Here on Earth: A Natural History of the Planet

374 Pages·2011·3.61 MB·English

by  Tim Flannery

HERE ON EARTH
Tim Flannery is a writer, a scientist and an explorer. He has published over a
dozen books including the award-winning bestsellers The Future Eaters, The
Eternal Frontier and The Weather Makers. The 2007 Australian of the Year,
Tim is Panasonic Professor in Environmental Sustainability at Macquarie
University, and is National Geographic’s representative in Australasia. He sits
on the sustainability boards of Siemens and Tata Power and the board of WWF
International, and from 2007 to 2010 he chaired the Copenhagen Climate
Council. Tim lives on the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales.
HERE ON EARTH
A Natural History of the Planet
TIM FLANNERY
Copyright © 2010 by Tim Flannery All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including
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or all of the work for classroom use, or anthology, should send inquiries to
Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 or
[email protected].
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reproduce the following
illustrations: Charles Darwin: University College London. The sand walk: Ted
Grant. Alfred Russel Wallace: The Wallace Fund, George Beccaloni. The island
of Ternate: Tim Flannery. James Lovelock: Bruno Comby. Tim Flannery: Nick
Rowley. Homo floresiensis and Elasmotherium sibiricum: Peter Schouten.
Telefol elders and long-beaked echidna: Tim Flannery. Wisent: Romanowa. Père
David’s deer: Lily M. Atomic bomb cloud: United States Department of
Defense. Greenland icecap: NASA. Attine ants: Arpingstone.
First published in 2010 in Australia by The Text Publishing Company,
Melbourne.
Cover design by W. H. Chong Page design by Susan Miller Printed in the
United States of America
eBook ISBN-13: 978-0-80219560-9
Atlantic Monthly Press
an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
841 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
Distributed by Publishers Group West
www.groveatlantic.com
NOT FOR RESALE
To VJF, OMS and MH
Contents
Foreword
SECTION 1
MOTHER NATURE OR MONSTER EARTH?
CHAPTER 1
Evolution’s Motive Force
Pebbles in the sand walk of perpetual worries. Darwin loses faith and discovers
the monster that created us. Like confessing a murder—but of what or whom?
The sagacity and morality of worms. More are born than can survive. Charles
Darwin Jr’s death at evolution’s dawning. Understanding mired in ignorance.
Which ‘favoured races’?
Yan Fu and heavens’ performance.
CHAPTER 2
Of Genes, Mnemes and Destruction
Dawkins’ selfish genes in a selfish world. Competition: the leitmotif of the
twentieth century. A Lamarckian vision of cultural evolution.
Semon’s marvellous mnemes, including one that changed the atmosphere.
Ward’s terrifying Medea. The survival of the fittest as the survival of none.
CHAPTER 3
Evolution’s Legacy
Alfred Russel Wallace: a working-class evolutionist with a social conscience.
Flashes of genius. Pondering man’s place in the Universe. Studies of dust.
Musings on the beetle that writes. On evolution and soccer. Would a Wallacean
world have been different? The sum of cooperation of all life. Venus and Mars,
and Lovelock’s jet-propelled understanding. Gaia, from the horse’s mouth. The
mysteries of Daisyworld. Gaia and Lord of the Flies. Sir Francis Bacon and the
great Christian morality play. A new pagan emptiness?
CHAPTER 4
A Fresh Look at Earth
Great self-choreographed extravaganzas of electrochemical reaction. Earth’s
animated crust—from dust to dust. Elements wrought from stardust.
Transubstantiation of the carbony hosts. The 100-terawatt budget that
unbalances Earth’s organs. Life creates the continents and the atmosphere. Earth
our great oyster. For the love of cadmium. The misleading salt of the Earth.
Storage in stone. The abyss—sump or pump? The arrival of the burrowers.
CHAPTER 5
The Commonwealth of Virtue
The tightness of connections—a doctor’s opinion. A living planet without a
brain? The importance of geo-pheromones. The test of homeostasis—can Gaia
control herself? The faint young Sun paradox. A Milankovitch failure—or a
schizoid Earth? A commonwealth of virtue. Life in a country long unchanged.
How women are making men in their minds’ image. Why the world is full of
lonely giants. Earth’s productivity—a sort of magic pudding? May the African
honeyguide frame our thinking.
SECTION 2