billion Year Story of Earth's Climate). My interest here is in application to social issues (why else would I care about chemical reactions of rocks?), which is often taught much later in the sciences. I stayed patient with the start (Earth鈥檚 geological history) and end (beyond Earth generalizations) to focus on: recycling/regulation/revolutions/Anthropocene/modeling projections/sustainability options.
--If the Earth was a lifeless rock, we wouldn鈥檛 be here thinking about any of this. So, the core topic is Earth鈥檚 complex life system, what sustains it and what threatens it:
i) Earth鈥檚 Revolutions until Complex Life:
--We trace Earth鈥檚 geological history (millions of years), considering the faint young sun brightening (billions of years), tectonic cycling of Earth鈥檚 crust (i.e. silicate rock weathering regulating CO2), water cycle, greenhouse gases (GHGs) etc.
--Eventually, CO2 + sunlight were harnessed with photosynthesis by cyanobacteria, followed by the Great Oxidation setting oxygen levels for aerobic life. It wasn鈥檛 until after several 鈥淪nowball Earth鈥� runaway glaciations events that we finally reach the 鈥淐ambrian Explosion鈥� of life starting with ocean life and eventually land plants.
ii) Sustainability vs. Anthropocene:
--Complex life system鈥檚 sustainability revolves around regulating the necessary conditions via renewable energy + biogeochemical materials recycling (thus, many 鈥渃ycles鈥�).
--Lenton鈥檚 mentor is James Lovelock, who popularized the 鈥淕aia Hypothesis鈥� where life itself is key in amplifying the conditions for life. Thus, the biosphere鈥檚 key interactions with the atmosphere/ocean + land surfaces in biogeochemical cycling.
--Regulation = negative (balancing) feedback loops to maintain temperature, CO2/O2/nutrient levels, etc. The carbon cycle includes long-run silicate rock weathering + short-run ocean/land biomass carbon sinks (disturbed by burning emissions + land-use changes + ocean acidification). Accumulated GHG emissions result in temperature increases, with positive (re-enforcing) feedback loops escalating this process, ex. melting ice losing albedo effect (reflecting sunlight) thus further heating. Key nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen cycles are disturbed by linear (wasted, not recycled) use of chemical fertilizer (causing ocean runoffs). Regardless of how we conceptualize the start of the 鈥淎nthropocene鈥�, the post-WWII 鈥淕reat Acceleration鈥� of fossil capital鈥檚 ecological footprint is clear: Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System.
--With such a massive topic in 鈥淎 Very Short Introduction鈥�, application to current crises is truncated; so, we're left piecing together scale (time + space) + risk (how do you even quantify end-of-civilization?) for prioritization. After reviewing systems modeling (Thinking in Systems: A Primer), Earth System science鈥檚 9 planetary boundaries are only listed; climate change and biogeochemical flows are already covered, but biosphere integrity (biodiversity loss) and land-use changes are not. The latter are dire crises and emphasized in A People鈥檚 Green New Deal (centering Global South decolonization).
...Lenton does cover his research area of tipping points (nonlinear abrupt and often irreversible change), listing ice-sheet/sea-ice losses, permafrost thawing, boreal/rainforest diebacks, monsoon/ENSO shifts, collapse of Atlantic overturning circulation, and Sahara greening (curious).
--Our sustainability response options are even more rushed, with mere mentions of strengthening negative feedbacks (e.g. carbon sinks), positive feedbacks (e.g. greening), geo-engineering, etc. Maybe a hint of that stoic, ivory-tower scientism (if we die, we die鈥� I'm here for the science).
2) Idealism, Dialectics: (2/5)
--My great concern with scientists is how they apply their technocratic training to society; scientists are a high-risk population for undiagnosed liberalism (case in point: How the World Really Works: A Scientist鈥檚 Guide to Our Past, Present and Future). I鈥檓 delighted to see Lenton teaming up with Keen, who at least sees through mainstream fantasy economics and is familiar with the many other schools of economic thought (despite still being a capitalist reformer, thus stuck lauding real-world capitalism鈥檚 Schumpeterian entrepreneurial spirit; for a similar example: Economics: The User's Guide).
