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General Environment
The passage of time has connected the invention of the wheel with more than ten million miles of paved roads around the world today, the capture of fire with six billion tons of carbon going up in smoke annually. Must human ingenuity always slash and burn the environment? Most observers emphatically designate the present as a period of intense environmental degradation. Environmental sins and suffering are not new. Humans have always exploited the territories within reach. The question is whether the technology that has extended our reach can now also liberate the environment from human impact--and perhaps even transform the environment for the better. Well-established trajectories, raising the efficiency with which people use energy, land, water, and materials, can cut pollution and leave much more soil unturned. We study the evolution of the totality of the human environment.
Publications about General Environment
0103 . The future environment for the energy business (PDF). APPEA Journal Part 2: 487-495, 2007 The future environment for the energy business, energy, energy business, decarbonization, ZEPPs, green strategy, carbon dioxide hydrogen, co2
0102 . Earth at night - if the rest of the world lived like America [external link]. Electronic Journal of Sustainable Development 1(1): 2007 Earth at night - if the rest of the world lived like America, energy, electric power
0096 . Will the rest of the world live like America? (PDF). Technology in Society 26(2004): 343-360, 2004 Will the rest of the world live like America?,
0084 . Death and the human environment: The United States in the 20th century (PDF). Technology in Society 23(2): 131-146, 2001 Death and the human environment: The United States in the 20th century, Mortality, epidemiological transition, morbidity
0079 . The great reversal: nature's chance to restore land and sea. Technology in Society 22: 289-302, 2000 The great reversal: nature's chance to restore land and sea, Forests, land use, agriculture, fisheries, oceans
0078 . Resources are elastic. Earth Matters 46-47, 2000 a magazine published by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Winter 1999/2000. This issue contains many of the speeches that were presented at the "State of The Planet" conference held at Columbia in the Fall of 1999.Resources are elastic, natural resources,
0075 . Because the brain does not change, technology must. Production Efficiencies: The Engineers' Report, American Association of Engineering Societies, Washington, D.C. 14-18, 1999 Republished in: IEEE Aerospace and Electronic SYSTEMS 14(10):3-6, October 1999. The paper is based on a talk Jesse gave at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development meetings in New York in April 1999. Because the brain does not change, technology must, Human behavior
0074 . Dis the threat industry. Technological Forecasting and Society Change 62(2): 119-120, 1999 Dis the threat industry, threat,
0067 . Reasons to worry about the human environment. Journal of the Cosmos Club of Washington D.C 8(1): 12, 1998 Republished in Technology in Society 21:217-231, 1999. Reasons to worry about the human environment, climate and biodiversity, behavioral poisons, libido, depopulation, falling work, rejection of science, twilight of the west
0066 . The environment for future business. Pollution Prevention Review 8(1): 39-52, 1998 This article has been republished in the journal Environmental Regulation and Permitting 9(2):251-62, 1999.The environment for future business, business, efficiency, energy, decarbonization, agricultural yields, water use, material flows
0065 . Resources and environment in the 21st century: Seeing past the phantoms. World Energy Council Journal July: 8-16, 1998 Resources and environment in the 21st century: Seeing past the phantoms, natural resources, land use, population, gdp, energy
0061 . Environmental trends (PDF). Issues in Science and Technology 13(2): 78-81, 1997 Environmental trends, energy, agriculture, water, materials, population
0060 . Technological trajectories and the human environment [external link]. National Academy Press, Washington DC 1997 Also appeared as special issue, "The Liberation of the Environment," Daedalus 125(3), Summer 1996.Technological trajectories and the human environment, energy, agriculture, water, materials, population, technology innovation, diffusion, land use, carbon, dematerialization, natural resources
