Human Earth System Dynamics

Author : Rongxing Guo
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9811305471
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Human-Earth System Dynamics written by Rongxing Guo and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-05-16 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the factors and mechanisms that may have influenced the dynamic behaviors of earliest civilizations, focusing on both environmental (geographic) factors on which traditional historic analyses are based and human (behavioral) factors on which anthropological analyses are usually based. It also resurrects a number of common ancestral terms to help readers understand the complicated process of human and cultural evolution around the globe. Specifically, in almost all indigenous languages, the words ‘wa’ and any variants of it were originally associated with the sound of crying of – and certainly were selected as the common ancestral word with the meanings of “house, home, homeland, motherland, and so on” by – early humans living in different parts of the world.This book provides many neglected but still crucial environmental and biological clues about the rise and fall of civilizations – ones that have largely resulted from mankind’s long-lasting “Win-Stay Lose-Shift” games throughout the world. The narratives and findings presented at this book are unexpected but reasonable – and are what every student of anthropology or history needs to know and doesn't get in the usual text. “Professor Guo explores the dynamics of civilizations from the beginnings to our perplexingly complex world. There are lots of thought-provoking ideas here on the rise and decline of civilizations and nations... Anyone wishing to understand global developments should give this book serious consideration.” ----John Komlos, University of Munich, Germany, and Duke University, USA “It is interesting to see a Chinese perspective on the questions of deep history that have engaged Jared Diamond, Yuval Harari and David Christian. Guo argues that understanding cyclical threats has been the key to human progress, which is driven by the dialectic of material privation and human ingenuity.” ----Peter Rutland, Wesleyan University, USA

Author : Will Steffen
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3540266070
Total Pages : 346 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Global Change and the Earth System written by Will Steffen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-12-29 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global Change and the Earth System describes what is known about the Earth system and the impact of changes caused by humans. It considers the consequences of these changes with respect to the stability of the Earth system and the well-being of humankind; as well as exploring future paths towards Earth-system science in support of global sustainability. The results presented here are based on 10 years of research on global change by many of the world's most eminent scholars. This valuable volume achieves a new level of integration and interdisciplinarity in treating global change.

Author : Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642523544
Total Pages : 548 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Earth System Analysis written by Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since this new science is of an unprecedented interdisciplinary nature, the book does not merely take stock of its numerous ingredients, but also delivers their multifaceted integration. The resulting master paradigm - the co-evolution of nature and anthroposphere within a geo-cybernetic continuum of processes - is based on a structured manifold of partial paradigms with their specific ranges. Most importantly, this serves the scientific foundation of a meaningful, safe and efficient environment and development management for solving the most burning questions concerning humankind and its natural environment. The more concrete elucidation of the natural and human dimensions, as well as various attempts and instruments of integration are represented in the different parts of the book, while the didactic quality is heightened by many allegoric illustrations.

Author : Hugues Goosse
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1316033503
Total Pages : 696 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Climate System Dynamics and Modelling written by Hugues Goosse and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-10 with total page 696 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook presents all aspects of climate system dynamics, on all timescales from the Earth's formation to modern human-induced climate change. It discusses the dominant feedbacks and interactions between all the components of the climate system: atmosphere, ocean, land surface and ice sheets. It addresses one of the key challenges for a course on the climate system: students can come from a range of backgrounds. A glossary of key terms is provided for students with little background in the climate sciences, whilst instructors and students with more expertise will appreciate the book's modular nature. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter for readers to test their understanding. This textbook will be invaluable for any course on climate system dynamics and modeling, and will also be useful for scientists and professionals from other disciplines who want a clear introduction to the topic.

Author : National Research Council
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309158710
Total Pages : 109 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Monitoring Climate Change Impacts written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-11-27 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The stresses associated with climate change are expected to be felt keenly as human population grows to a projected 9 billion by the middle of this century, increasing the demand for resources and supporting infrastructure. Therefore, information to assess vulnerabilities to climate change is needed to support policies and investments designed to increase resilience in human and Earth systems. There are currently many observing systems that capture elements of how climate is changing, for example, direct measurements of atmospheric and ocean temperature. Although those measurements are essential for understanding the scale and nature of climate change, they do not necessarily provide information about the impacts of climate change on humans that are especially relevant for political and economic planning and decision making. Monitoring Climate Change Impacts tackles the challenge of developing an illustrative suite of indicators, measurements (and the locations around the globe where the measurements can be applied), and metrics that are important for understanding global climate change and providing insight into environmental sustainability. Eight panels provided input on: cryosphere, land-surface and terrestrial ecosystems, hydrology and water resources, atmosphere, human health and other dimensions, oceans (both physical and biological/chemical), and natural disasters. The book also provides an illustrative set of metrics that are likely to be affected by climate change over the next 20-25 years and, when taken together, can potentially give advance warning of climate-related changes to the human and environment systems.

