Lecture 3 – Environmental impacts common to many civilizations

See Hughes. Chapter 5.

Deforestation major causes are fire, over-cutting of timber, and overgrazing. Cases - Egyptians eliminated forests for construction, fuel, and sacrifices to the gods. Rupani - Easter Island tree used for moving stone for monuments. In-migration of rats to eat seedlings.

• Timber used for shipbuilding, construction of buildings, building fortifications, constructing siege engines, crafting of tools, building transportation vehicles, and fuel.
  
• Wood was converted to charcoal for heat source in mining operations and metal refineries as well as firing pottery in kilns.
  
• Wood removed for domestic heating.
  
• Strategies used in logging operations. Cut and float where waterways available. Cut and cart.
  
• Wood removed for agricultural cropping. Slash and burn.
  
• Timber lost through uncontrolled wildfire, and lumber lost in uncontrolled fire in urban settlements.
  

Diamond. Collapse examines this factor as one of many leading to the ecological demise of Easter Island.

Overgrazing Cattle, sheep, goats, and swine. Cattle prefer grass and leaves (hence cut tree branches). Swine prefer mast (acorns, chestnuts, beechnuts graze in forests destroys source of nutrients for small plants also causes deer population to migrate). Sheep eat vegetation and uproot plants. Goats eat woody plants – bushes and young tree. The pattern of overgrazing has been repeated in various cultures in the Mediterranean Region, Caribbean Islands (goats), African grasslands (cattle, sheep, goats, and elephants), and the western United States (cattle, goats, and sheep). Madagascar - goats and erosion. Same scenario is North Carolina goat meat for Mexican migrant worked.

• Deforestation disrupts water supply. Loss of root system stimulates rapid runoff instead of percolation. Hence, water supply is erratic.
  Rapid runoff leads to erosion and silt buildup. Changes shore line. Destroys seaports or river ports. Ruins fish hatcheries and bird habitat. Silt leads to marshy areas. Breeds insects. Leads to malaria.
  For a discussion of malaria in Rome see
  
  Andrew Thompson. "Malaria and the Fall of Rome"
  
  Soren's work on Lugnano"
  
  
• Deforestation changes climate. Disruption of the water cycle leads to aridity and desertification.
  
• Deforestation impacted the economy. It increased inflation of wood prices and any products produced using wood as energy source in production.
  
• Alternative building materials sought as substitute for wood. Brick replaced by limestone, and marble.
  
• Political economy of timber. The military and economic value of timber led to seizure of forests by rulers, passage of laws limiting ownership of forests to kings and nobility, restricting access for hunting, and use of timber for mining and construction. Rulers often would wage war to obtain and maintain control over this vital resource and source of royal income. These practices were followed in Egypt, Greece, Rome, and under various nobility in different countries during the medieval period. Analogous to modern military and economy policy debate over control of oil and drugs.
  

James C. Scott. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 11-52.