Merrill Singer - Ecosystem Crises Interactions

1 Cover

2 Title Page Ecosystem Crises Interactions Human Health and the Changing Environment Merrill Singer, PhD Department of Anthropology Emeritus Professor University of Connecticut Storrs, CT, USA

3 Copyright Page

4 Dedication Page

5 Preface

6 1 Introduction: public health, EcoHealth, planetary health, and you 1.1 Connections 1.2 Is this a dangerous book? 1.3 Three alternative approaches to health and the environment 1.4 Global warming or climate change? 1.5 Depth of the human footprint 1.6 Introducing ecocrises interactions and health 1.7 Thresholds in the environment 1.8 Sustainability of human life on Earth 1.9 How did things get this bad? 1.10 Age of the Anthropocene 1.11 The hottest year on record 1.12 Organization of this book References

7 Part 1: Impact on ecosystems 2 Intricacies of ecosystems 2.1 The nature of nature and the pathway to understanding 2.2 Developing a historic understanding of ecology and ecosystems 2.3 Modern ecology References 3 The social and technological making of environmental crises 3.1 Earth is now a different place 3.2 The longue durée and the rise and development of capitalism 3.3 Environmental neoliberalism and the polluting elites 3.4 The Anthropocene or the Capitolocene? 3.5 The future of Eaarth References 4 Engaging catastrophe 4.1 Introduction to a dismal theme 4.2 Prepping for doomsday 4.3 The record of past radical environmental change 4.4 Popular concern with the environment References 5 A home in peril: major contemporary environmental crises 5.1 Case studies in contemporary environmental crises 5.2 Deforestation 5.3 Acidification of the oceans 5.4 Eutrophication of estuarine and coastal waters 5.5 Depletion of the oceans 5.6 Pollution of waters 5.7 Oil spills 5.8 Desertification 5.9 Concluding remarks References 6 The threat of ecocrises interaction 6.1 Compounded perturbations and ecological surprises 6.2 Climate change and polluted Superfund sites 6.3 Global toxic sites and climate change 6.4 The ecocrises of unfettered mining 6.5 Cement, asbestos, and climate change 6.6 The climate change–nuclear ecocrisis nexus 6.7 Concluding remarks References

8 Part 2: Environmental crisis 7 Encountering degrading environments 7.1 Complexities of the environment–health nexus 7.2 Ecosystem distress syndrome 7.3 Case studies of degraded environments 7.4 Case studies of fragmented environments 7.5 The dilemma of simplified environments 7.6 Fragmented environments, ticks, and human health 7.7 Solastalgia: distress linked to environmental change References 8 Climate change, crisis enhancement 8.1 Consensus on climate change 8.2 Driving climate change 8.3 How serious is climate change? 8.4 Drought and heatwaves 8.5 Melting land ice and tundra 8.6 Coastal flooding 8.7 The polar vortex 8.8 Hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons, and tropical storms 8.9 Infectious diseases 8.10 Food loss to heat and insect pests References 9 Business as deadly usual: resisting environmental science 9.1 A consistent pattern of climate change denial 9.2 A time of questioning environmental science 9.3 Skirting accountability: polluters, innocence, and the victim slot 9.4 Fighting for the “right” to pollute 9.5 Deadly business: Big Energy and the denial of climate change 9.6 The politics of climate change denial 9.7 The institutions of the climate change denial machine 9.8 Taking climate change deniers to court 9.9 Fundamentalist denial References

9 Part 3: Human health risks with changing environment 10 Crossing boundaries and thresholds 10.1 Are there biophysical boundaries for humanity? 10.2 Key biogeochemical and biophysical Earth system processes 10.3 Exploring planetary boundaries 10.4 Environmental tipping points References 11 Time for change? Toward sustainability, toward life 11.1 Why go to school? 11.2 Social movements 11.3 Stepping toward change 11.4 Toward changing the system: addressing ultimate causes 11.5 The solidarity economy 11.6 Stateless democracy 11.7 Ecosocialism References

10 Index

11 End User License Agreement

1 Chapter 2 Table 2.1 Diverse benefits from nature. Source: Modified from World Wildlife ...

2 Chapter 5Table 5.1 Percentage of U.S. estuaries with reports of low dissolved oxygen o...

1 Chapter 1 Fig. 1.1 Zoonotic disease triad. Fig. 1.2 Model of direct and indirect human effects on earth systems. Fig. 1.3 Smokestack pollution from a power plant. Fig. 1.4 Toxic waste barrel.

2 Chapter 2 Fig. 2.1 Ivy growing on a tree. Fig. 2.2 Charles Darwin. Fig. 2.3 Tide pool. Fig. 2.4 Human alteration of key components of Earth ecosystems. Fig. 2.5 Feedbacks between human activities and Earth properties leading to ...

3 Chapter 3 Fig. 3.1 Early stone tools. Fig. 3.2 Chichen Itza, a pre‐Columbian city built by the Mayan people.

4 Chapter 4Fig. 4.1 Dodo displayed at Oxford University Museum of Natural History.Fig. 4.2 Time series for an oxygen isotope from the North Greenland Ice Core...Fig. 4.3 Bison cave painting, Altamira Cave, Santillana del Mar, Cantabria, ...

5 Chapter 5Fig. 5.1 Bleached coral.Fig. 5.2 The Great Barrier Reef.Fig. 5.3 Blue Earth.Fig. 5.4 Tuna sushi.Fig. 5.5 Beached ocean plastic.Fig. 5.6 Seahorse and cotton swab floating in Indonesian waters.Fig. 5.7 Harbor seal examining golf balls off the coast of California.

6 Chapter 6Fig. 6.1 Hurricane Katrina flooding.Fig. 6.2 Miami‐Dade County, Florida.Fig. 6.3 Hospital patient.Fig. 6.4 Adverse climate change–nuclear nexus.Fig. 6.5 Runit Dome, Enewetak Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands, aeria...

7 Chapter 7Fig. 7.1 Fracking drilling site.Fig. 7.2 Ground beetle.Fig. 7.3 Forest edge.

8 Chapter 8Fig. 8.1 Global energy‐related CO 2emissions.Fig. 8.2 Drought.Fig. 8.3 Melting glacier.Fig. 8.4 Flooding.Fig. 8.5 Hurricane.Fig. 8.6 The rising number of undernourished people in the world.Fig. 8.7 Grasshopper.Fig. 8.8 Coffee beans.

9 Chapter 9Fig. 9.1 March for Science.Fig. 9.2 Oil rig.

10 Chapter 10Fig. 10.1 Damselfly.Fig. 10.2 Forest fire.

11 Chapter 11Fig. 11.1 Climate action marcher with Greta Thunberg sign.Spiske/UnSplas...Fig. 11.2 Bill McKibben.

1 Cover Page

2 Title Page Ecosystem Crises Interactions Human Health and the Changing Environment Merrill Singer, PhD Department of Anthropology Emeritus Professor University of Connecticut Storrs, CT, USA

3 Copyright Page

4 Dedication

5 Preface

6 Table of Contents

7 Begin Reading

8 Index

9 WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

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