Ebook: The big ratchet: how humanity thrives in the face of natural crisis

1. A bird's-eye view. Civilization's engine -- The Irish pivot -- The length of the lens. -- 2. Planetary beginnings. Real estate in the cosmos -- What goes around comes around -- Time to fill the pantry. -- 3. Enter human ingenuity. From genes to ingenuity -- Tools, fire, and words -- Forager to farmer. -- 4. Conundrums of settled life. The great irony -- Bottleneck from below -- Life from rivers -- Another conundrum -- Ancient China sidesteps the bottleneck -- Europe ratchets up. -- 5. Ratchets from afar. Boobies and cormorants -- Sun-powered cargo -- Traveling water. -- 6. Smash open the bottlenecks. Food from air -- Buffalo bones and buried coral -- Hatchets downstream -- Another spigot opens. -- 7. Monocultures march across the Midwest. Hybrids invade the corn belt -- Short beats tall -- In search of the soybean -- Power from the ancient sun -- More meat, less starch. -- 8. Competition for the bounty. Scarecrows to strychnine -- A better scarecrow -- Cascading consequences -- Perpetual pursuit. -- 9. The revolution goes global. From Mexico to India -- Miracles with rice -- The dark side of the revolution -- Back to the wild -- The next genetic twist. -- 10. Farmer to urbanite. Fattier and sweeter -- The planetary machinery lashes back -- The next pivots -- Into the cacophony.;"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"--