On the Shelf at CCBC Libraries
Ice Ages by
What causes Ice Ages? How did we learn about them? What were their affects on the social history of humanity? Allan Mazur's book tells the appealing history of the scientific 'discovery' of Ice Ages. How we learned that much of the Earth was repeatedly covered by huge ice sheets, why that occurred, and how the waning of the last Ice Age paved the way for agrarian civilization and, ultimately, our present social structures. The book discusses implications for the current 'controversies' over anthropogenic climate change, public understanding of science, and (lack of) 'trust in experts'. In parallel to the history and science of Ice Ages, sociologist Mazur highlights why this is especially relevant right now for humanity. Ice Ages: Their Social and Natural History is an engrossing combination of natural science and social history: glaciology and sociology writ large.
Call Number: QE741.2 .M39 2022
Vanished Giants by
Long after the extinction of dinosaurs, when humans were still in the Stone Age, woolly rhinos, mammoths, mastodons, sabertooth cats, giant ground sloths, and many other spectacular large animals that are no longer with us roamed the Earth. These animals are regarded as "Pleistocene megafauna," named for the geological era in which they lived--also known as the Ice Age. In Vanished Giants: The Lost World of the Ice Age, paleontologist Anthony J. Stuart explores the lives and environments of these animals, moving between six continents and several key islands. Stuart examines the animals themselves via what we've learned from fossil remains, and he describes the landscapes, climates, vegetation, ecological interactions, and other aspects of the animals' existence. Illustrated throughout, Vanished Giants also offers a picture of the world as it was tens of thousands of years ago when these giants still existed. Unlike the case of the dinosaurs, there was no asteroid strike to blame for the end of their world. Instead, it appears that the giants of the Ice Age were driven to extinction by climate change, human activities--especially hunting--or both. Drawing on the latest evidence provided by radiocarbon dating, Stuart discusses these possibilities. The extinction of Ice Age megafauna can be seen as the beginning of the so-called Sixth Extinction, which is happening right now. This has important implications for understanding the likely fate of present-day animals in the face of contemporary climate change and vastly increasing human populations.
Call Number: QE721.2.E97 S78 2021
The Ice Age: a Very Short Introduction by
The study of the Quaternary ice age has revolutionized ideas about Earth system change and the pace of landscape and ecosystem dynamics. The Ice Age: A Very Short Introduction looks at evidence from the continents, the oceans, and the ice core records, and the human stories behind it all. Jamie Woodward examines the remarkable environmental shifts that took place during the Great Ice Age of the Quaternary Period. He explores the evolution of ideas, evaluates the contributions of the leading players in the great debates, and presents some of the ingenious methods that have been used to retrieve information about the recent geological past. In an era of warming climate, the study of the ice age past is now more important than ever. This book examines the wonders of the Quaternary ice age - to show how ice age landscapes and ecosystems were repeatedly and rapidly transformed as plants, animals, and humans reorganized their worlds. About the Series: Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.
Call Number: QE697 .W86 2014
The Complete Ice Age by
Written by three distinguished experts and overseen by a leading historian of climate change, Brian Fagan, The Complete Ice Age reveals how climate fluctuated wildly between severe glacial periods and warmer intervals, how long-extinct creatures once roamed the harsh landscapes, and how archaic and then modern humans adapted as they spread from tropical Africa and colonized the world.This book covers a critical period in Earth's--and humanity's--history, from two million years ago to the present day. We travel with Neanderthal and more recent Ice Age hunters and encounter saber-toothed tigers and the giant woolly mammoth. We learn how new scientific enquiries, from DNA evidence to the study of human bones, are revealing the adaptability and evolution of the human species.And what of the future? We tend to forget that we are currently enjoying a warmer interglacial respite that began just 12,000 years ago. If past climatic change is any guide, the Ice Age should return within, geologically, a relatively short time. But will it, or will human profligacy cause catastrophic global warming?With contributions by John F. Hoffecker (University of Colorado), Mark Maslin (University College London), and Hannah O'Regan (Liverpool John Moores University).