--Let鈥檚 review the symptoms of liberalism:
i) 鈥淥verpopulation鈥� myth:
--Imperialism is the shadow cast by liberalism on the Global South/indigenous. 鈥淟imits to Growth鈥� technocrats abstract away money-power (i.e. over investment/production/distribution/consumption), flattened away into per capita population; thus, the imperialist obsession with population growth/鈥渙verpopulation鈥�. Lovelock鈥檚 name is just one of many liberal technocrats that pop up in a devastating critique: Too Many People?: Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis
...I was relieved to see Lenton at least acknowledge that energy/material use have decoupled from population growth (coupling would still not pass correlation vs. causation), although he still hovers around this trope.
ii) 鈥淭ragedy of the Commons鈥� myth:
--An obvious litmus test since 鈥淐ommons鈥� represents cooperation, which is too close to the S-word. Indeed, Lenton regurgitates this myth citing 鈥渆volutionary theory鈥� that supposedly concludes 鈥渃ooperation is notoriously unstable鈥� given the free-rider problem, where the solution is putting a price on pollution. Ah, yes, liberalism鈥檚 social default of market pricing.
--This should be unacceptable even for (progressive) liberals since Elinor Ostrom somehow crashed the fake (Swedish central bank) 鈥淣obel鈥� Prize in Fantasy Economics party with the myth-busting Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (also see ). Instead, Lenton lists Jared Diamond in his further readings (palm meets face: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed).
iii) 鈥淓conomic growth = social progress鈥� myth:
--鈥淟imits to Growth鈥� engineers at least know the math here is impossible (exponential growth on a finite planet). Lenton鈥檚 take is mixed, mentioning decoupling of material use from information exchange (ugh) while also recognizing recycling of materials is trivial given its own energy costs (not to mention simply not keeping up with exponential growth). Critical analysis: Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World
iv) 鈥淕reen Revolution鈥� technocracy:
--Another example of the shadow of imperialism. I鈥檝e yet to find a comprehensive unpacking of this topic, but the brilliant Utsa Patnaik/Prabhat Patnaik are essential:
-intro: The Agrarian Question in the Neoliberal Era: Primitive Accumulation and the Peasantry
-dive: Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present
...as well as the aforementioned A People鈥檚 Green New Deal.
July 4, 2020
Well, this book will bring you up to date with recent science concerning earth and its future, including global warming. But it fails to explain why Capitalism and its inherent selfishness trumps any intelligent response to the ongoing extinction. A young reader might even be led to hope that science will come up with a tech solution (like shooting particulate matter into space to reflect the sun) or other scheme that will save us. Billionaires and their corporations won't have to give up money and power. That is a dangerous illusion. Scientists have known since the end of the 19th century that the burning of fossil fuels creates global warming. And you may have noticed that the US is willing to go to war to protect oil profits! Only a mass movement will create a society that frees science and scientists from the corrupting influence of corporate money.
Only a mass movement can unleash the creativity of billions of brains and muscle power to transform the planet. If you think a few scientists and politicians can set things right, read "The Death and Life of the Great Lakes," and "Cadillac Desert." Look to the streets for progress.
Only a mass movement can unleash the creativity of billions of brains and muscle power to transform the planet. If you think a few scientists and politicians can set things right, read "The Death and Life of the Great Lakes," and "Cadillac Desert." Look to the streets for progress.
November 24, 2023
(2016) by
as the name suggests considers the Earth as a system and applies to it. The book introduces the subject; for an even shorter introduction, read . Following the links from the Wikipedia article expands on the many topics grouped under Earth system science, as does this book. The topic is broad, even nearly all-encompassing from the human perspective, since most of us will live out our entire lives within the thin habitable layer around Earth's surface.
