The Big Ratchet - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Big Ratchet write by Ruth DeFries. This book was released on 2014-09-09. The Big Ratchet available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. How an ordinary mammal manipulated nature to become technologically sophisticated city-dwellers -- and why our history points to an optimistic future in the face of environmental crisis Our species long lived on the edge of starvation. Now we produce enough food for all 7 billion of us to eat nearly 3,000 calories every day. This is such an astonishing thing in the history of life as to verge on the miraculous. The Big Ratchet is the story of how it happened, of the ratchets -- the technologies and innovations, big and small -- that propelled our species from hunters and gatherers on the savannahs of Africa to shoppers in the aisles of the supermarket. The Big Ratchet itself came in the twentieth century, when a range of technologies -- from fossil fuels to scientific plant breeding to nitrogen fertilizers -- combined to nearly quadruple our population in a century, and to grow our food supply even faster. To some, these technologies are a sign of our greatness; to others, of our hubris. MacArthur fellow and Columbia University professor Ruth DeFries argues that the debate is the wrong one to have. Limits do exist, but every limit that has confronted us, we have surpassed. That cycle of crisis and growth is the story of our history; indeed, it is the essence of The Big Ratchet. Understanding it will reveal not just how we reached this point in our history, but how we might survive it.
The Big Ratchet
The Big Ratchet - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Big Ratchet write by Ruth DeFries. This book was released on 2014-09-09. The Big Ratchet available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. "Our species' pervasive presence on the planet is the combined result of two powerful forces: earth's rich natural endowments and humanity's ability to manipulate nature. From our ability to control fire to our expertise in breeding palatable plants, from our capacity to ship fertilizer across the Atlantic to our skill in selectively tinkering with plant genomes, DeFries describes the ingenious manipulations of nature that have enabled humankind to nourish and flourish. Throughout history humans have been able to ratchet up populations, survive the hatchets that threaten the species, and pivot to a new strategy for survival."--Publisher information.
Full Ratchet
Full Ratchet - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Full Ratchet write by Mike Cooper. This book was released on 2013-07-03. Full Ratchet available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In Die Hard style, Silas Cade takes his atypical brand of "auditing" from Wall Street to Main Street Fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher and Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp will want to add Silas Cade to their lineup. Cade, the tough-guy auditor antihero introduced in Clawback, employs a brand of financial reform that comes with plenty of firepower. Needing a respite from Wall Street, Cade jumps at a job opportunity in western Pennsylvania—but finds that Main Street is just as dirty. The job seems easy enough—check out a Pittsburgh manufacturer and file a report—but Cade quickly discovers corruption at every level. His revelations catch the attentions of hair-trigger Russian mobsters and a blonde assassin named Harmony. Cade’s estranged brother is dragged into the fray as the tension builds to bullet-riddled showdowns across defunct steel mills, forests, and Appalachian fracking fields. Cooper again delivers a timely plot involving Wall Street greed, financial corruption, and the plight of blue-collar workers.
This Journal Belongs to Ratchet
This Journal Belongs to Ratchet - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook This Journal Belongs to Ratchet write by Nancy J. Cavanaugh. This book was released on 2013-04-02. This Journal Belongs to Ratchet available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Move over Diary of a Wimpy Kid—there's a new journal in town and it belongs to Ratchet. "A book that is full of surprises...Triumphant enough to make readers cheer; touching enough to make them cry." —Kirkus, STARRED Review If only getting a new life were as easy as getting a new notebook. But it's not. It's the first day of school for all the kids in the neighborhood. But not for me. I'm homeschooled. That means nothing new. No new book bag, no new clothes, and no new friends. The best I've got is this notebook. I'm supposed to use it for my writing assignments, but my dad never checks. Here's what I'm really going to use it for: Ratchet's Top Secret Plan Turn my old, recycled, freakish, friendless life into something shiny and new. This Florida State Book Award gold medal winner is a heartfelt story about an unconventional girl's quest to make a friend, save a park, and find her own definition of normal.
Life's Ratchet
Life's Ratchet - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Life's Ratchet write by Peter M. Hoffmann. This book was released on 2012-10-30. Life's Ratchet available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Life, Hoffman argues, emerges from the random motions of atoms filtered through the sophisticated structures of our evolved machinery. People are essentially giant assemblies of interacting nanoscale machines.
