Penna - The human footprint: a global environmental history

This second edition first published 2015

2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Edition history: John Wiley & Sons, Inc (1e, 2010)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Penna, Anthony N.

The human footprint : a global environmental history / Anthony N. Penna.Second edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-91246-1 (pbk.)

1. Human ecologyHistory. 2. EcologyHistory. 3. Climatic changesHistory. 4. Natural history. I. Title.

GF13.P46 2015

304.2dc23

2014017310

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: Melting water streams from iceberg carved from Ilulissat Kangerlua Glacier (Jakobshavn Icefjord) in Disko Bay. Paul Souders/Corbis

Dedication for the First Edition In Memoriam

To my grandparents, whose life journeys created opportunities

Vincenzo Penna (18701950)

Filomena Penna (18731956)

Niccolo DePalma (18881916)

Carolina DePalma Bosco (18901981)

Pellegrino Bosco (18821963)

To my parents, who provided incentives

Anthony Penna (19071987)

Mary DePalma Penna (19142003)

Dedication for the Second Edition

To my grandchildren

Olan Anthony Turner, London, UK (2010)

Skylar Rosalie Thieme, Philadelphia, USA (2013)

1. Global timeline of human transformation of the terrestrial biosphere.
2. Zebras grazing on the Serengeti in Botswana, August 2011.
3. Cutaway views showing the internal structure of the Earth.
4. Some of the world's major tectonic plates.
5. The breakup of Pangaea.
6. The Himalayas: two continents collide.
7. Analysis of air bubbles trapped in an Antarctic ice core extending back 800,000 years.
8. The first wave of human migration.
9. The Acheulean vs. Olduwan tool boundary.
10. The Neanderthal world.
11. Modern humans invade Europe.
12. Model granary from the tomb of Meketre, Middle Dynasty 12 in Ancient Egypt.
13. Rice cultivation in the Kanto.
14. An early example of three-field crop rotation, used to renew the land's fertility.
15. Phosphate spreader on an alfalfa field.
16. Industrial chicken (broiler) sheds. In these sheds, chickens are mass produced using feed enhanced with growth hormones and antibiotics to prevent the spread of infection.
17. Percentages of irrigated arable land worldwide.
18. Dam Square (1656) by Johannes Lingelbach, depicting the building of the Town Hall in Amsterdam.
19. Crowd in the Piazza del Campo, Siena, Italy, before the running of the Palio horse race, in which the city's numerous districts compete for victory. The race's origins date back to the thirteenth century.
20. Long-term population growth, 17502050.
21. Hunters in the Snow (1565) by the Dutch painter Pieter Brueghel. The painting is used by historians as supporting evidence of the severe winters during the Little Ice Age.
22. Waterside marketplace in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, on Africa's northwestern coast.
23. Winter crowd in Shibuya, a fashionable shopping and entertainment district in Tokyo, Japan.
24. The urban and rural population of the world, 19502030.
25. The Sydney Royal Opera House, October 2013.
26. The Citadel of Qaitbay, located on the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt, one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was fortified by the Egyptians in the fifteenth century.
27. An original antique map of Hierosolima (Jerusalem) from the German text Nuremberg Chronicle, (1493). Hierosolima is represented as a circular walled city with the Temple of Solomon at its center.
28. The building of the Avenue de l'Opra in Paris, France, was completed in 1878 as part of Napoleon III's revitalization of the city. It remains a focal point of the city's business, tourist, and interurban transportation system.
29. After the initial shaping or roughing (a, ebauchage) the work is completed by the tournassage (b, turning on a potter's wheel).
30. Bob Deane, a professional potter, at his studio in Media, Pennsylvania.
31. Reconstruction of a Roman crane. It could lift up to 7,000 kg and was used in the construction of fortresses and large buildings. Two legionaries or slaves had to walk within its wheel to operate it and it had to be anchored to the ground to prevent movement.
32. Japanese metal workers operating a forge during the country's medieval period.
33. Steel production in the Middle Ages. The scenes show (a) metal extraction and washing in a diverted stream; (b) pouring molten liquid on a thick copper plate in a lattice pattern; and (c) rolling the lattice sheets with a wooden mallet.
34. Craftsmen painting images on hand-woven cotton textiles at Tribal Textiles, Mfuwe, Zambia, August 2011.
35. Young boys climbing on cotton thread spinners to mend threads and replace empty bobbins in Macon, Georgia, 1909.
36. A Bessemer converter at Workington Iron and Steel located in West Cumbria, near the Lake District in northwest England. A blast of air through the molten pig iron in the converter removes impurities in the steel-making process.
37. Ford Motor Company's Mustang on a robotic assembly line.
38. World automobile production, 19502009. The layers are vertically positioned to match the list in the legend.
39. Grinding sugar cane in a windmill.
40. A coffee shop in Palestine.
41. A tea warehouse in Guangzhou, China. Porters carry baskets of tea to three European inspectors.