The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis (46 page)

Human labor, supplementing with domestic animals,
73
,
74–75
,
78–79

Human waste,
85–88

Humans

    
brain size and complexity,
42–43

    
evolution and extinction of early human species,
47–51

    
lactose digestion by,
45–46

Humboldt, Alexander von,
89
,
103

Humpback whales,
50

Humus theory,
106–107

Hundred Years’ War,
79

Hunger,
7

Hunter-gatherers,
55
,
56
,
57
,
141

Hutton, James,
28

Hutton, John,
100

Huxley, Aldous,
117

Hybrid vigor,
129
,
134
,
135
,
177

Hybrids

    
corn,
134–136

    
cross-bred,
130

    
rice,
177–178

Ice Ages,
43

Ice cream,
190–191

Inbreeding,
128–129
,
134

Inca,
88–89

India

    
food production in,
175–176

    
groundwater extraction,
181–182

    
growth of urban population in,
203–204

    
uneven access to Green Revolution,
180–181

Indigenous people, Kayapó,
x–xii
Indus River,
70
,
72

Industrial revolution,
81–82

Inheritance, genetic,
39–40

    
blended,
129
,
132

    
Darwin and,
128–129

    
Mendel’s experiments with,
129–132

    
randomness of,
127

Innovations, cumulative learning and,
44

Insecticides

    
for fire ant control,
155

    
for gypsy moth control,
156

    
synthetic organic,
156–157

    
See also
Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane
;
Pesticides

Integrated pest management,
166–167

Intelligent brains,
40

Intelligent life, elsewhere in the universe,
17–18

Internal combustion engine,
123

Introduced species,
150

Inuit,
35–37
,
38–39
,
45
,
164
,
194

Invasive species,
150

IR8 (rice variety),
176–177

Ireland, Great Famine in,
10–13
,
148

Irrigation, in Mesopotamia,
71

James (King of England),
95

Japan

    
manure use in,
78

    
short wheat varieties,
174

Japanese macaque,
41
,
44

Jericho,
8
,
101

Jones, Donald,
135

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical

Chemistry,
111

Kayapó (indigenous people),
x–xii

Kellogg, Luella,
43
,
50

Kellogg, Winthrop,
43
,
50

Kenya, increase in overweight people in,
194

Knowledge, building across generations,
3

Kwashiorkor,
60–61

Lactase,
45–46

Lactose, digestion of,
45–46

Lake, eutrophication,
118–120

Lake Mendota,
119–120

Language,
50–51

Law of the Minimum,
65

Lawes, Sir John,
62
,
103
,
114
,
115

Lead arsenite,
156

Leaf-cutter ants, farming by,
9
,
149

Learning

    
compensating for locked-in inheritance,
40

    
cumulative,
44–46
,
49
,
50

    
social,
41–43

    
trial-and-error,
40

Legumes,
62–63
,
75

Lenoir, Jean J.,
123

Les Misérables
(Hugo),
76

Levees,
71

Lice, control with DDT,
153
,
154

Liebig, Justus von

    
on Chinese agriculture,
75

    
law of the Minimum,
65

    
mineral theory,
106–107

    
phosphorus and,
62
,
65
,
103
,
113–116

    
on sewage return to field,
87–88

Life

    
biological homogeneity,
94–95
,
98

    
building blocks of,
30

    
diversity of,
29–32

    
diversity threatened by food production,
197

    
liquid water as requisite for,
19

    
planets supporting,
17–18

    
from rivers,
70–72

    
transcontinental transfer of species,
94–95
,
97–98

Life-span, average,
5

Limits to Growth
(Meadows),
2

Little Ice Age,
57

Livestock, corn-fed,
133
,
134

Lockwood, Jeffrey,
147

Locusts,
145–147
,
165–166

London

    
human waste disposal,
86–88

    
population growth in,
105

London’s Farmer Club,
87

Longping, Yuan,
177–178

Los Baños, Philippines,
176

Maggi, Blairo,
x
,
xii

Magma,
24
,
26
,
27

Magnetic field, planetary,
21–22

Maize.
See
Corn

Malaria,
154
,
165

Male sterility,
178–179

Malthus, Thomas Robert,
2
,
59
,
83–84
,
89
,
105
,
175

Mammals, as dominant life form on Earth,
32

Manure

    
human waste,
76–78
,
85–88

    
use in China,
76–77

    
use in Europe,
80–82

Margarine,
192

Mars

    
atmosphere of,
21

    
lack of carbon cycling,
24

    
lack of internal magnet,
21
,
22

    
solar wind effect on,
21

    
temperature of,
17
,
20
,
27

    
tilt of,
22

    
volcanoes and lava flows of,
24

Marx, Karl,
91

Mato Grosso,
140

Maya,
93

McClintock, Francis,
36

Meadows, Donella,
2

Meat

    
affordability of,
191

    
in diet,
142–144
,
191

    
energy cost of,
77

    
greenhouse gases released in production of,
196

    
wealth linked to consumption of,
191

Mediterranean fruit fly,
150

Memes,
10

Mendel, Gregor,
129–132

Mennonites,
136

Mesopotamia,
70–72

Meteorites,
30
,
32

Methane,
196
,
202

Mexico

    
Norman Borlaug’s work in,
172–174

    
uneven access to Green Revolution,
180

    
wheat production,
180

Middle Ages,
77

Mineral theory,
106–107
,
114

Moldboard plow,
78

Monocultures

    
as invitation to pests,
144
,
149

    
Midwestern,
141–142
,
144

    
pesticides and,
169

Monopoly, by a single species,
2

Montagu, Ashley,
38

Moon,
22–23

Morgan, George,
150

Morse, Howard,
139

Mosquito, control with DDT,
153
,
154
,
165

Mountain chains, linear,
24
,
25

Müller, Paul,
153–154
,
157
,
168
,
199

Munitions, production of,
110–111

Murray, Sir James,
114

Mushroom gardens, of leaf-cutter ants,
149

Muspratt, James Sheridan,
115

Mustard gas,
111

Natural selection

    
artificial breeding compared,
127–128

    
Darwin and,
37–38
,
127–128

    
learning and,
40
,
45

    
pesticide resistance,
158–159

Neanderthals,
47

Nehru, Jawaharlal,
124
,
175

Nicotine,
151
,
169

Night-soil,
76
,
77
,
78
,
87

Nile River,
71–72

Nitrate,
62
,
64
,
65

Nitrate Wars,
91

Nitrite,
64

Nitrobacter,
64

Nitrogen

    
coastal dead zones and,
121

    
cycling of,
28
,
62–65
,
75–76

    
gas,
62
,
65
,
75
,
121
,
197

    
in guano,
88–89

    
in manure,
76

    
in proteins,
61

    
in saltpeter,
91

    
uptake from soil by plants,
61
,
62

Nitrogen fixation

    
access to fixed nitrogen,
112

    
by bacteria,
64–65

    
chemical,
106
,
108–113

    
consequences of abundance,
120–121