Profit: An Environmental History

Profit is the original genius of homo sapiens, who learned to unleash the energy stored in wood, exploit the land, and refashion ecosystems. Capitalism supercharged this process, leading to trade networks, cultural changes, and an energy revolution. However, when efficient production left society awash in goods, a new sort of capitalism, predicated on endless individual consumption, took its place. Mark Stolls account places environmental factors at the heart of capitalisms progress and reveals the long shadow of its terrible consequences.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 25 November 2022
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Profit, the ability to extract more value from an investment than what is initially put in, is considered a hallmark of human ingenuity. Our ancestors mastered the art of harnessing the energy stored in wood, exploiting the land, and reshaping ecosystems. As civilization progressed, we sought increasingly efficient methods to extract surplus value from the Earth, often employing coercive tactics to ensure the labor required.

Historian Mark Stoll delves into how capitalism turbocharged this process, highlighting its profound environmental impacts. The financial innovations of medieval Italy, for instance, facilitated the creation of trade networks that, with the European discovery of the Americas, resulted in immense profits and sweeping cultural transformations. However, this growth came at a heavy cost, as millions of slaves and indigenous Americans suffered exploitation.

The industrial age brought about global trade connections, leading to an energy revolution that transformed lives worldwide. However, as efficient production increased, society became inundated with goods, giving rise to a new form of capitalism centered around endless individual consumption. This narrative spans from the Doges palace in medieval Venice to Jeff Bezos aboard his spacecraft, offering a revolutionary perspective that places environmental factors at the core of capitalism's progress and uncovers the long-lasting consequences of its actions.

Weight: 612g
Dimension: 234 x 165 x 33 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781509533237