The book's chapter titles and section headings tell the reader what to expect:
Chapter 1: Home: Signs of life, The faint young Sun puzzle, The Gaia hypothesis, Feedback, Climate regulation, Snowball Earth, Escaping a snowball, Global change, Defining the Earth system
Chapter 2: Recycling: Biogeochemical cycling, The oxygen cycle, The carbon cycle, Isotopic constraints, The phosphorus cycle, The nitrogen cycle, Earth's metabolism
Chapter 3: Regulation: Basic concepts, Biogeochemical models, Nutrient regulation, Oxygen regulation, Long-term carbon dioxide regulation, Shorter-term carbon dioxide regulation, A historical example, Biogeochemical climate feedbacks, How good is Earth's climate regulation?, Changing stability
Chapter 4: Revolutions: The evidence, Deep time, Origin of the Earth, Origin of life, Origin of recycling, Origin of oxygenic photosynthesis, The Great Oxidation, Origin of eukaryotes, Neoproterozoic turmoil, Common features
Chapter 5: Anthropocene: Environmental preconditions, Fire use, Farming, The early Anthropocene hypothesis, Fossil fuels, Changes in land-use and nutrient cycles, Carbon cycle change, Climate change, Human planet
Chapter 6: Projection: Earth system models, Testing the models, A spectrum of models, Projection rather than prediction, Storylines, Global warming, Spatial patterns, Tipping points, Ocean and atmosphere, Land biosphere, Cryosphere, Marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry, Emergent simplicity
Chapter 7: Sustainability: Earth history lessons, Exponential growth meets finite resources, Sustainable energy, Material recycling, Planetary boundaries, A self-aware feedback system, Early warning signals, Response options, Earth system economics, Broadening the field
Chapter 8: Generalization: Lifespan of the biosphere, The habitable zone, Extrasolar planets, Life detection, Exoclimates, Exogeology, Exobiospheres, Exo-Gaias?, Exo-Earth system science
If you've read other books on these topics, nothing in this book should come as a huge surprise. If on the other hand this is your first book on "Earthy" topics such as geology, plate tectonics, deep time, paleontology, biogeochemical cycling, climatology, climate change, climate change mitigation, ecology, environmental protection, sustainability, planetary systems, and astrobiology - you may find this book hard going. But as with any new subject, the more books you read about it, the easier they become. Lenton helps with a list of additional books to read.
Lenton makes a heroic effort to cover his vast subject in a few pages. Unavoidably he leaves a few things out, perhaps making things tough for readers who don't share his background knowledge. For example, he closes the book by alluding to but he doesn't mention the which is pretty much fundamental to any discussion about the prospects for little green men:
* (2014) by
* (2014) by
* (2006) by
* (2019) by
* (2000) by and
* (2022) by
* (2010) by
Elsewhere Lenton refers to broadening the field, as if it isn't already broad enough. But he seems to want to "broaden" the field rather selectively:
Lenton mentions the role of the social sciences in Earth system science, but he doesn't mention the specific word "psychology" once. Granted, if he had, the book could easily have tripled in length. But the reader is a bit shortchanged to see the unrelenting upward death march of the with no discussion of the psychology (or more properly, our collective psychopathology) behind it. Sadly, the psychology profession as a whole has been slow to grasp what is the most important psychological problem in history (and maybe the last one), perhaps because few psychologists are themselves troubled by their own high-carbon lifestyles.
Three of the book's eight chapters include coverage of man-made global warming. Earth system science has much to say about the problem, but less about how to solve it. Even so, one has to start somewhere, and three chapters for the seemingly most pressing existential threat to civilization are better than zero. But any human who is still sane will want to read a lot more than this. Fortunately, there is a lot more to read, both about the science and history of the problem, and about what we might do to slow it down, from an individual and a collective standpoint. See my climate change shelf for example.
To vastly oversimplify, "solving" climate change likely requires people to cooperate in ways they never have before. (Cooperation is how humans solve , of which climate change might be the biggest and thorniest example.) Thus it couldn't hurt to learn about how humans came by the meager talents for cooperation that they have:
* (2006) by
Sadly, humans aren't terrific at cooperating even on local scales, much less globally. Thus I wouldn't recommend betting heavily on humans getting drastically better at cooperating any time soon. One of the ways people make that bet is by popping out babies, which only makes sense if those future adults are going to have a habitable biosphere.
as the name suggests considers the Earth as a system and applies to it. The book introduces the subject; for an even shorter introduction, read . Following the links from the Wikipedia article expands on the many topics grouped under Earth system science, as does this book. The topic is broad, even nearly all-encompassing from the human perspective, since most of us will live out our entire lives within the thin habitable layer around Earth's surface.