Call Number: QE697 .C67 2009
Websites
- The Great Ice Age
from US Geological Survey - Pleistocene Epoch: Facts About the Last Ice Age
from Live Science, August 29, 2017 - Climate Change Past and Future: The Ice Ages
from Earthguide, UCSD
Streaming Video
- Is an Ice Age Coming?We're living in a brief window of time where our planet isn't frozen underneath a giant layer of glaciers. How much longer will the moderate climate that we've come to know as "normal" continue? This episode looks at how the changes in our planet's orbit and rotation impacts our climate.
- Another Ice Age?
With the world focused on global warming, the thought of a full glacial advance that could produce another ice age seems far-fetched. But given the cyclical nature of climate fluctuation, is another ice age really a possibility? This video explains the factors that affect climate fluctuation... and makes a case for keeping those woolen sweaters.
Databases
- Environment Complete This link opens in a new windowArticles about ecology, energy, natural resources, science, technology, law, public policy, and social impacts.
- ProQuest Central This link opens in a new windowArticles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
- ProQuest Science DatabaseArticles on both the applied and general sciences like computers, transportation, and biology.
Online from CCBC Libraries
The Remembered Land by
How did small-scale societies in the past experience and respond to sea-level rise? What happened when their dwellings, hunting grounds and ancestral lands were lost under an advancing tide? This book asks these questions in relation to the hunter-gatherer inhabitants of a lost prehistoric land; a land that became entirely inundated and now lies beneath the North Sea. It seeks to understand how these people viewed and responded to their changing environment, suggesting that people were not struggling against nature, but simply getting on with life - with all its trials and hardships, satisfactions and pleasures, and with a multitude of choices available. At the same time, this loss of land - the loss of places and familiar locales where myths were created and identities formed - would have profoundly affected people's sense of being. This book moves beyond the static approach normally applied to environmental change in the past to capture its nuances. Through this, a richer and more complex story of past sea-level rise develops; a story that may just have resonance for us today.
Publication Date: 2015
Ice Age Extinction by
How did small-scale societies in the past experience and respond to sea-level rise? What happened when their dwellings, hunting grounds and ancestral lands were lost under an advancing tide? This book asks these questions in relation to the hunter-gatherer inhabitants of a lost prehistoric land; a land that became entirely inundated and now lies beneath the North Sea. It seeks to understand how these people viewed and responded to their changing environment, suggesting that people were not struggling against nature, but simply getting on with life with all its trials and hardships, satisfactions and pleasures, and with a multitude of choices available. At the same time, this loss of land the loss of places and familiar locales where myths were created and identities formed would have profoundly affected people's sense of being. This book moves beyond the static approach normally applied to environmental change in the past to capture its nuances. Through this, a richer and more complex story of past sea-level rise develops; a story that may just have resonance for us today.
Publication Date: 2007
Once and Future Giants by
Until about 13,000 years ago, North America was home to a menagerie of massive mammals. Mammoths, camels, and lions walked the ground that has become Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and foraged on the marsh land now buried beneath Chicago's streets. Then, just as the first humans reached theAmericas, these Ice Age giants vanished forever.In Once and Future Giants, science writer Sharon Levy digs through the evidence surrounding Pleistocene large animal ("megafauna") extinction events worldwide, showing that understanding this history - and our part in it - is crucial for protecting the elephants, polar bears, and other greatcreatures at risk today. These surviving relatives of the Ice Age beasts now face an intensified replay of that great die-off, as our species usurps the planet's last wild places while driving a warming trend more extreme than any in mammalian history.Inspired by a passion for the lost Pleistocene giants, some scientists advocate bringing elephants and cheetahs to the Great Plains as stand-ins for their extinct native brethren. By reintroducing big browsers and carnivores to North America, they argue, we could rescue some of the planet's mostendangered animals while restoring healthy prairie ecosystems. Critics, including biologists enmeshed in the struggle to restore native species like the gray wolf and the bison, see the proposal as a dangerous distraction from more realistic and legitimate conservation efforts.Deftly navigating competing theories and emerging evidence, Once and Future Giants examines the extent of human influence on megafauna extinctions past and present, and explores innovative conservation efforts around the globe. The key to modern-day conservation, Levy suggests, may lie fossilizedright under our feet.
Publication Date: 2011
Podcasts
- In Our Time: Ice Ages
from BBC Radio 4