Covering a vast array of scientific fields and recent discoveries, this book tracks a remarkable substance in its liquid, solid, and gaseous states as it cycles through the seas, the atmosphere, land, icecaps and under the earth. Robert Kandel describes what we humans are doing to the water cycle and the climate and explains where we are heading. The book investigates how nuclear reactions in the interiors of stars produce the oxygen needed to form H20. After showing how the atmosphereВґs motions apportion moisture, the book follows the course of water over the land, into the soil, and through plants back to the atmosphere. From there, water travels along streams and great rivers back to the seas. The role of irrigation, the quest for clean water for cities, and the problems of pollution and public health are important elements of the story. The author considers climate change and how political and economic decisions that we make today will affect water resources for the next century. Finally, the author considers the geopolitical role of water and the tensions generated by the control of a nationВґs water by other countries who ''own'' the watershed or upstream resources.
Author(s): Robert Kandel
Edition: 0
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Year: 2003
Language: English
Commentary: 39031
Pages: 331
contents......Page 8
preface......Page 12
acknowledgments......Page 16
prologue......Page 20
Part I Water in the Universe from the Big Bang to the Appearance of Man......Page 28
chapter 1 beginnings......Page 30
chapter 2 the churning of the earth......Page 38
chapter 3 origin and evolution of life......Page 58
chapter 4 catastrophes......Page 74
chapter 5 ice, moon, and planets......Page 85
Part II Water in Today’s World......Page 102
chapter 6 water and energy cycles......Page 104
chapter 7 winds, waves, and currents......Page 120
chapter 8 water’s deep memories......Page 143
chapter 9 clouds, rain, and angry skies......Page 154
chapter 10 earth’s water, between sky and sea......Page 174
Part III Water in Human History, Past and Future......Page 206
chapter 11 water and man’s rise to civilization......Page 208
chapter 12 problems for the 21st century......Page 239
chapter 13 butterflies and humans in a warming greenhouse......Page 258
chapter 14 back to the ice age......Page 271
chapter 15 conclusion—the end of the story?......Page 278
notes......Page 282
bibliography......Page 308
index......Page 318