The book's chapter titles and section headings tell the reader what to expect:
Chapter 1: Home: Signs of life, The faint young Sun puzzle, The Gaia hypothesis, Feedback, Climate regulation, Snowball Earth, Escaping a snowball, Global change, Defining the Earth system
Chapter 2: Recycling: Biogeochemical cycling, The oxygen cycle, The carbon cycle, Isotopic constraints, The phosphorus cycle, The nitrogen cycle, Earth's metabolism
Chapter 3: Regulation: Basic concepts, Biogeochemical models, Nutrient regulation, Oxygen regulation, Long-term carbon dioxide regulation, Shorter-term carbon dioxide regulation, A historical example, Biogeochemical climate feedbacks, How good is Earth's climate regulation?, Changing stability
Chapter 4: Revolutions: The evidence, Deep time, Origin of the Earth, Origin of life, Origin of recycling, Origin of oxygenic photosynthesis, The Great Oxidation, Origin of eukaryotes, Neoproterozoic turmoil, Common features
Chapter 5: Anthropocene: Environmental preconditions, Fire use, Farming, The early Anthropocene hypothesis, Fossil fuels, Changes in land-use and nutrient cycles, Carbon cycle change, Climate change, Human planet
Chapter 6: Projection: Earth system models, Testing the models, A spectrum of models, Projection rather than prediction, Storylines, Global warming, Spatial patterns, Tipping points, Ocean and atmosphere, Land biosphere, Cryosphere, Marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry, Emergent simplicity
Chapter 7: Sustainability: Earth history lessons, Exponential growth meets finite resources, Sustainable energy, Material recycling, Planetary boundaries, A self-aware feedback system, Early warning signals, Response options, Earth system economics, Broadening the field
Chapter 8: Generalization: Lifespan of the biosphere, The habitable zone, Extrasolar planets, Life detection, Exoclimates, Exogeology, Exobiospheres, Exo-Gaias?, Exo-Earth system science
If you've read other books on these topics, nothing in this book should come as a huge surprise. If on the other hand this is your first book on "Earthy" topics such as geology, plate tectonics, deep time, paleontology, biogeochemical cycling, climatology, climate change, climate change mitigation, ecology, environmental protection, sustainability, planetary systems, and astrobiology - you may find this book hard going. But as with any new subject, the more books you read about it, the easier they become. Lenton helps with a list of additional books to read.
Lenton makes a heroic effort to cover his vast subject in a few pages. Unavoidably he leaves a few things out, perhaps making things tough for readers who don't share his background knowledge. For example, he closes the book by alluding to but he doesn't mention the which is pretty much fundamental to any discussion about the prospects for little green men:
Climate dynamics, geology, and biology are all causally intertwined in the Earth system, and are bound to be intertwined on other inhabited worlds. By generalizing our models of the Earth system and its development, researchers are beginning to formulate what I would christen 鈥楨xo-Earth system science鈥欌€攁 general science of habitable and inhabited worlds. In the next decade we will begin to be able to test the predictions of those models against new observations of what our current theories say should be potentially habitable exoplanets. There are bound to be surprises鈥攑erhaps profound ones鈥攁bout the prevalence of habitable worlds, and of life, in the nearby cosmos. Perhaps we will find that despite all those potentially habitable planets out there, there are no signs of life on any of them. Perhaps we will find abundant life and will be left pondering why after fifty years of searching, no signal of extraterrestrial intelligence has been detected. Either way, the results are destined to change our view of ourselves and of our world. I trust that we will look back at the Earth and our own intelligence with a renewed sense of wonder and a determination to help sustain this remarkable planet.Lurking behind that innocent paragraph is a sizable shelf of other books. I'd start with:
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Elsewhere Lenton refers to broadening the field, as if it isn't already broad enough. But he seems to want to "broaden" the field rather selectively:
Equally, Earth system considerations call for some rethinking of economics and a wider social discussion about what kind of future we want, which will engage the arts and the humanities as well as the social sciences.I imagine artists and humanitarians deserve as much voice as anyone else, but I wasn't aware that these groups had any particular insight into making civilization sustainable. I thought artists were mainly interested in making things look pretty, at least before art took its modern turn and decided the viewer needed to be shocked. And I'm not sure what "the humanities" can tell us about things like stoichiometry, which is the first step in calculating carbon footprints and understanding nutrient cycling. Lenton left out a number of other groups, such as the Amish, who apart from their fecundity might be closer to living sustainabily than most people in the United States. In any case, I think it's a bit early to talk about the future "we want," given that what "we want" and are currently taking is so far beyond what we can sustainably have. The first job is to change what "we want", namely in the direction of far less material and energy (particularly fossil carbon energy).
Lenton mentions the role of the social sciences in Earth system science, but he doesn't mention the specific word "psychology" once. Granted, if he had, the book could easily have tripled in length. But the reader is a bit shortchanged to see the unrelenting upward death march of the with no discussion of the psychology (or more properly, our collective psychopathology) behind it. Sadly, the psychology profession as a whole has been slow to grasp what is the most important psychological problem in history (and maybe the last one), perhaps because few psychologists are themselves troubled by their own high-carbon lifestyles.
