Smil 7 part 1
The global contribution to world's GDP by major
economies from 1 CE to 2003 CE
according to Angus Maddison's estimates.
patterns:
- gap between countries is
becoming a gap between the poor and the rich in all
countries
- technological progress can be
very slow--from invention to widespread use
- mass production of goods was
possible before fossil fuel but not developed probably
because of expensive transportation
- what can we learn from the
transition from animate power to fossil fuels that will help
us with the transition from fossil fuels to renewable and
non-carbon releasing energy?
- prime mover transitions within
fossil fuel:
- steam engines burning coal
- internal combustion engines
- electricity
Western Europe only surpassed China after 1700--why?
(p. 394)
- why did Europe start colonial expansion?
- The Enlightenment--became more curious,
Scientific revolution
- capitalist competition between nations
- Christianity
- valued going out and converting people
(and conquering them in order to convert them)
- drove people out looking for freedom for
their subgroup
- in Christianity the natural world is there
for us to exploit , rather than being inhabited by gods
- Christianity put an emphasis on work as
honorable fed into capitalism
- Christianity encouraged education for the
elite and debate about what you learned (but Islam did
that also)
- Europe's colonies were purposefully held back
economically and technologically
- particularly significant for India and Africa
- China and Japan resisted, also put a very high value on
tradition, slower to adopt new technologies
we have seen a huge growth in energy
use and wealth--will that pattern continue?
-
Increased
wealth means longer lives, more food, more recreation
- Population growth is declining
- We use energy inefficiently, eg. cars in cities
- Increasing inequality within countries