Chapter 4. Planetary Engineering on the Earth (original) (raw)
Related papers
Five billion years of global change: a history of the land
Cultural Geographies, 2006
HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
Introduction The scientific endeavor and human curiosity have been deliberated on the questions regarding the origins and the nature of the Earth for centuries. Over the past couple of decades, scientists have made great leap on the understanding of earth's operation as the transformation of Earth science has continued and due to the major improvement in technology. " Origin and Evolution of Earth: Research Questions for a Changing Planet " was edited by the Committee on ten Grand Research Questions in the Solid-Earth Sciences, National Research Council in 2008, which is a biological, chemical and geological science book. This book aims to unmask, and capture the capacity and ambitions of the questions on planetary and geological science, it discusses plenty grand questions in the area, such as the origin of earth, and shows the challenges faced by scientists at the beginning of the 21 st century that led to the frontier of earth science. The book described ten " big picture " on Earth science, the questions show genuine challenges and may not be fully understand for decades, the answers to those fundamental questions would help to improve understanding of the planet Earth and even stimulate new strategies for managing the environment. Summary of contents There are 10 research questions in the book, the questions are grouped into four chapters. The questions reflect what is important issues in the scope of geological and planetary science. In Chapter 1 'Origins' talks about the questions on How did Earth and other planets form, what happened during Earth's 'dark age' and how did life begin. The first question is about the origin of the solar system. This question is especially crucial for the further exploring of the space, it is important for scientists to discover the origins and the evolution of life; hence help us to understand the causes that lead to major differences between planets in solar systems, for example, to understand why earth is the only planet among all in the solar system to have sufficient liquid water at the planet surface for the support of lives on it. This research question will help scientist to come to an understanding on the mysterious origins of earth and solar system. The second question about the Earth's dark age is highly considerable on the research of the Earth's evolution for investigators, as what used to happen during the dark age may have major influence on the change of Earth later in times. While the information on that period is little, more researches is needed to be conducted to accelerate the research on the topic. The last question in this chapter asks about the origin of life, which is one of the most challenging and deepest questions of all time in science It is important to learn the root of life so that we can predict the further evolution of human in the future, the question also impels scientists to investigate on the relationship of the Earth and the evolution of life. For Chapter 2 'Earth's interior'', it discuss about more significant questions, which are: " " How does Earth's interior work and how does it affect the surface, why does Earth have plate tectonics and continents and how are Earth processes controlled by material properties. " The first question enquires the operation of the Earth's interior, which is about the volcano movement and its influence on the surface of the planet, such as how the volcano movement leads to formation of landscape. Also to observe the transformation of the surface condition. The question aims to dissect the Earth and have better understanding on its exterior and interior. Another question inquires the distribution of the plates and continental-crust, which has a lot to do with the existence and persistence of life since it makes a habitat for non-marine life. The third question is to investigate the physics and chemistry of material that compose the Earth in order to conduct further study on the Earth's history so as to predict the changes in the future.
Anthropocene: Does the New Geological Age push towards a Metamorphosis of the World
2021
The Anthropocene has created a new cartography. Various disciplines and discourses overlap each other. Two fields of knowledge: geology and anthropology are unified in one single concept. The Axial Age separated everyday practices from an unbiased and objective view of the world. Romanticism, in the nineteenth century, challenged the separation between the natural sciences and the sciences of the spirit. Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer had two distinct parts; a first establishes "a period of time" the second an "epistemic tool". This paper is intended to illustrate the epistemological dimension of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene defines the present geological epoch as dominated by humans. Eduard Suess, Antonio Stopani, Teilhard de Chardin, Vladimir Vernadsky etc., a century ago, anticipated the concept of Anthropocene. "Noösphere" is a term from the "world of thought". The hypothesis of an earth as a living organism, which is inspired b...
Private Game, 2020
Earth’s path of change since origin follows a sequence of natural climatic and atmospheric oscillations, altering between warm/hot and cool/cold, and carbon dioxide fluctuations. These changes result from a complex mixture of natural solar and galactic forces from beyond, as well as from ever changing forces from Earth itself, affecting life, natural habitats, animal speciation and animal distribution (called phylo-biogeography). Man co-exists since the beginning and throughout, a series of recently developed glacial and inter-glacial cycles, and adding additional impact and effects to the natural processes of dynamic change. The greater of man’s influence being to the detriment of present global life. In order for man to manage and sustain ecosystems, biodiversity, wildlife and game practices, and agriculture and livestock practices, it is imperative to have some understanding and knowledge of natural dynamics and the main forces behind. Science on world and quantum physics, palaeo-climatology, palaeo-environments and the consequential effects of on past and present life, had exploded in magnitude building holistic understandings of Earth, nature and life and the forces involved. Despite former argues general consensus among scientists at present is that Earth’s state of solid-mass manifested between 4,4 and 4,7 Billion year (Ba) before present (BP), formed by the cooling of former gas volumes and space-dust derived from a gigantic space-explosion presumably at about 12 Ba BP.
The Anthropocene Perspective: A geological approach to climate change
Mètode Science Studies Journal, 2022
The most recent division of geological time is based on climate events caused by variations in the Earth's orbit and axis of rotation on a scale of thousands of years. However, the magnitude of geological change caused by humankind through its still young technosphere, particularly since the mid-20th century, is negatively affecting the other classical spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere). This is because of our increasing demand for raw materials and the incomplete recycling of its residues (e.g., greenhouse gases). The massive use of fossil fuels to power the recent boom in industrial development has turned humanity into the new agent of planetary-scale climate change. Some alterations associated with this new Anthropocene climate system are already irreversible and exceed the natural variability of the last few thousand years.