Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
Abandonment of traditional (low-fat, complex carbohydrates) diets in favor of high-energy, high-sugar diets that include more processed foods are, together with more sedentary lifestyles, leading nongenetic contributors to the rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
In 1900 7.2% of the US non-farm labor force worked for government (federal, state, and local), by 1950 that share was 13.3%, and by 2016 it rose only marginally to 14.2%
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
Higher yields reduced land needed per unit of output and allowed reforestation of previously farmed land, a trend particularly notable in parts of Europe and in Eastern North America
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
Abundance of material possessions, frequent travel and massive information flows are among the most notable accomplishments of modern civilization,
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
Longevity is an outcome of complex interactions that include economic, nutritional, and health care variables,
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
a genetically programmed maximum but because of a combination of natural constraints ranging from chronic diseases to the biomechanical limits of proteins (including the ubiquitous elastin) that form internal organs, bones, and muscles (Robert
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
Only after Watt’s
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
Given the history of rising agricultural and manufacturing productivities, it was inevitable that most people in modern societies will end up doing something other than growing food and making things.
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
they would be confusingly interwoven and, more importantly, they could not convey counteracting, sequential, and changing feedbacks, and could not capture critical and often much delayed qualitative changes.