0059 . Liberation of the environment. Pp. 1-13 in Technological Trajectories and the Human Environment, JH Ausubel and HD Langford (eds) 1997 An earlier version was published by The Collegium Budapest, Budapest, Hungary, A krnyezet felszabadtasa (The Liberation of the Environment, in Hungarian) Magyar Tudomany CII(2):164-171, 1995. Also appeared in Portuguese, A Liberacao do Meio Ambiente, Tecbahia 12(2):29-41, 1997Liberation of the environment, energy, agriculture, water, materials, population, technology innovation, diffusion, land use, carbon, dematerialization, natural resources
0053 . Productivity, electricity, science: Powering a green future (PDF). The Electricity Journal 9(3): 54-60, 1996 Productivity, electricity, science: Powering a green future, energy, electric power
0052 . Better risk information for communities (PDF). Risk Analysis 16(5): 601-603, 1996 Better risk information for communities , risk, public health
0051 . Can technology spare the earth?. Am Sci 84(2): 166-178, 1996 Republished in Current Perspectives in Geology, Fourth Edition, Michael McKinney, Robert L. Tolliver, Parri Shariff, eds., Wadsworth, Boston, MA, 1998. Can technology spare the earth?, Industrial ecology, dematerialization, material substitution, economics, zero emission, materials, life cycle, decarbonization
0045 . The environment since 1970. Consequences: The Nature and Implications of Environmental Change 1(3): 2-15, 1995 The environment since 1970, energy, agriculture, water, materials, population, technology innovation, diffusion, land use, carbon, dematerialization, natural resources, environmental
0044 . Community risk profiles: A tool to improve environment and community health. 1995 Published by the Program for the Human Environment, The Rockefeller University, New York, NYCommunity risk profiles: A tool to improve environment and community health, risk, public health, community
0041 . Ways to cut vineyard traffic and taxes [external link]. Vineyard Gazette 15: 1995 Ways to cut vineyard traffic and taxes, transportation
0038 . How much land can ten billion people spare for nature? [external link]. Task Force Report #121, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, Ames IA 1994 How much land can ten billion people spare for nature?, agriculture, forestry, land use, fertilizer
0037 . Directions for environmental technologies (PDF). Technology in Society 16(2): 139-154, 1994 Also in Impresa Ambiente 4:8-16, 1994 (in Italian).Directions for environmental technologies, environmental technologies, decarbonization, carbon dioxide, co2
0030 . 2020 vision (also known as "eight billion people") (PDF). The Sciences 33(6): 14-19, 1993 also Published in Science and Technology for Eight Billion People, Europe's Responsibility, P.H Mettler, ed., New Europe Publications, London, pp. 307-319, 1995. 2020 vision (also known as "eight billion people"), population, land use, forestry, agriculture
0025 . Verification of international environmental agreements. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 17: 1-43, 1992 Verification of international environmental agreements, environmental law
0017 . Technology and environment [external link]. National Academy, Washington DC 1989 Technology and environment, energy, agriculture, water, materials, population, technology innovation, diffusion, land use, decarbonization, dematerialization, natural resources
0016 . Technology and environment: An overview (PDF). Pp 1-21 in Technology and Environment, National Academy, Washington DC 1989 Technology and environment: An overview, energy, agriculture, water, materials, population, technology innovation, diffusion, land use, decarbonization, dematerialization, natural resources
0015 . Regularities in technological development: An environmental view [external link]. Pp 70-91 in Technology and Environment, National Academy, Washington DC 70-91, 1989 Regularities in technological development: An environmental view, technology diffusion, logistic model curve
0012 . Cities and their vital systems: Infrastructure, Past, Present, and Future [external link]. National Academy, Washington, D.C 1988 Cities and their vital systems: Infrastructure, Past, Present, and Future, Cities Infrastructure Urban Real Estate transportation Traffic Congestion: Problems and Prospects Communications Water Supply Distribution Wastewater
0011 . Cities and their vital systems: Synthesis and perspectives (PDF). Pp 1-21 in Cities and their vital systems: Infrastructure, Past, Present, and Future, National Academy, Washington, DC 1988 Cities and their vital systems: Synthesis and perspectives, Cities Infrastructure Urban Real Estate transportation Traffic Congestion: Problems and Prospects Communications Water Supply Distribution Wastewater
