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Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 312
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Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 312
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Book Description
Author: David R. Montgomery
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520933168
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 299
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Book Description
Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.
Author: Daniel Hillel
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520080805
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 358
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Book Description
A moving tribute to the physical and spiritual properties of nature's richestelement by one of the world's leading soil conservationists.
Author: Richard D. Bardgett
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199668566
Category : Soil and civilization
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
For much of history, soil has played a major, and often central, role in the lives of humans. Entire societies have risen, and collapsed, through the management or mismanagement of soil; farmers and gardeners worldwide nurture their soil to provide their plants with water, nutrients, and protection from pests and diseases; major battles have been aborted or stalled by the condition of soil; murder trials have been solved with evidence from the soil; and, for most of us, our ultimate fate is the soil. In this book Richard Bardgett discusses soil and the many, and sometimes surprising, ways that humanity has depended on it throughout history, and still does today. Analysing the role soil plays in our own lives, despite increasing urbanization, and in the biogeochemical cycles that allow the planet to function effectively, Bardgett considers how superior soil management could combat global issues such as climate change, food shortages, and the extinction of species. Looking to the future, Bardgett argues that it is vital for the future of humanity for governments worldwide to halt soil degradation, and to put in place policies for the future sustainable management of soils.
Author: Neal Eash
Publisher: Cognella Academic Publishing
ISBN: 9781609275143
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 338
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Book Description
"Introduction to Soils & Civilizations" introduces students to soil management and its importance to the stability and sustainability of civilizations. This text examines how the application of soil-science fundamentals and adequate land-use planning could have alleviated some of history s land-use disasters, including the period in the 1930s of severe, prolonged drought and extreme soil erosion known as the 'Dust Bowl.' Throughout history, major civilizations failed as soil productivity diminished as a result of deforestation and abuse of marginal lands processes that continue today. This anthology brings together the global perspectives of the foremost researchers in the field, including both classic and contemporary selections. After reading Introduction to Soils & Civilizations, students will be able to describe the factors contributing to accelerated soil erosion rates and explain the relationship between soil degradation and the fall of historic and prehistoric civilizations. Biography Dr. Neal Eash is an associate professor in the Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science Department at the University of Tennessee. His research focuses on soil fertility and carbon cycling in farming systems. He conducts ongoing no-till research in Lesotho and Mozambique, and he continues to farm his own 160-acre farm in Ohio using only no-till methods. Dr. Eash worked as an agricultural extensionist in Botswana, Africa, and collected soil samples for his M.S. degree that studied the effects of 1,500 years of near-continuous agriculture in the Colca Valley, Peru. Dr. Eash has written more than 60 publications, including one textbook and more than 30 refereed publications and he serves as an Associate Editor of Agronomy Journal."
Author: Tom Dale
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780758116796
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 270
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Book Description
Author: Daniel Hillel
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520080807
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
A moving tribute to the physical and spiritual properties of nature's richestelement by one of the world's leading soil conservationists.
Author: Steven Stoll
Publisher: Hill and Wang
ISBN: 1466805625
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 318
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Book Description
A major history of early Americans' ideas about conservation Fifty years after the American Revolution, the yeoman farmers who made up a large part of the new country's voters faced a crisis. The very soil of American farms seemed to be failing, and agricultural prosperity, upon which the Republic was founded, was threatened. Steven Stoll's passionate and brilliantly argued book explores the tempestuous debates that erupted between "improvers," who believed in practices that sustained and bettered the soil of existing farms, and "emigrants," who thought it was wiser and more "American" to move westward as the soil gave out. Stoll examines the dozens of journals, from New York to Virginia, that gave voice to the improvers' cause. He also focuses especially on two groups of farmers, in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. He analyzes the similarities and differences in their farming habits in order to illustrate larger regional concerns about the "new husbandry" in free and slave states. Farming has always been the human activity that most disrupts nature, for good or ill. The decisions these early Americans made about how to farm not only expressed their political and social faith, but also influenced American attitudes about the environment for decades to come. Larding the Lean Earth is a signal work of environmental history and an original contribution to the study of antebellum America.
Author: David R. Montgomery
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520952111
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.
Author: Niall Ferguson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101548029
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432
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Book Description
From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower “A dazzling history of Western ideas.” —The Economist “Mr. Ferguson tells his story with characteristic verve and an eye for the felicitous phrase.” —Wall Street Journal “[W]ritten with vitality and verve . . . a tour de force.” —Boston Globe Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries. How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer applications”—competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic—that the Rest lacked, allowing it to surge past all other competitors. Yet now, Ferguson shows how the Rest have downloaded the killer apps the West once monopolized, while the West has literally lost faith in itself. Chronicling the rise and fall of empires alongside clashes (and fusions) of civilizations, Civilization: The West and the Rest recasts world history with force and wit. Boldly argued and teeming with memorable characters, this is Ferguson at his very best.
