Dirt: The Erosion of CivilizationsDirt, 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. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - jjwilson61 - LibraryThingInteresting, but it bogged down when the author described one civilization after another doing the same or almost the same thing to their soil and paying the consequence. The entire middle portion of the book could have been summarized into one chapter. Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - quantum_flapdoodle - LibraryThingThis is a truly dirty book - a book about dirt, in fact. This book traces the role that dirt, and the erosion of dirt (some of us would call it soil, but that would be pedantic) has played in the ... Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
abandoned accelerated acres agri agricultural practices American ancient areas began Bronze Age century civilization climate colonial crop rotations crop yields cultivation cultural decades degradation developed dirt Dust Bowl earth Easter Island economic environmental eroded erosion rates Europe European farmers farmland feed fields floodplain geologic global grain grazing grew ground growing growth guano gullies half harvests hectares hillsides hillslopes human hundred inch increased crop yields industrial intensive irrigation island labor land landscape layer legumes less loess Lowdermilk Mangaia manure Mayan million modern native nitrogen North nutrients organic farming peasants percent plantations plants plowing population problem rainfall region revolution river rock Roman Rome runoff sediment silt slaves slopes society soil conservation soil erosion soil fertility soil formation soil loss soil organic matter soil production South spread stripped surface sustain terra preta thick thousand Tikopia tion tobacco topsoil upland valley bottoms vegetation weathered wheat worms Younger Dryas
Bibliographic information
| Title | Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations |
| Author | David R. Montgomery |
| Publisher | University of California Press, 2007 |
| ISBN | 0520933168, 9780520933163 |
| Length | 295 pages |
| Subjects | › Nature / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |