1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910820787803321

Autore

Smil Vaclav

Titolo

China's past, China's future : energy, food, environment / / Vaclav Smil

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Routledge, , 2004

ISBN

1-134-37768-1

1-134-37769-X

0-415-31498-4

1-280-06332-7

0-203-56320-4

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

xv, 232 p. : ill

Collana

Critical Asian scholarship China's past, China's future

Disciplina

304.2/8/0951

Soggetti

Power resources - China

Food supply - China

China Environmental conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

China's Biophysical Foundations -- My Chinese Experiences -- Challenges Of Understanding -- Interdisciplinary Perspectives -- Energy -- Half a Century Of Advances -- Continuing Importance Of Traditional Energies -- A Failed Strategy -- From A New Saudi Arabia To Concerns About Oil Security -- A Remarkable Shift In Energy Intensities -- Food -- The World's Greatest Famine -- From Subsistence To Satiety -- Dietary Transitions -- Nitrogen In China's Agriculture -- Can China Feed Itself? -- Environment -- Attitudes And Constraints -- The First Of The Five Elements -- China's Environment And Security -- Cost Of China's Environmental Change -- Megaprojects And China's Environment -- Looking Ahead By Looking Back -- Failed Forecasts -- Contending Trends.

Sommario/riassunto

China has a population of 1.3 billion people which puts strain on her natural resources. This volume, by one of the leading scholars on the earth's biosphere, is the result of a lifetime of study, and provides the fullest account yet of the environmental challenges that China faces. The author examines China's energy resources, their uses, impacts and prospects, from the 1970s oil crisis to the present day, before



analysing the key question of how China can best produce enough food to feed its enormous population.