Grand Transitions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaclav Smil
Keyword(s):  
Economic Transition ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Mass Scale ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Dietary Transition ◽  
Residential Pattern

The modern world was created through the combination and complex interactions of five grand transitions. First, the demographic transition changed the total numbers, dynamics, structure, and residential pattern of populations. The agricultural and dietary transition led to the emergence of highly productive cropping and animal husbandry (subsidized by fossil energies and electricity), a change that eliminated famines, reduced malnutrition, and improved the health of populations but also resulted in enormous food waste and had many environmental consequences. The energy transition brought the world from traditional biomass fuels and human and animal labor to fossil fuel, ever more efficient electricity, lights, and motors, all of which transformed both agricultural and industrial production and enabled mass-scale mobility and instant communication. Economic transition has been marked by relatively high growth rates of total national and global product, by fundamental structural transformation (from farming to industries to services), and by an increasing share of humanity living in affluent societies, enjoying unprecedented quality of life. These transitions have made many intensifying demands on the environment, resulting in ecosystemic degradation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, and eventually change on the planetary level, with global warming being the most worrisome development. This book traces the genesis of these transitions, their interactions and complicated progress as well as their outcomes and impacts, explaining how the modern world was made—and then offers a forward-thinking examination of some key unfolding transitions and appraising their challenges and possible results.

Epochal Transitions

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Vaclav Smil
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Mass Scale ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Global Population

The modern world has been created by five relatively rapid and interconnected transitions. They led to temporarily high growth rates of the global population and, eventually, to much reduced fertility, longer life expectancies, and mass-scale urbanization. Increased agricultural productivity eliminated famines, reduced undernutrition, and resulted in a surfeit and waste of food in affluent countries. Transition from traditional biofuels to fossil fuels brought large increases of per capita energy supply and higher efficiencies of energy conversion, along with new powerful machines. Economic growth reached unprecedented rates, transformed sectoral contribution, created material abundance, and enabled high levels of mobility and instant communication. Environmental consequences of these transitions range from land-use changes to many forms of pollution and to global climate change. Future transitions have to address many problems created by our past successes and failures, but given the magnitude of the challenges, they will have to unfold gradually.

Comparing the Four Main Cases

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Thompson ◽  
Leila Zakhirova
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Regional Specialization ◽  
Domestic Markets ◽  
Technological Leadership ◽  
System Leaders ◽  
Industrial Economic

No two system leaders were identical in their claims to being the most innovative states in their respective zones, eras, and periods of leadership. Nonetheless, three general categories emerge: maritime commercial leadership, a pushing of agrarian boundaries, and sustained industrial economic growth. Those that made breakthroughs in the latter category, of course, redefined the modern world. Frontiers were critically important in all four cases of system leadership (China, the Netherlands, Britain, and the United States), but not exactly in the same way. Major improvements in transportation/communication facilitated economic growth by making interactions more feasible and less expensive, although the importance of trade varied considerably. Expanding populations were a hallmark of all four cases, even if the scale of increase varied. Population growth and urbanization forced agriculture to become more efficient and provided labor for nonagricultural pursuits. Urban demands stimulated regional specialization, technological innovation, and energy intensification, expanding the size of domestic markets and contributing to scalar increases in production. Just how large those scalar increases were depended on the interactions among technological innovation, power-driven machinery, and energy transition. Yet no single change led automatically to technological leadership. While lead status was never gained by default, it helped to have few rivals. As more serious rivals emerged, technological leaderships became harder to maintain.

scholarly journals Religion in Europe in the 21st Century: The Factors to Take into Account

2006 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Davie
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
World Order ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
The Future ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Take All

This article considers six factors that are currently shaping the religious life of Europe. These are the Judaeo-Christian heritage, the continuing influence of the historic churches, the changing patterns of church-going, new arrivals from outside, secular reactions and the growing significance of religion in the modern world order. Any assessment of the future of religion in Europe must take all of these into account, not least their mutual and necessarily complex interactions.

scholarly journals Specifics of the legal regulation of environmental management in agriculture

2021 ◽  
Vol 273 ◽  
pp. 08027
Author(s):  
Anna Kulikova
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Agricultural Activities ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
The One

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of agriculture, its effectiveness for the economic and socio-political sector of development of any state in the modern world. However, agriculture relies on the use of natural resources in its activities - land, soil, water, atmospheric air, forests and other vegetation. The quality of these natural components of the natural environment directly affects the functioning and productivity of agricultural organizations. Environmental pollution problems are complex problems of interaction between nature and man. To minimize environmental harm and the occurrence of dangerous environmental consequences, a model of environmental management is needed. For agricultural production environmental management issues are particularly specific since its productivity is directly related, first of all, to the state of the natural environment as consumption resources on the one hand, and the negative impact of agricultural activities on natural resources on the other. In this article the issues of legal regulation of the law of nature use in agricultural activities were investigated, the problems of regulatory support for the rational use of nature in agriculture were identified, and the directions for optimizing the legislative regulation of the use of natural resources for agricultural activities were determined.

