Big Ratchet
How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis
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Big Ratchet
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Narrado por:
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Pam Ward
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De:
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Ruth Defries
Acerca de esta escucha
The Big Ratchet is the story 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.
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.
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.
©2014 Ruth DeFries (P)2014 HighBridge CompanyLos oyentes también disfrutaron...
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Lo que los oyentes dicen sobre Big Ratchet
Calificaciones medias de los clientesReseñas - Selecciona las pestañas a continuación para cambiar el origen de las reseñas.
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Total5 out of 5 stars
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Ejecución5 out of 5 stars
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Historia5 out of 5 stars
- Dave Dragon
- 07-26-23
Excellent history.
Loved it all,
The voice artists did a great job.
They did an excellent job linking the natural and human histories of the development and cultivation of food energy sources.
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Total5 out of 5 stars
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Ejecución5 out of 5 stars
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Historia5 out of 5 stars
- Ronan
- 03-08-22
Focused history of feeding expanding populations
Excellent listen. Tight narrative of the long history of using chemistry to feed us.
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