The Rational Optimist_ How Prosperity Evolves - Matt Ridley [209]
chlorine 296
cholera 40, 310
Chomsky, Noam 291
Christianity 172, 357, 358, 396; see also Catholicism; Church of England; monasteries
Christmas 134
Chumash people 62, 92–3
Church of England 194
Churchill, Sir Winston 288
Cicero 173
Cilicia 173
Cisco Systems (corporation) 268
Cistercians 215
civil rights movement 108, 109
Clairvaux Abbey 215
Clark, Colin 146, 227
Clark, Gregory 193, 201, 401, 404
Clarke, Arthur C. 354
climate change 328–47, 426–30; costs of mitigation measures 330–32, 333, 338, 342–4; death rates associated with 335–7; and ecological dynamism 250, 329–30, 335, 339; and economic growth 315, 331–3, 341–3, 347; effects on ecosystems 338–41; and food supply 337–8; and fossil fuels 243, 314, 342, 346, 426; historic 194, 195, 329, 334, 426–7; pessimism about 280, 281, 314–15, 328–9; prehistoric 54, 65, 125, 127, 130, 160, 329, 334, 339, 340, 352; scepticism about 111, 329–30, 426; solutions to 8, 315, 345–7
Clinton, Bill 341
Clippinger, John 99
cloth trade 75, 159, 160, 165, 172, 177, 180, 194, 196, 225, 225–9, 232
clothes: Britain 224, 225, 227; early homo sapiens 71, 73; Inuits 64; metal age 122; Tasmanian natives 78
clothing prices 20, 34, 37, 40, 227, 228
‘Club of Rome’ 302–3
coal: and economic take-off 201, 202, 213, 214, 216–17; and generation of electricity 233, 237, 239, 240, 304, 344; and industrialisation 229–33, 236, 407; prices 230, 232, 237; supplies 302–3
coal mining 132, 230–31, 237, 239, 257, 343
Coalbrookdale 407
Cobb, Kelly 35
Coca-Cola (corporation) 111, 263
coffee 298–9, 392
Cohen, Mark 135
Cold War 299
collective intelligence 5, 38–9, 46, 56, 83, 350–52, 355–6
Collier, Paul 315, 316–17
colonialism 160, 161, 187, 321–2; see also imperialism
Colorado 324
Columbus, Christopher 91, 184
combine harvesters 158, 392
combined-cycle turbines 244, 410
commerce see trade
Commoner, Barry 402
communism 106, 336
Compaq (corporation) 259
computer games 273, 292
computers 2, 3, 5, 211, 252, 260, 261, 263–4, 268, 282; computing power costs 24; information storage capacities 276; silicon chips 245, 263, 267–8; software 99, 257, 272–3, 304, 356; Y2K bug 280, 290, 341; see also internet
Confucius 2, 181
Congo 14–15, 28, 307, 316
Congreve, Sir William 221
Connelly, Matthew 204
conservation, nature 324, 339; see also wilderness land, expansion of conservatism 109
Constantinople 175, 177
consumer spending, average 39–40
containerisation 113, 253, 386
continental drift 274
contraception 208, 210; coerced 203–4
Cook, Captain James 91
cooking 4, 29, 38, 50, 51, 52, 55, 60–61, 64, 163, 337
copper 122, 123, 131–2, 160, 162, 164, 165, 168, 213, 223, 302, 303
copyright 264, 266–7, 326
coral reefs 250, 339–40, 429–30
Cordoba 177
corn laws 185–6
Cornwall 132
corporations 110–116, 355; research and development budgets 260, 262, 269
Cosmides, Leda 57
Costa Rica 338
cotton 37, 108, 149, 151–2, 162, 163, 171, 172, 202, 225–9, 230, 407; calico 225–6, 232; spinning and weaving 184, 214, 217, 219–20, 227–8, 232, 256, 258, 263, 283
Coughlin, Father Charles 109
Craigslist (website) 273, 356
Crapper, Thomas 38
Crathis river 171
creationists 358
creative destruction 114, 356
credit cards 251, 254
credit crunch (2008) 8–10, 28–9, 31, 100, 102, 316, 355, 399, 411
Cree Indians 62
Crete 167, 169
Crichton, Michael 254
Crick, Francis 412
crime: cyber-crime 99–100, 357; falling rates 106, 201; false convictions 19–20; homicide 14, 20, 85, 88, 106, 118, 201; illegal drugs 106, 186; pessimism about 288, 293
Crimea 171
crocodiles, deaths by 40
Crompton, Samuel 227
Crookes, Sir William 140, 141
cruelty 104, 106, 138–9, 146
crusades 358
Cuba 187, 299
‘curse of resources’ 31, 320
cyber-crime 99–100, 357
Cyprus 132, 148, 167, 168
Cyrus the Great 169
Dalkon Shield (contraceptive device) 203
Dalton, John 221
Damascus 127
Damerham, Wiltshire 194
Danube, River 128, 132
Darby, Abraham 407