Technology and Global Change

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, Oct 16, 2003 - Science - 464 pages
Technology and Global Change describes how technology has shaped society and the environment over the last 200 years. Technology has led us from the farm to the factory to the internet, and its impacts are now global. Technology has eliminated many problems, but has added many others (ranging from urban smog to the ozone hole to global warming). This book is the first to give a comprehensive description of the causes and impacts of technological change and how they relate to global environmental change. Written for specialists and nonspecialists alike, it will be useful for researchers and professors, as a textbook for graduate students, for people engaged in long-term policy planning in industry (strategic planning departments) and government (R & D and technology ministries, environment ministries), for environmental activists (NGOs), and for the wider public interested in history, technology, or environmental issues.

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Contents

Introduction
8
12 Approach
8
13 Structural Overview
8
WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?
17
Technology Concepts and Definitions
19
21 From Artifacts to Megamachines
20
22 Technological Change
38
23 Sources of Technological Change
75
65 Environmental Impacts of Industrialization
227
66 Industrial Metabolism and Dematerialization Strategies
229
67 Energy
248
Services
291
Time Budgets and Consumer Expenditures
293
73 Lifestyles Services and the Environment
312
Growing Demands and Emissions
316
75 Transport and the Environment
330

Technology Models
91
Technology History
117
Some Suggestions for Further Reading on Part I
127
TECHNOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT NATURAL AND HUMAN
129
Agriculture
131
51 Introduction
132
52 Technology Agricultural Land and People
133
53 Three Clusters of Change in Agricultural Technologies
134
Productivity
154
LandUse Changes
161
Other Global Changes
170
57 Global Changes in Human Occupations and Residence
181
58 Environmental Problems of Urbanization
186
Industry
195
61 Introduction
196
63 Clusters
204
64 Socioeconomic Impacts of Industrialization
223
Some Suggestions for Further Reading on Part II
337
THE BALANCE OF EVIDENCE
339
Conclusion
341
82 Technology Productivity and the Environment
345
83 Patterns and Rates of Change
352
TechnologyEnvironment Paradox
355
85 A Manifesto
364
Postscript From Data Muddles to Models
367
92 Modeling Technological Change
374
93 A Model of Uncertain Returns from RD and Learning
381
94 Environment
389
95 Next Steps
392
Appendix
395
References
409
Index
441
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