Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next 50 Years
Smil, Vaclav
- 出版商: MIT
- 出版日期: 2012-09-14
- 售價: $1,100
- 貴賓價: 9.5 折 $1,045
- 語言: 英文
- 頁數: 320
- 裝訂: Quality Paper - also called trade paper
- ISBN: 0262518228
- ISBN-13: 9780262518222
海外代購書籍(需單獨結帳)
相關主題
商品描述
A wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at global changes that may occur over the next fifty years--whether sudden and cataclysmic world-changing events or gradually unfolding trends.
Fundamental change occurs most often in one of two ways: as a "fatal discontinuity," a sudden catastrophic event that is potentially world changing, or as a persistent, gradual trend. Global catastrophes include volcanic eruptions, viral pandemics, wars, and large-scale terrorist attacks; trends are demographic, environmental, economic, and political shifts that unfold over time. In this provocative book, scientist Vaclav Smil takes a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the catastrophes and trends the next fifty years may bring.
Smil first looks at rare but cataclysmic events, both natural and human-produced, then at trends of global importance, including the transition from fossil fuels to other energy sources and growing economic and social inequality. He also considers environmental change--in some ways an amalgam of sudden discontinuities and gradual change--and assesses the often misunderstood complexities of global warming.
Global Catastrophes and Trends does not come down on the side of either doom-and-gloom scenarios or techno-euphoria. Instead, Smil argues that understanding change will help us reverse negative trends and minimize the risk of catastrophe.