Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: An Environmental History of Our Place in the Solar System

Georgetown University environmental history professor Degroot (The Frigid Golden Age), offers a captivating examination of how humans’ developing understanding of the solar system has shaped public affairs on Earth. Outer space, he explains, is an ever-changing arena; the sun spews plasma, and asteroids and comets zoom past planets, sometimes colliding at immense speeds. Changes in the cosmos have had wide-ranging effects here on Earth, Degroot argues. They’ve spurred new technology to study and perhaps communicate with other planets, influenced culture, shaped geopolitics, and awakened humanity to existential threats. Changes in Venus’s atmosphere, for example, led scientists to investigate whether climate change and ozone depletion were happening on Earth, while dust storms on Mars prompted studies concluding that nuclear war on Earth would be detrimental to the planet. The resulting publicity campaigns reduced nuclear tensions during the Cold War. Now, Degroot notes that humans are increasingly making their own “ripples” in the cosmos, as the current space race presents the possibility of settling elsewhere in the solar system or exploiting other planets’ resources. Adroitly integrating science and history, Degroot effectively demonstrates that Earth is entangled in a dynamic “cosmic mosaic.” This accessible and eloquent volume both entertains and educates. Photos. (Oct.)