Author : Krystyna Stave
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319457551
Total Pages : 652 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social and Ecological System Dynamics written by Krystyna Stave and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 652 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a social—ecological system description and feedback analysis of the Lake Tana Basin, the headwater catchment of the Upper Blue Nile River. This basin is an important local, national, and international resource, and concern about its sustainable development is growing at many levels. Lake Tana Basin outflows of water, sediments, nutrients, and contaminants affect water that flows downstream in the Blue Nile across international boundaries into the Nile River; the lake and surrounding land have recently been proposed as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; the basin has been designated as a key national economic growth corridor in the Ethiopian Growth and Transformation Plan. In spite of the Lake Tana Basin’s importance, there is no comprehensive, integrated, system-wide description of its characteristics and dynamics that can serve as a basis for its sustainable development. This book presents both the social and ecological characteristics of the region and an integrated, system-wide perspective of the feedback links that shape social and ecological change in the basin. Finally, it summarizes key research needs for sustainable development.

Author : Jing’ai Wang
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031041585
Total Pages : 466 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Geography of Contemporary China written by Jing’ai Wang and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook provides a comprehensive and very detailed insight into Chinese Contemporary Geography in English. It documents the geographical issues associated with China's rapid growth. Since initiating the reforms and open policy, China has achieved tremendous success. China's rapid growth is now a driving force in the global economy and is achieving unprecedented rates of poverty reduction. However, China also faces a number of sustainability and emerging challenges associated with rapid growth such as growing regional disparities in terms of per capita income and social-economic development, sustainable resource development, and issues related to regional and global economic integration. In addition, rapid economic growth has also brought about major challenges such as resource shortages, ecological and environmental destruction, land degradation and frequent disasters. This book presents the authors’ reflections. This lavishly illustrated book covers physical geography, history, and economic and political systems of the world's most populous country. The major focus is on geographical issues in China's contemporary development: agriculture, population, urbanization, resource and energy, and environment. The lead author of the book has taught relevant courses in China for three decades, and authored and edited multiple textbooks for Chinese students. This book will appeal to undergraduate students of geography and related disciplines with a regional focus on China and to the general reader who wants to learn different geographical aspects of modern China with little academic background in geography.

Author : National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780309224468
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Next Generation Earth Systems Science at the National Science Foundation written by National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine and published by . This book was released on 2022-06-22 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has played a key role over the past several decades in advancing understanding of Earth's systems by funding research on atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, geologic, polar, ecosystem, social, and engineering-related processes. Today, however, those systems are being driven like never before by human technologies and activities. Our understanding has struggled to keep pace with the rapidity and magnitude of human-driven changes, their impacts on human and ecosystem sustainability and resilience, and the effectiveness of different pathways to address those challenges. Given the urgency of understanding human-driven changes, NSF will need to sustain and expand its efforts to achieve greater impact. The time is ripe to create a next-generation Earth systems science initiative that emphasizes research on complex interconnections and feedbacks between natural and social processes. This will require NSF to place an increased emphasis on research inspired by real-world problems while maintaining their strong legacy of curiosity driven research across many disciplines ? as well as enhance the participation of social, engineering, and data scientists, and strengthen efforts to include diverse perspectives in research.

Author : Clive Hamilton
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1509519785
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.81/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Defiant Earth written by Clive Hamilton and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-06-05 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humans have become so powerful that we have disrupted the functioning of the Earth System as a whole, bringing on a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – one in which the serene and clement conditions that allowed civilisation to flourish are disappearing and we quail before 'the wakened giant'. The emergence of a conscious creature capable of using technology to bring about a rupture in the Earth's geochronology is an event of monumental significance, on a par with the arrival of civilisation itself. What does it mean to have arrived at this point, where human history and Earth history collide? Some interpret the Anthropocene as no more than a development of what they already know, obscuring and deflating its profound significance. But the Anthropocene demands that we rethink everything. The modern belief in the free, reflexive being making its own future by taking control of its environment – even to the point of geoengineering – is now impossible because we have rendered the Earth more unpredictable and less controllable, a disobedient planet. At the same time, all attempts by progressives to cut humans down to size by attacking anthropocentrism come up against the insurmountable fact that human beings now possess enough power to change the Earth's course. It's too late to turn back the geological clock, and there is no going back to premodern ways of thinking. We must face the fact that humans are at the centre of the world, even if we must give the idea that we can control the planet. These truths call for a new kind of anthropocentrism, a philosophy by which we might use our power responsibly and find a way to live on a defiant Earth.

Author : Kirill Y. Kondratyev
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3662049414
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Global Environmental Change written by Kirill Y. Kondratyev and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The growing number of published works dedicated to global environmental change leads to the realization that protection of the natural environment has become an urgent problem. The question of working out principles of co evolution of man and nature is being posed with ever-increasing persistence. Scientists in many countries are attempting to find ways of formulating laws governing human processes acting on the environment. Numerous national and international programs regarding biosphere and climate studies contribute to the quest for means of resolving the conflict between human society and nature. However, attempts to find efficient methods of regulating human activity on a global scale encounter principal difficulties. The major difficulty is the lack of an adequate knowledge base pertaining to climatic and biospheric processes as wen as the largely incomplete state of the databases concerning global processes occurring in the atmosphere, in the ocean, and on land. Another difficulty is the inability of modern science to formulate the requirements which must be met by the global databases necessary for reliable evaluation of the state of the environ ment and fore casting its development for sufficiently long time intervals.