Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations - Kootenay Local Agricultural Society

guanine, 15
guano: commercial fertilizer industry and,
185–88; island soil fertility and,
220–21, 222; as natural source of
phosphate, 185, 187–88, 193
Guatamala: cash export cropping in,
111–12; erosion in El Petén and,
76–77; export crops and, 83
gullies, 20, 45, 55, 95, 124; in American
South, 119, 120, 124, 131, 131–32. See
also erosion; topography
gypsum, 124, 191
Haber, Fritz, 196
Haber-Bosch process, 196–97
Hagel, Chuck, 210
Haiti, 227–30
Hamilton, Alexander, 124
Hammond, James, 129
Hannibal, 63
healthy soil, and organic matter, 104, 201,
204–5
heavy metals in fertilizer, 214–15
hectares per person: in China, 181; land
requirements and, 229, 238–39;
Roman Republic and, 58
hedgerows, 160
Hellriegel, Hermann, 185
Helmont, Jan Baptista van, 93
Henry VIII, king of England, 92
Hesiod, 50, 55
Hewatt, Alexander, 122
Hilgard, Eugene, 188–92
Homo erectus, 28
Homer, 55
Howard, Sir Albert, 202–3
human civilization: industrial vs. agrarian
bases for, 240–41; issues in scenarios
for future of, 238–40; landscape soil
budget and, 23–25; role of soil in history
of, 1–7. See also boom-and-bust
cycle; lifespan of civilizations
human waste, as fertilizer, 143, 180, 181–82,
189
Humboldt, Alexander von, 185
humic acids, 11, 13
hunger: European agriculture and, 99–100,
107–10; French Revolution and, 102;
genetically engineered crops and, 205;
impact of green revolution on,
198–99
hunter-gatherers, 29, 30, 31–33, 47
Hurricane Mitch, 112
Hutton, James, 104, 105, 106
hydroponics, 240
Iceland, 224–27, 228
India, 170, 244; Institute of Plant Industry
in, 202–3
industrial agriculture: in ancient Rome,
63–64; high costs of mechanization
and, 150, 157, 158, 160, 161; impact of
mechanization and, 156; large-scale
composting and, 202–3; profitability
of organic vs. conventional systems
and, 159, 201, 207–10; soil depletion
and, 158–59, 200–201; trend toward,
159–60. See also chemical fertilizers;
mechanization; organic intensive
farming
industrialization, 110
Institute of Plant Industry, Indore, India,
202–3
intercropping. See polyculture
International Harvester, 150
International Rice Research Institute in the
Philippines, 239
interplanting, 24, 58. See also polyculture
Iowa, topsoil loss in, 160
Ireland, famine in, 108–9
irrigation: in ancient Egypt, 41–42; early
Mesopotamia and, 36–37, 39–40; in
Roman Empire, 65; salinization of
land and, 39, 40, 43, 190–91
isostasy, 12
Israel, founding of, 72–73
Italy, ancient agriculture in, 55–67. See also
Roman Empire
Jackson, Wes, 206–7
Jamaica, 165
James I, King of England, 118, 119
Jamestown colonists, 118
Jarash (Roman city), 71
Jefferson, Thomas, 123, 125–26, 142
Jenny, Hans, 18
index 277