Shrinking the Earth: the rise and decline of american abundance

265 Pages·2016·3.45 MB·English

by  Worster

Shrinking the Earth

Shrinking the Earth
THE RISE AND DECLINE
OF AMERICAN ABUNDANCE
Donald Worster
1
1
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Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
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© Donald Worster 2016
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Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978– 0– 19– 984495– 1
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Edwards Brothers, USA
For my newest generation
Mattia, Emma, and Leo

CONTENTS
List of Images of Earth ix
Acknowledgments xi
Prologue
Gatsby’s Green Light 3
Part I Second Earth
Chapter 1: The Discovery of Natural Abundance 11
Chapter 2: Many Revolutions Follow 27
Chapter 3: Ultimately, Stability 41
field trip: Nantucket Island 57
Part II After the Frontier
Chapter 4: The Watershed 77
Chapter 5: Land of Coal and Steel 91
Chapter 6: The Resourceful State 107
field trip: Imperial Valley 123
Part III Planet of Limits
Chapter 7: Plunder and Plenty 139
Chapter 8: The Wolf at the Door 157
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viii Contents
Chapter 9: Earth’s Boundaries 183
field trip: Athabasca River 203
Epilogue
Life on a Pale Blue Dot 219
Notes 227
Index 253
LIST OF IMAGES OF EARTH
Color plates appear between pages 114 and 115.
Plate 1: Eighteenth-century map of Long Island
Plate 2: Map based on Mercator’s Second Earth
Plate 3: Watershed map of New Hampshire and Vermont
Plate 4: Paperback cover of The Limits to Growth
Plate 5: “The Pale Blue Dot” photograph of Earth
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