Three of the book's eight chapters include coverage of man-made global warming. Earth system science has much to say about the problem, but less about how to solve it. Even so, one has to start somewhere, and three chapters for the seemingly most pressing existential threat to civilization are better than zero. But any human who is still sane will want to read a lot more than this. Fortunately, there is a lot more to read, both about the science and history of the problem, and about what we might do to slow it down, from an individual and a collective standpoint. See my climate change shelf for example.
To vastly oversimplify, "solving" climate change likely requires people to cooperate in ways they never have before. (Cooperation is how humans solve , of which climate change might be the biggest and thorniest example.) Thus it couldn't hurt to learn about how humans came by the meager talents for cooperation that they have:
* (2006) by
Sadly, humans aren't terrific at cooperating even on local scales, much less globally. Thus I wouldn't recommend betting heavily on humans getting drastically better at cooperating any time soon. One of the ways people make that bet is by popping out babies, which only makes sense if those future adults are going to have a habitable biosphere.
July 28, 2023
Dense! Super packed with rich information about the way our planet works. As a science enthusiast with little scientific background, I found myself continually rereading sections, unsure if I was fully comprehending the complexities of the processes. While I probably didn鈥檛 grasp everything, I did learn quite a lot that I didn鈥檛 know before. This is a great little intro which will leave you wanting to know more and dig further in depth for better understanding. I really feel I need to come back to it after some chemistry. 馃槃
June 29, 2020
I very much enjoyed this, but it is a cliff notes version of a textbook. Meaning not a leasure read, and you will absorb some science.
I am an undergraduate level professor. It happens frequently, for a variety of reasons, that I can't convince students to purchase textbooks. I am constantly seeking a solution to that issue. I feel quite bad about it too, because textbooks are expensive, though the rental options that are available now somewhat moderate that expense. These texts however, might be a great compromise for recommended supplemental texts in my courses.
This the first of these "A Very Short Introduction" that I picked up. I hope they are all as finely written as this one, and I didn't just lucky pick on my first try. There are some seriously contentious statements which I love, because it will promote great discussion. For example, "But with population stabilizing we can anticipate a stabilization of the total amount of built infrastructure."
I'll just leave you to ponder that, and be sure to check out this book if you have any curiosity at all about the topic of sustainability.
I am an undergraduate level professor. It happens frequently, for a variety of reasons, that I can't convince students to purchase textbooks. I am constantly seeking a solution to that issue. I feel quite bad about it too, because textbooks are expensive, though the rental options that are available now somewhat moderate that expense. These texts however, might be a great compromise for recommended supplemental texts in my courses.
This the first of these "A Very Short Introduction" that I picked up. I hope they are all as finely written as this one, and I didn't just lucky pick on my first try. There are some seriously contentious statements which I love, because it will promote great discussion. For example, "But with population stabilizing we can anticipate a stabilization of the total amount of built infrastructure."
I'll just leave you to ponder that, and be sure to check out this book if you have any curiosity at all about the topic of sustainability.
December 29, 2023
Excellent introduction to earth systems. Starts by talking about the Gaia concept and then goes one by one through the major biogeochemical cycles that govern the earth, their positive and negative feedback loops. The next section was the one that I wanted and it fulfilled the brief admirably - a history of the earth, basically, in terms of climate change and life and how these affected the equilibrium of earth systems. Very big picture stuff. Wonderful. The last couple of chapters were about the effects of the Anthropocene and how we're probably in the old age of life on earth anyway. I was mostly aware of the issues but it was a sobering reminder. Then there's a chapter on the possibility of life on exoplanets.
This was very dense - I highlighted so much - but it taught me what I wanted to know. I'll need more reinforcement so I'll be reading other books on the topic (there's a very good recommended reading section) and/or coming back to this one as reference.
This was very dense - I highlighted so much - but it taught me what I wanted to know. I'll need more reinforcement so I'll be reading other books on the topic (there's a very good recommended reading section) and/or coming back to this one as reference.
November 2, 2020
This is the first of these 鈥淰ery Short Introduction鈥� books that I鈥檝e read, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was dense, but not overwhelming, and I actually learned a lot from it, despite being at least somewhat up on the topic. It goes into some detail on the various feedback systems of the earth, and gives a sense of the complexity which made me want to find out more, which is exactly what I鈥檓 guessing is the goal of this series. Although it does have have some suggested 鈥淔urther Reading鈥� they are all books. I do wish some of the references were review articles or even one or two items of important primary literature, which would give me more to follow-up on. I don鈥檛 know if this book in the series is particularly good, but I鈥檓 certainly going to try more.
