Witness to a Changing Earth: A Geologist's Journey Learning about Natural and Human-Caused Global Change

ISBN-13: 9783030718138 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022

C. Hans Nelson

Spis treści

PREFACE                                                                                                                  

INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE                                                                   

CHAPTER 1 GLOBAL WARMING

PATTERNS PROVIDING EVIDENCE FOR GLOBAL WARMING                                  

Increased CO₂ and CH₄ in the atmosphere and warming climate                                  

Ocean acidification from increased absorbtion of atmospheric CO₂                   

Rising ocean temperatures and sea levels                                                       

Diminishing polar ice, mountain glaciers, permafrost and gas hydrates             

16 record breaking air temperatures of the past 136 years since 2001               

More intense extreme weather events e.g hurricanes, droughts, wildfires                     

Increasing animal extinction rates                                                                   

CHAPTER 2 MY GLOBAL CHANGE STUDIES

MY EARLY ADVENTURES RELATED TO POSSIBLE GLOBAL CHANGE        

MY FIRST SCIENTIFIC LESSONS FOR GLOBAL CHANGE                            

UNIVERSITY LESSONS FOR GLOBAL CHANGE                                            

MASTERS DEGREE LESSONS FOR GLOBAL CHANGE                                 

ADVENTURES WHILE STUDYING CRATER LAKE                                         

PhD GRADUATE SCHOOL LESSONS FOR GLOBAL CHANGE                                   

ADVENTURES DURING PhD STUDIES                                                                      

WORLDWIDE INTRODUCTION TO GLOBAL CHANGE                                              

FIRST USGS LESSONS IN ALASKAN GLOBAL CHANGE                               

LOOKING FOR GOLD RESOURCES IN OFFSHORE ALASKA                         

1960s ALASKAN ADVENTURES                                                                     

EARLY 1970s RESOURCE & ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES IN ALASKA           

EARLY 1970s ALASKAN ADVENTURES                                                         

ALASKAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS IN 1976                                  

1976 ALASKAN ADVENTURES                                                                                   

ALASKAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS IN 1977                                  

1977 ALASKAN ANDVENTURES                                                                    

1978 AND 1980 ALASKAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS                       

1978 ALASKAN ANDVENTURES                                                                    

POTENTIAL VOLCANIC HAZARDS IN CRATER LAKE, OREGON                   

CRATER LAKE ADVENTURES                                                                                   

HOW POLITICS AFFECTS GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH                            

GLOBAL CHANGE RELATED TO MARINE MAMMALS IN ALASKA                

GLOBAL CHANGE EFFECTS ON WALRUS                                                    

GLOBAL CHANGE LESSONS FROM SPANISH STUDIES IN THE 1980s         

RESOURCE AND GLOBAL CHANGE LESSONS IN GULF OF MEXICO                       

GULF OF MEXICO ANVENTURES AND GLOBAL CHANGE HAZARDS                       

RESOURCE AND GLOBAL CHANGE LESSONS IN LAKE BAIKAL                   

LAKE BAIKAL ADVENTURES AND GLOBAL CHANGE LESSONS                   

VAR & CORSICA HUMAN & NATURAL GLOBAL CHANGE LESSONS                         

ANTARCTIC ADVENTURES IN A NATURAL LANDSCAPE                              

GLOBAL CHANGES RELATED TO EARTHQUAKES                                                   

GLOBAL CHANGE STUDIES IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM                                 

GLOBAL CHANGE LESSONS AND A SUSTAINABLE PLANET                                    

CHAPTER 3 GLOBAL CHANGE AND EARTH SUSTAINABILITY

 Introduction                                                                                                    

Energy                                                                                                            

The energy future                                                                                             

Clean air                                                                                                            

Potable or safe drinking water                                                                            

Arable soil or farmland                                                                                        

Radioactive global contamination of air, water and soil                                        

Ocean fisheries, coastal habitats and pollution                                                    

Population control                                                                                              

Lake Tanganyika, an example of combined global change                                   

Education as a solution for global sustainability                                                   

Summary for earth sustainability                                                                                    

TAKE HOME POINTS FOR A SUSTAINABLE PLANET                                                  

FINAL WORD ON GLOBAL WARMING                                                                         

MESSAGE TO GLOBAL WARMING DENIERS AND SKEPTICS                                     

POSITIVE SIGNS FOR FUTURE SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL CHANGE               

INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS AND COOPERATION                                   

NATIONAL AND LOCAL AGREEMENTS                                                           

TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION IMPROVEMENTS FOR HUMAN-CAUSED AND NATURAL GLOBAL CHANGE                                                                                                       

178

 IMPROVED MEDIA COVERAGE FOR GLOBAL CHANGE                                  

 GLOBAL CHANGE AND THE FUTURE FOR HUMANS                                      

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS                                                                                  

REFERENCES CITED                                                                                      

 ADDITIONAL READING                                                                                    

 

 

O autorze

Hans Nelson has a B.A. from Carleton College, M.S. from the University of Minnesota and Ph.D. from Oregon State University. He spent 32 years working in the U. S. Geological Survey and 20 years at the CSIC in Spain. His studies and worldwide teaching for 60 years have resulted in 220 publications. Hans has served as Chief Scientist for 30 scientific expeditions, in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. He has been Visiting Professor at the Universities of Barcelona, Brest and Utrecht in Europe and Blaustein Scholar at Stanford University. He is the recipient of multiple awards including the 2016 Kirk Bryan Award for Research Excellence of the Geological Society of America.

Blurb

This book is of interest to all of you willing to gain perspective both in time and in depth about the global environmental crises we are facing in the Anthropocene as well as pondering potential solutions. Humans are dominating the Earth’s environment and causing global changes in the most recent geologic time called the Anthropocene. Global changes are caused by both natural events like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, or caused by humans like global warming and pollution of air, water, and soil. The author documents all types of global changes, beyond climate change, pointing out the risks for humanity when all these changes combine in time. Hans Nelson describes global changes while traveling through an earth scientist’s 60-year global journey. Throughout his memoirs, the author provides many humorous examples of adventures taking place during the scientific studies on land and at sea. He makes suggestions for a sustainable planet and shows that humans worldwide in the past, and can in the future, work together on solutions for global change problems.

Students can use this book to learn about the many aspects of global change and methods that marine geologists use to obtain data on geologic hazards, resources, and environmental changes.