In humanity’s more than 100,000 year history, we have evolved from vulnerable creatures clawing sustenance from Earth to a sophisticated global society manipulating every inch of it. In short, we have become the dominant animal. Why, then, are we creating a world that threatens our own species? What can we do to change the current trajectory toward more climate change, increased famine, and epidemic disease?   Renowned Stanford scientists Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich believe that intelligently addressing those questions depends on a clear understanding of how we evolved and how and why we’re changing the planet in ways that darken our descendants’ future. The Dominant Animal arms readers with that knowledge, tracing the interplay between environmental change and genetic and cultural evolution since the dawn of humanity. In lucid and engaging prose, they describe how Homo sapiens adapted to their surroundings, eventually developing the vibrant cultures, vast scientific knowledge, and technological wizardry we know today.   But the Ehrlichs also explore the flip side of this triumphant story of innovation and conquest. As we clear forests to raise crops and build cities, lace the continents with highways, and create chemicals never before seen in nature, we may be undermining our own supremacy. The threats of environmental damage are clear from the daily headlines, but the outcome is far from destined. Humanity can again adapt—if we learn from our evolutionary past.   Those lessons are crystallized in The Dominant Animal. Tackling the fundamental challenge of the human predicament, Paul and Anne Ehrlich offer a vivid and unique exploration of our origins, our evolution, and our future.

Explores how overpopulation, over consumption, and political and economic inequity are increasingly determining today's politics and shaping humankind's future, and demonstrates ways these often-neglected factors influence each other.

Answering critics of environmental science and activism, the authors demonstrate the damage done to the environment by pollutants, the reality of global warming, and the threat of overpopulation, and emphasize the role of science in solving these problems. Reprint. IP. (view table of contents)

(view table of contents)

Discuss the views of anti-environmentalists and those of the scientific community, covering such issues as population growth, desertification, global warming, acid rain, and ozone depletion

America's most respected experts on population and the authors of the best-seller, The Population Bomb, outline a plan for combatting the coming increase in population with changes in the treatment of women and farmers.

The authors highlight critical environmental problems and suggest national and international measures by which the problems can be alleviated

Confirms the authors' predictions--chronic famine, the yearly loss of tons of topsoil, global warming--and calls for a last-minute effort to take control of our destiny

Essays analyze the environmental, economic, and psychological impact of the nation's nuclear weapons program

The authors examine the drain on the planet's resources as the population increases and contend that disaster can be averted by political change and a drastic reordering of priorities