000			a
999			_c31179 _d31179
008			220906b xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780190060664
082			_a909.8 _bSMI
100			_aSmil, Vaclav
245			_aGrand transitions : how the modern world was made
260			_b Oxford University Press, _c2021 _aNew York :
300			_axi, 363 p.; _bill. _c25 cm
365			_b34.95 _cUSD _d82.80
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_aThe modern world was created through the combination and complex interactions of five grand transitions. First, the demographic transition changed the total numbers, dynamics, structure, and residential pattern of populations. The agricultural and dietary transition led to the emergence of highly productive cropping and animal husbandry (subsidized by fossil energies and electricity), which eliminated famines, reduced malnutrition, and improved the health of populations but also resulted in enormous food waste and had many environmental consequences. The energy transition brought the world from traditional biomass fuels and human and animal labor to fossil fuel, ever more efficient electricity, lights, and motors, which transformed both agricultural and industrial production and enabled mass-scale mobility and instant communication. Economic transition has been marked by relatively high growth rates of total national and global product, by fundamental structural transformation (from farming to industries to services) and by an increasing share of humanity living in affluent societies, enjoying unprecedented quality of life. These transitions have made many intensifying demands on the environment, resulting in ecosystemic degradation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, and eventually change on the planetary level, with global warming being the most worrisome development. This book traces the genesis of these transitions, their interactions and complicated progress as well as their outcomes and impacts, explaining how the modern world was made-and then offers a forward-thinking examination of some key unfolding transitions and appraising their challenges and possible results.
650			_aOutcomes and outlooks.
650			_aEpochal transitions
650			_aPopulations
650			_a Agricultures and diets Energies
650			_aEconomies Environment
942			_2ddc _cBK