From aj498@yfn.ysu.edu Sun Feb 21 10:44:27 1993 Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1993 01:27:19 -0500 From: aj498@yfn.ysu.edu (Jonathon D. Haskett) To: london@sunsite.unc.edu Subject: Re: Historical Sources on Sustainability of Agriculture Not to long ago I sent along a list of historical sources on sustainable agriculture. I inadvertantly included some sources without permission. Kindly remove the old list from your ftp site and substitute the one which follows. Sorry for the inconvenience, I goofed. Jonathan Haskett New list follows --------------------------------- REFERENCES AND HISTORICAL SOURCES ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE This is the a partial list of the responses I got to my request for historical sources dealing with sustainable agriculture. I have left out those which I felt were more currently descriptive or philosophical, to focus more on historical materials. I have not personally reviewed these sources, the comments are those which came with them. I included them to provide further information, but I cannot comment on their accuracy. Where the reference is incomplete, it reflects all the information which was provided to me and all the information obtained via 3 library Gopher search. I have also included some none print resources which might provide more access to these types of materials, these are listed at the end of the file. ------------------------------------------------ Jonathan Haskett jhaskett@asrr.arsusda.gov ------------------------------------------------ Special thanks to those who contributed sources and references: Ray Newman, Paul Foster, Preston Hardison, Doug Evans, JR Joshi, Rick Boyce, Dan Binkley, Dan Freidus, Grover Partee, Orin G. Gelderloos, Nancy Y Sterngold, Fred Heutte, Tom Chester (if I missed anyone I apologize). * Artzy, M. and Hillel, D. (1988). A defense of the theory of progressive soil salinization in ancient Southern Mesopotamia. Geoarchaeology (3): 235-238. * Butzer, Karl W.,1976. Early hydraulic civilization in Egypt : a study in cultural ecology. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1976. Series: Prehistoric archeology and ecology Bibliography: p. 113-134. ISBN: 0-226-08634-8 : ISBN: 0-226-08635-6 pbk. RE: Butzer wrote some of the best early works about climate, society and the evolution of agriculture in the Middle East in the 1960s. * Carter, Vernon Gill and Dalle, Tom 1974(revision of 1955 edition). Topsoil and Civilization. * Diamond, J.M. 1988. The golden age that never was. Discover December 1988: 71-79. Re: Popular article. * Eckholm, Erik P .1976. .Losing ground : environmental stress and world food prospects .1st ed. New York : Norton, 223 p. ; Bibliography: p. [203]-219. Includes index. ISBN: 0-393-06410-7. ISBN: 0-393-09167-8 pbk. Re: Has reference to many of the agents of sustainable/"non- sustainable" agriculture. * Hillel, D.J. (1991). Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil. The Free Press, New York. * Hughes, J.D. (1975). Ecology in Ancient Civilizations. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico. * Hyam, E. (may not be the right spelling). Soil and Civilization Re: He argues that decline of ancient civilizations was often due to failure of agriculture, bad management of soil, etc. * Jackson, W., Berry, W.,& Colman, B.(eds) 1984. meetings the expectations of the land. * Paarlberg, Don, 1984. Farmers of five continents / Don Paarlberg. Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, ISBN: 0-8032-3670-0 Re: Very anecdotal, interesting though it doesn't have much in the way of good references or historical information. * Perlin, John. 1989. A forest journey : the role of wood in the development of civilization / 1st ed. New York : W.W. Norton, 445 p. : ill., maps ; Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 0-393-02667-1 Re: It has an entire chapter devoted to Mesopotamia, as well as a good discussion of the history trees and deforestation has played in all of ancient history. (It does seem a little "arborpocentric" at times, and attributes nearly all causes of war, famine, and disease to deforestation. * Ponting, Clive, 1992.A green history of the world : the environment and the collapse of great civilizations / 1st U.S. ed. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1992. 432 p. : ill., maps ;"First published in Great Britain by Sinclair-Stevenson Limited"-- T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references (p. [408]-412) and index. ISBN: 0- 312-06987-1 : * Reader, John. 1988. Man on earth. with photographs by the author. 1st University of Texas Press ed., Imprint: Austin : University of Texas Press. Re: It is about places on earth where people have managed to exist in more or less stable relationship with their environment. It covers more than agricultural systems, and its focus is primarily on the social systems that have evolved. Interesting chapters about Swiss farmers and Balian rice farmers. * Sheets, Payson.1992. The Ceren Site : a prehistoric village buried by volcanic ash in Central America. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1992. Series: Case studies in archaeology series. ISBN: 0-03-078856-0 Archeology and volcanism in Central America : the Zapotitan Valley of El Salvador. edited by Payson D. Sheets.Austin : University of Texas Press, 1983. 307 p. : ill., maps., charts ; SERIES: The Texas Pan American series. RE: Payson Sheets of the University of Colorado has been working on a climatological/cultural theory of the Mayan collapse for over two decades. These are the only books references by him I could find, but I don't know if they pertain directly to the Mayan collapse. * Turner, B.L. II, Clark, W.C., Kates, R.W., Richards, J.F., Mathews, J.T., and Meyer, W.B. (eds.)(1991). The Earth as Transformed by Human Action. Cambridge University Press. Re: It also has older insights too. * Worster, Donald, 1985. Rivers of empire : water, aridity, and the growth of the American West. 1st ed. New York : Pantheon Books, Bibliography: p. 339-388.Includes index. ISBN: 0-394-51680-X : RE: Discusses reasons behind the failure of early agricultural societies due to salinization. Comes highly recommended. ========================================================== Electronic resources on the broader issue of Sustainable Development: CONSLINK is "a Bitnet based electronic conference and bulletin board on all topics of biological conservation" (their description) operated by the Smithsonian. Send subscribe conslink to listserv@sivm.si.edu Most of what you find here will, of course, focus more on the conservation side. However, the Smithsonian's international programs HAVE to find ways to deal with local needs and desires including the need to raise food crops. Somewhat more to the point is SANET-L, the Sustainable Agriculture Network List operated by the Extension Service at Oregon State University. Send subscribe sanet-l to almanac@oes.orst.edu The OSU ES also maintains the Showcase bibliographic database. send extension showcase catalog to almanac@oes.orst.edu ============================================================= ********************************************************************* =============================================================