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It's interesting to note that civilisation has been messing up the soil since the beginning. The Sumerian civilisation (i.e. the first civilisation) collapsed i
by noelwelsh 10y ago
It's interesting to note that civilisation has been messing up the soil since the beginning. The Sumerian civilisation (i.e. the first civilisation) collapsed in large part because of increased salinity that came about from poor agricultural practices. Here are two sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/08/opinion/salt-of-the-earth.html http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/08/opinion/salt-of-the-earth....
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Sumerian_Civilization#Downfall http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Sumerian_Civilizat...
I believe, though I can't find a cite, that the Sumerian civilisation recognised the increasing problem of salinity, knew it's source, but was unable to bring themselves them to fix it. Much like the issue with global warming today.
- devoply 10y agoWe have soil depletion problems now that we can't do anything about. In fact most problems that we know we have that we will have to pay for later we can't do much about, other than find other better technology to try to fix it. That's the way our civilization and humans in general deal with problems that use of technology creates. With more technology. And as technology progresses it changes the world continuously. In that sense evolution of technology is what drives humans and human civilization. Nothing else. And humans have to cater themselves to their technology. One day soon when general AI is invented humans will serve AI, because humans serve technology, not the other way around. Before technology humans served nature or the environment, so much so that they worshiped it. Now they serve technology. http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degradation http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degrad...