Earth As A Cradle For Life, The: The Origin, Evolution And Future Of The Environment

The Earth as a Cradle for Life aims to fill the gap between readers who have a strong and informed scientific interest in the environment (but no access to the journal literature), and their desire for a basic understanding of the environment. It provides a comprehensive account, and requires no advanced mathematical skills. It will also satisfy a need for a textbook on fundamental science for students in tertiary environmental science courses that may otherwise neglect the underlying basis of their subject.

The Earth as a Cradle takes a step back from common perceptions of the environment, and presents a new fundamental perspective. It draws attention to observations that have been neglected or discounted for reasons the authors found invalid, and which allow a more coherent account of the environment than is possible without them.

Misunderstandings about the environment are common, even in the scientific community. They arise in part from the multi-disciplinary nature of the subject and the difficulty in keeping all relevant observations in mind and assessing their validity. These misunderstandings are often consequences of the band-wagon effect: when an idea is reinforced by repeated quotation and becomes difficult to contradict even when it is in obvious conflict with observations. This is especially so in a subject with strong media interest and conflicting commercial interests — and Cradle sweeps these considerations aside and presents a new environmental scenario.

This book draws on several decades of research by the authors on fundamental Earth science, and presents probing insights on environmental questions that are not widely recognized — even in the professional community. For this reason it will become a landmark in the environmental science and Earth science literature.
Contents:Physical and Astronomical Foundations:“The Age of the Earth as an Abode Fitted for Life” (Lord Kelvin, 1899)Rotation, Tides and the MoonThe Variable Sun and Other Astronomical EffectsThe Magnetic FieldThe Evolving Earth:Internal Heat and the Evolution of the EarthThe OceansPlanetary Atmospheres and the Appearance of Free OxygenThermal Balance, the Greenhouse Effect and Sea LevelEnvironmental Crises and Mass Extinctions of SpeciesStability of the EnvironmentInorganic Mineral Deposits as Products of an Evolving EnvironmentFossil Fuels, Buried Carbon and Photosynthetic OxygenHuman Influences:Effects of Fossil Fuel UseA Comparison of Human Energy Use with Natural DissipationsThe Cradle is RockingA Summary of Salient Conclusions
Readership: General public, students, professionals, and researchers in the fields of environmental science, geology, geophysics, climatology, meteorology, oceanography, and environmental education.