Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken from Nature

by Vaclav Smil

Overview

An interdisciplinary and quantitative account of human claims on the biosphere's stores of living matter, from prehistoric hunting to modern energy production.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262312271
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	12/21/2012
Series:	The MIT Press
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including Energy and Civilization, published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013 Bill Gates wrote on his website that “there is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil."

Table of Contents

Preface vii

I The Earth's Biomass: Stores, Productivity, Harvests 1

1 Biomass: Definitions and Compositions 5

2 Biomass Stores: Means and Extremes 15

3 Biomass Productivities 31

4 Phytomass Harvests 41

5 Zoomass Harvests 51

6 Land Cover and Productivity Changes 59

II History of the Harvests: From Foraging to Globalization 65

7 The Evolution of Foraging 71

8 Crops and Animals 103

9 Biomass Fuels and Raw Materials 131

III Adding Up the Claims: Harvests, Losses, and Trends 151

10 Changing Land Cover and Land Use 157

11 Harvesting the Biosphere 183

12 Long-Term Trends and Possible Worlds 221

Scientific Units and Prefixes 253

References 255

Subject Index 297

Species Index 305

What People are Saying About This

Endorsement

Vaclav Smil is an experienced author who always brings a wide and balanced perspective to his work. This new book is no exception and provides an authoritative and critical analysis of Earth's biomass and deals with such important issues as extinction, domestication, biomass burning and deforestation, population growth, urbanization, industrialization, carbon budgets, and the future effects of climate change. It is more than just a synthesis of past research for it is enlivened by his own appraisal of the quality of what has been achieved and of our research needs for the future.

—Andrew Goudie, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of Oxford

From the Publisher

Vaclav Smil, the extraordinary polymath, critically evaluates what we know about the enormous impact of humans on the productive capacity of Earth through our history. He concludes that our future will bring major challenges to society and threats to our biotic storehouse if we are to meet the demands of the projected nine billion people to feed by 2050.

—Harold Mooney, Professor of Biology, Emeritus, Stanford University

A great book that will be a revered source of information about how we use our biosphere for a long time to come.

—Marc Imhoff, former Terra Project Scientist, Goddard Space Flight Center, NAS

Vaclav Smil is an experienced author who always brings a wide and balanced perspective to his work. This new book is no exception and provides an authoritative and critical analysis of Earth's biomass and deals with such important issues as extinction, domestication, biomass burning and deforestation, population growth, urbanization, industrialization, carbon budgets, and the future effects of climate change. It is more than just a synthesis of past research for it is enlivened by his own appraisal of the quality of what has been achieved and of our research needs for the future.

—Andrew Goudie, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of Oxford

Harold Mooney

Vaclav Smil, the extraordinary polymath, critically evaluates what we know about the enormous impact of humans on the productive capacity of Earth through our history. He concludes that our future will bring major challenges to society and threats to our biotic storehouse if we are to meet the demands of the projected nine billion people to feed by 2050.

Marc Imhoff

A great book that will be a revered source of information about how we use our biosphere for a long time to come.

Andrew Goudie

Vaclav Smil is an experienced author who always brings a wide and balanced perspective to his work. This new book is no exception and provides an authoritative and critical analysis of Earth's biomass and deals with such important issues as extinction, domestication, biomass burning and deforestation, population growth, urbanization, industrialization, carbon budgets, and the future effects of climate change. It is more than just a synthesis of past research for it is enlivened by his own appraisal of the quality of what has been achieved and of our research needs for the future.

Editorial Reviews

There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.... In Harvesting the Biosphere, Smil gives us as clear and numeric a picture as is possible of how humans have altered the biosphere.—Bill Gates, The Gates Notes—

From the Publisher

There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.... In Harvesting the Biosphere, Smil gives us as clear and numeric a picture as is possible of how humans have altered the biosphere.

—Bill Gates, The Gates Notes

Reviews

There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.... In Harvesting the Biosphere, Smil gives us as clear and numeric a picture as is possible of how humans have altered the biosphere.

The Gates Notes - Bill Gates