List of Figures ................................................ ix
List of Tables ................................................. xi
Preface ...................................................... xiii
Acknowledgements ............................................... xv
1 INTRODUCTION .................................................. 1
1.1 What is carbon? ............................................. 2
1.2 Why is carbon so important? ................................. 6
1.3 Carbon and climate .......................................... 7
1.4 Carbon and the environment in the last 3 million years ..... 11
1.5 Carbon and technology through prehistory and history ....... 14
1.6 Carbon and development ..................................... 17
1.7 Carbon and the future ...................................... 21
2 THE CHEMISTRY OF CARBON ...................................... 23
2.1 The mineral world .......................................... 25
2.2 Organic compounds .......................................... 27
2.3 The biogeochemistry of carbon .............................. 51
3 THE BIOLOGY OF CARBON ........................................ 59
3.1 The web of life ............................................ 60
3.2 Domain Archaea ............................................. 66
3.3 Domain Bacteria ............................................ 69
3.4 Domain Eukaryote ........................................... 72
3.5 Viruses etc. ............................................... 82
3.6 Vital processes ............................................ 83
3.7 Food chains and food webs .................................. 94
4 THE GEOLOGY OF CARBON ........................................ 99
4.1 Carbon, life and climate: the last 5×109 years ............ 100
4.2 Sedimentary rocks ......................................... 120
4.3 Coal ...................................................... 122
4.4 Oil (petroleum) and natural gas ........................... 125
4.5 Wetlands .................................................. 128
5 THE HISTORY AND CONSEQUENCES OF CARBON DOMESTICATION ........ 131
5.1 The harnessing of fire .................................... 133
5.2 The origins and spread of agriculture ..................... 138
5.3 Carbon exchanges during the Holocene ...................... 144
5.4 History of fossil-fuel use and industrialization .......... 149
5.5 Pollution history ......................................... 156
5.6 Biotechnology ............................................. 159
6 THE GEOGRAPHY OF CARBON ..................................... 163
6.1 World ecosystems .......................................... 164
6.2 Marine ecosystems ......................................... 181
6.3 The alteration of the world's biomes ...................... 185
6.4 Measures of human impact .................................. 202
7 THE POLITICIZATION OF CARBON ................................ 209
7.1 Initiatives 1860 to 1939 .................................. 212
7.2 Initiatives 1945 to the early 1970s ....................... 218
7.3 Green politics ............................................ 222
7.4 Petropolitics and oil crises .............................. 224
7.5 NGOs ...................................................... 225
7.6 UN, UNEP, international agreements and the Earth
Charter ................................................... 230
7.7 International initiatives on atmosphere/climate ........... 235
7.8 The politics of biodiversity .............................. 241
7.9 Trade ..................................................... 243
8 CONCLUSION AND PROSPECT ..................................... 249
8.1 Conclusion ................................................ 251
8.2 Prospect .................................................. 264
8.3 Envoi ..................................................... 283
8.4 Addendum .................................................. 284
References .................................................... 287
Index ......................................................... 303
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