Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations - Kootenay Local Agricultural Society

284
technological innovation (continued)
productivity increases and, 180, 239;
seventeenth-century Europe an, 94;
sustainability and, 202–5, 237. See also
chemical fertilizers; mechanization
Tehuacán Valley, Mexico, 78
tenant farming, 67, 244; the Church and,
92–93; commercial fertilization and,
188; European agriculture and, 92, 94;
soil conservation and, 127, 134, 142,
161
terracing: in ancient cultures, 55, 72, 73, 75,
80; in China, 182; erosion prevention
and, 24, 104, 160, 182; mechanization
and, 173
terra preta soil, 142–44
territorial expansion: American agriculture
and, 120–21, 122, 126–27; guano islands
and, 187; Roman agriculture
and, 58–59, 64–65; slavery in new
American territories and, 135–37.
See also colonialism
Tertullian (Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus),
65–66
Texas, dust storms in, 153
Thailand, agriculture in, 144
Theodoric, 88
Theophrastus, 51
Tibetian agriculture, 179–80
Tikopia Island, 221, 222–24
Timgad (ancient North African city), 69,
70
tobacco cultivation, 118–21
topography: British land management
and, 98; changes in, and worms,
11–12; erosion rate and, 20–21, 141;
factors in soil thickness and, 11–14;
French land management and,
103–4; role of erosion in shaping,
104–6; ruins of ancient cultures and,
49; soil formation and, 18–19. See
also erosion; gullies; sloping land,
erosion of
topsoil loss: in Amazon region, 115–17; in
Caribbean islands, 229; China and,
182; everyday evidence of, 3, 4; global
tons annually, 4; in Iceland, 226–27;
Mississipppi River basin and, 4; in
index
U.S., 151, 153, 155, 160; in Virgina,
122–23. See also erosion rates; sediment
studies; soil conservation
topsoil thickness, factors in, 11–14, 14,
21–22, 189. See also erosion; erosion
rates
Toulmin, Harry, 123
toxic waste, as fertilizer, 214–15
tractors, 146, 150, 151. See also mechanization
trade: Cuban agriculture and, 230; phosphates
and, 187–88. See also cash
crops
“tragedy of the commons,” 94
transportation costs, 243
tropical rainforests, 244. See also Amazon;
deforestation; slash-and-burn agriculture
Tunisia, 69
Turkey, 165
Turner, Ted, 233
turnip cultivation, 94
two-field systems, 55
uncertainty: overblown warnings and,
175–76; as smokescreen for vested
interests, 24
United Fruit Company, 111
United Nations: Food and Agricultural
Organization, 110, 200, 229, 243;
UNESCO archaeological surveys,
65–66
United States: advent of commercial fertilizers
in, 185–87, 188; Civil War in, 103,
134–37; colonial agriculture in,
119–24; nitrate production and,
196–97; soil types in, 22–23; USDA
estimates of topsoil loss in, 149–50,
173, 174. See also American South;
government policies; Great Plains;
industrial agriculture; entries for specific
states
U. S. Agency for International Development,
229
U. S. Bureau of Agricultural Engineering,
153
U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA):
Bureau of Soils, 192–95; Division of