The Contamination of the Earth: A History of Pollutions in the Industrial Age

The trajectories of pollution in global capitalism, from the toxic waste of early tanneries to the poisonous effects of pesticides in the twentieth century.

Through the centuries, the march of economic progress has been accompanied by the spread of industrial pollution. As our capacities for production and our aptitude for consumption have increased, so have their byproducts--chemical contamination from fertilizers and pesticides, diesel emissions, oil spills, a vast plastic continent found floating in the ocean. The Contamination of the Earth offers a social and political history of industrial pollution, mapping its trajectories over three centuries, from the toxic wastes of early tanneries to the fossil fuel energy regime of the twentieth century.

Author: Francois Jarrige, Thomas Le Roux
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 11/16/2021
Pages: 480
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.36lbs
Size: 8.58h x 5.51w x 1.18d
ISBN13: 9780262542739
ISBN10: 0262542730
BISAC Categories:
- Nature | Ecology
- Science | Earth Sciences | General
- Science | Environmental Science (see also Chemistry | Environmental)

About the Author
François Jarrige is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History at the University of Burgundy's Georges Chevrier Centre. Thomas Le Roux is a tenured Researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), based at the Centre for Historical Research in the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (CRH-EHESS) in Paris.