Tanzanian Theatre and the Mapping of Home

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-177
Author(s):  
Laura Edmondson
Keyword(s):  
Modern World ◽  
Popular Theatre ◽  
Urban Woman ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Urban City ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Village ◽  
The City ◽  
Stereotypical Roles

Tanzanian popular theatre consists of a dizzying variety of ‘traditional’ dances, plays, acrobatics, and musical acts that freely borrow from traditions across the globe. In a stark contrast to the fluidity of these performances, however, the plays maintain a rigid division between representations of the urban city and rural home. This demarcation operates along the gendered lines described by Anne McClintock, in which the village is coded as the feminized model of tradition in contrast to the ‘male’, modern world of the city, leading to stereotypical roles of the innocent rural girl and the lustful urban woman. At the same time, the participatory, improvisational quality of popular performance clears a space for the ‘unnatural’ urban women in the audience to resist these stereotypes. Also, the theatre troupe Muungano creates plays which challenge essentialist constructions of the primordial ‘home’, allowing complex interactions of geography and gender to be revealed and explored.

scholarly journals Digital agriculture as a basis of agriculture-based economy in the modern world

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-48
Author(s):  
Irina Pavlovna Chupina ◽  
Natal'ya Nikolaevna Simachkova
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Import Substitution ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Agricultural Producers ◽  
Agricultural Technologies ◽  
Digital Agriculture

Agriculture solves the general tasks of its functioning, which are more focused on the implementation of three areas of activity, which include guaranteed food security in terms of the production of high-quality agricultural products, raw materials and food produced by domestic agricultural producers in volumes corresponding to medical indicators. It is also a decrease in the volume of import substitution of seeds in crop production and breeding material in animal husbandry and poultry farming, as well as imported equipment for the organization of food and processing products, veterinary drugs and other important needs for the agro-industrial complex. And the third direction includes the sustainable development of exports of agricultural and agro-industrial products to the global agri-food market. These tasks cannot be successfully solved in the conditions of using the existing outdated agricultural technologies, machinery and equipment. In order to improve these functions of agriculture, the digital platform "Digital Agriculture" was developed, which is an information database of a fairly large size about the resources of the agro-industrial complex. Digitalization, creating conditions for the development of "smart agriculture", affects the progress in agricultural relations. With the help of new technologies, the work of farmers will gradually move from manual, which requires great physical effort, to automated. With the help of drones and other drones, it will be possible to determine the structure of soils for planting certain crops.

scholarly journals Climate Change, Agriculture, and Energy Transition: What Do the Thirty Most-Cited Articles Tell Us?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 8015
Author(s):  
Dmitry A. Ruban ◽  
Natalia N. Yashalova ◽  
Olga A. Cherednichenko ◽  
Natalya A. Dovgot’ko
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
General Frame ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Historical Importance ◽  
Strong Relation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Agriculture Development

The thirty journal articles dealing with the relationship between climate change and agriculture (the latter is treated in general, i.e., as an industry) and which have gained >1000 citations are thought to be sources of the most precious information on the noted relationship. They were published between 1994 and 2011. Many are authored by West European and North American experts. The most-cited articles are attributed to three major themes and eight particular topics, and the best-explored topic is the influence of climate change on agriculture. Moreover, they provide some essential information about the strong relation of both agriculture and climate change to energy transition. The general frame characterizing complex interactions of climate change and agriculture development is proposed on the basis of the most-cited works, but it needs further detail, improvement, and update. The considered articles are basic sources with historical importance.

A Just Energy Transition and Functional Federalism: The Case of South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Tracy-Lynn Field
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
The South ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Lower Carbon

Abstract The traditional concern of federalism literature has been both descriptive and prescriptive. How do federalist systems allocate powers among central, regional, and even local governments? How can these powers be divided in a manner that allows for unity and diversity in policymaking and law? These questions are given greater pertinence by the seriousness of climate change and the need for a just transition to lower-carbon economies. Classical federalism, public choice theory, and dynamic energy federalism all have something to offer in the field of clean energy federalism. This article situates the ‘functional federalism’ that arises from South Africa's multi-sphere system of government within these debates. The article explains the system of functional federalism in South Africa and details the tripartite structure (physical, market, and regulatory) of the South African electricity sector. By delineating the complex interactions that have unfolded between governmental and non-governmental actors in the electricity sector in recent times, the article demonstrates that the South African case will be of continuing interest to scholars of federalism.

