Unique among all creatures, further to the increase in its cranial volume from Australopithecus to Homo sapiens, the use of tools and cultural and scientific creativity, the genus Homo is distinguished by the mastery of fire, which since about two million years ago has become its blueprint. Through the Holocene and culminating in the Anthropocene, the burning of much of the terrestrial vegetation, excavation and combustion of fossil carbon from up to 420 million years-old biospheres, are leading to a global oxidation event on a geological scale, a rise in entropy in nature and the sixth mass extinction of species.
Author(s): Andrew Y. Glikson (auth.)
Series: SpringerBriefs in Earth Sciences
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 174
Tags: Earth System Sciences; Climate Change Impacts; Archaeology; Anthropology; Human Geography
Front Matter....Pages i-xiv
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Early Atmosphere-Ocean-Biosphere Systems....Pages 3-19
Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Atmospheres....Pages 21-27
Cenozoic Atmospheres and Early Hominins....Pages 29-44
Front Matter....Pages 45-45
Mass Extinction of Species....Pages 47-68
Front Matter....Pages 69-69
A Flammable Biosphere....Pages 71-74
A Fire Species....Pages 75-90
Climate and Holocene Civilizations....Pages 91-102
Front Matter....Pages 103-103
Homo sapiens ’ War Against Nature....Pages 105-131
An Uncharted Climate Territory....Pages 133-148
Homo Prometheus....Pages 149-152
Back Matter....Pages 153-174