April 6, 2023
En bok om jordens "bio-geo-kjemiske sykluser" brukes for 氓 forst氓 str酶m av materialer i jordens biosf忙re, og i fortsettelse av dette hvordan klimaet fungerer. Bokens buzzord er helt klart "tilbakekobling", s氓 hvis man ikke kjenner til dette, er man ekspert etter 氓 ha lest den. Det er fascinerende 氓 lese om hvordan jordens klima faktisk holdes s氓 stabilt som det gj酶r, men ogs氓 hvordan den kan skubbes ut av sin sin behagelige, stabile stilstand.
Det er en vanskelig bok hvis man vil forst氓 alt, og det skal graves dypt i biologien og kjemien fra vgs. Det virker dog som en fantastisk bok 氓 ha lest for 氓 forst氓 litt mer av verden omkring oss - enten man er klimaaktivist, n酶rd, eller bare glad i naturen.
Begynte p氓 denne for nesten fem 氓r siden. Glad for 氓 v忙re ferdig.
Det er en vanskelig bok hvis man vil forst氓 alt, og det skal graves dypt i biologien og kjemien fra vgs. Det virker dog som en fantastisk bok 氓 ha lest for 氓 forst氓 litt mer av verden omkring oss - enten man er klimaaktivist, n酶rd, eller bare glad i naturen.
Begynte p氓 denne for nesten fem 氓r siden. Glad for 氓 v忙re ferdig.
January 7, 2022
I agree with some of the other reviews. It's dense and essentially a condensed textbook, perhaps not perfectly accessible to the lay reader. It's very good though and it opened my eyes to the much broader way in which we should think about the earth as a complex system (in the full meaning of that term) with interactions and feedback loops involving the biosphere and to be understood in terms of matter and energy flows. Lenton writes thoughtfully on the various equilibria our planet has known and how the biosphere is essential in maintaining our current equilibrium. A book to bring physicists to the barricades of climate change.
April 3, 2021
A great short book on the science of understanding how our planet works, covering a lot of variables such as the kind of star we orbit, the complexity of thebiogeochemical cycles and the role life has on mantaining our planet healthy and habitable. On the same path, the author invites us to learn from the self sustaining systems keeping our planet "alive" and aply those same principles to our society and achieve a sustainable development!
I will definetly use this book for my college courses as I am a teacher on Enviromental Science!
I will definetly use this book for my college courses as I am a teacher on Enviromental Science!
December 20, 2021
Een mooie uitbreiding op algemene inleidende geologie naslagwerken zoals Sintubin's "Wetenschap van de Aarde". Lenton gaat in op de belangrijkste biogeochemische cycli en een selectie positieve en negatieve feedbackinteracties tussen biosfeer, geosfeer, atmosfeer en cryosfeer. Ook de mensheid krijgt een plaats als een groeiende factor van belang in dat systeem, met startende verreikende invloed in verschillende aardcycli. Om af te sluiten wordt een connectie gelegd met astrobiologie en gerelateerde velden.
June 6, 2022
A relatively dry read, but that was expected from such a succinct introductory book.
The middle chapters (those dealing with the history of the Earth system and our current impact on it) were the most entertaining / insightful for me.
Main takeaway: feedbacks regulate the Earth system. And they do that rather well (over geological timescales).
4/5
The middle chapters (those dealing with the history of the Earth system and our current impact on it) were the most entertaining / insightful for me.
Main takeaway: feedbacks regulate the Earth system. And they do that rather well (over geological timescales).
4/5
July 19, 2022
An excellent concise introduction to the complexities of Earth System Science.
April 15, 2023
Was lost on some parts since I don't have a technical background. Will need to go back and highlight some parts and look at the references for more material
June 27, 2024
fantastic read!
If you care about what sustainability means, read this for a deep scientific perspective.
Its also well written in general.
If you care about what sustainability means, read this for a deep scientific perspective.
Its also well written in general.
November 18, 2024
Quite enjoyed this insightful read. It made me realise how complex and well regulated our world is ..
November 23, 2016
An excellent basic guide! Clear and comprehensive.
April 10, 2016
Very good summary and introduction of Earth system science. Very dense un Knowledge and Data, GET a notepad to note same of the Best passages. Ends up by extension towards exoplanetary science. Loved the book.
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