scholarly journals Optimization of growth processes of the selected strain Lactobacillus acidophilus (B-4107) K-1-T with the prospect of its use for the prevention of gastrointestinal diseases in calves

2021 ◽  
Vol 273 ◽  
pp. 02015
Author(s):  
Viktor Samoylenko ◽  
Nadezhda Ozheredova ◽  
Elena Svetlakova ◽  
Danil Ranyuk ◽  
Roman Ranyuk
Keyword(s):  
Lactobacillus Acidophilus ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Living Organism ◽  
Gastrointestinal Diseases ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
Growth Processes ◽  
Probiotic Strains ◽  
Collection Strain

Gastrointestinal diseases of young cattle occupy the bulk of the total number of postnatally significant diseases in terms of coverage, which causes significant economic damage to animal husbandry. In the modern world, the basis for prophylactic that is safe for a living organism is the use of bacterial preparations created from symbiotic selected probiotic strains with the inclusion of a functional substance and a prebiotic. In this regard, the role of lactulose, which meets all the necessary international requirements, becomes particularly important. When determining the influence of the prebiotic Lactulose, as a catalytic enzyme, on the growth processes of the collection strain Lactobacillus acidophilus (B-4107) K-1-T, it was experimentally established that the prebiotic. Lactulose has a significant effect on the growth and activity of the tested strain of lactic acid microorganisms. The following data is necessary for the development of effective means of normalizing the microbiota in the prophylactic of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract of young animals of infectious and non-infectious etiology.

scholarly journals The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Agriculture by Jacques Cauvin, translated by Trevor Watkins (New Studies in Archaeology.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000; ISBN 0-521-65135-2 hardback £37.50 & $59.95 Reviewed by Ian Hodder, Gary O. Rollefson, Ofer Bar-Yosef with a response by Trevor Watkins

2001 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Cauvin ◽  
Ian Hodder ◽  
Gary O. Rollefson ◽  
Ofer Bar-Yosef ◽  
Trevor Watkins
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Near East ◽  
World View ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Arid Zones ◽  
Origins Of Agriculture ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
The Impact

When, almost a century ago, Raphael Pumpelly put forward the ‘oasis theory’ for the origins of farming in the Near East, his was one of the first in a long series of explanations which looked to environment and ecology as the cause of the shift from hunting and gathering to cultivation and animal husbandry. Pumpelly envisaged climatic desiccation at the end of the last Ice Age as the primary factor, forcing humans, plants and animals into ever closer proximity as the arid zones expanded around them. Subsequent fieldworkers took the closer investigation of environmental changes as a key aim of their research, both in the Near East and elsewhere, and this has remained a fundamental theme in theories for the emergence of agriculture. More recent advances in our understanding of environmental change have placed particular emphasis on the cold Younger Dryas episode, at the end of the last Ice Age. The impact of this sudden reversal of climate warming on the complex Natufian hunter-gatherers of the Levant may, it is argued, have forced or encouraged these communities to explore novel subsistence modes.Not everybody accepts such a chain of reasoning, however, and in The Birth of Gods and the Origins of Agriculture, French archaeologist Jacques Cauvin rejects this emphasis on ecology and environment as the cause of change. Instead, he argues that primacy should be accorded to a restructuring of human mentality from the thirteenth to the tenth millennium BC, expressed in terms of new religious ideas and symbols. Cauvin's book, originally published in French in 1994 under the title Naissance des divinités, naissance de l'agriculture, adopts an ideological approach to explaining the Neolithic which is at odds with many traditional understandings, but which resonates closely with the idea that the Neolithic is much more than an economic transition, and coincided with a transformation in the world view of the prehistoric societies concerned. The present English translation appeared in 2000, and is based on the second French edition (1997) with the addition of a postscript summarizing relevant discoveries made since that date.Owing to illness, Jacques Cauvin has been unable to contribute to this Review Feature as had been hoped, but we are fortunate that his translator, Trevor Watkins, has agreed to draft a response to the comments made by our invited reviewers. These include Ian Hodder, whose own work on the Neolithic transition has been influenced by Cauvin's research, and Ofer Bar-Yosef and Gary Rollefson, both specialists in the prehistory of the Levant. At Dr Watkins' suggestion, the introductory piece which opens the Review Feature is a translated extract from Jacques Cauvin's contribution to a similar review treatment in Les Nouvelles de l'Archéologie (No. 79, 2000, 49–53). As our reviewers make clear, the significance of the book, and the debate which it has initiated, will make it akey text for many years to come.

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