The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis (32 page)

    
49
   
Controlled use of fire:
Date of burned bone and plant ash remains as evidence for controlled use of fire is reported in Berna et al. (2012).

    
50
   
Identify right from wrong:
Castro and Toro (2004) show that the capacity to approve or disapprove offspring’s behavior is critical to cultural transmission in hominids.

    
51
   
Communicate via language:
Fitch (2005, 2010) and Knight et al. (2000) discuss the evolution of language.

    
51
   
The powers of memory:
The Incan knots, called
quipus
, are discussed in Christensen (2002).

    
52
   
Evolved into domesticated species:
Peng et al. (2011) and Puruggana and Fuller (2010) describe the process of the domestication of wheat.

    
53
   
Agriculture was born:
Tanno and Willcox 2006; Fuller 2007; Lev-Yadun et al. 2000; Diamond 2002.

    
53
   
12,000 and 4,500 years ago:
Burger et al. 2008; Price 2009.

    
53
   
Domesticated these crops from wild species:
Sweeney and McCouch 2007; Yang et al. 2012.

    
54
   
Potatoes and cassava in South America:
Ranere et al. 2009; Piperno and Flannery 2001.

    
54
   
Coat-button-sized and bitter wild counterpart:
In the fifteenth century after the Spanish conquest, a ship carried the domesticated tomato to Europe. In the intervening centuries between then and now, plant breeders have worked their magic to bring tomatoes of all shapes, sizes, and colors to cooks around the world. All these varieties trace back to the single New World wild species. The cherry tomato may be an exception, with mixed genes from wild and cultivated tomatoes (Bai and Lindhout 2007; Estabrook 2010).

    
55
   
Wheat dominating today’s diets:
Diamond 2002.

    
55
   
Shorter stature than their hunting and gathering ancestors:
Larsen 2006, 2009.

    
55
   
Swings in climate calmed down:
The relationship between climate variability in the Pleistocene and human evolution is discussed by Boyd and Richerson (2009), Richerson et al. (2001), Potts (2007), and deMenocal (2011).

    
56
   
Move forward more smoothly:
Richersen et al. 2001.

    
56
   
These pivotal times:
This balanced, most realistic view is promoted in Zeder (2006).

    
56
   
Swell for many centuries:
Gignoux et al. 2011.

    
57
   
And farming populations grew:
Livi-Bacci 2007, 31–38.

    
57
   
Traveled further into Europe:
Puruggana and Fuller 2010.

    
57
   
North America in the fourteenth century:
The causes of the Little Ice Age are not certain. A recent analysis points toward explosive volcanism as the trigger (Miller et al. 2012). The impacts on agriculture and development in Europe are described in Fagan (2000).

Chapter 4: Conundrums of Settled Life

    
62
   
“. . . [S]ufficient for its normal growth”:
Leigh 2004, 109.

    
63
   
The magical effect:
Leigh 2004.

    
65
   
Came into play later on:
Galloway et al. (2013) trace the major events in the history of nitrogen.

    
66
   
“. . . [H]alt which nothing can prevent”:
Quoted in Lougheed (2011) from Asimov (1974).

    
66
   
His recipe:
Brandt’s recipe is quoted from Ashley et al. (2011).

    
67
   
Unusual element by the mid-eighteenth century:
The fascinating history of phosphorus is recounted in detail in Emsley (2000).

    
70
   
Forests in southern and middle Europe:
Williams 2006, 41.

    
70
   
Stratified societies emerged:
Wittfogel (1957) put forward the hypothesis that “hydraulic civilizations” in arid regions led to centralized, authoritarian rule arising from the need to control water. This theory has been found faulty and is not substantiated by empirical observations indicating that centralized states appeared before major hydraulic works were undertaken. See Hassan (2011) and Bagg (2012) for detailed discussion of the hydraulic hypothesis. Nevertheless, the bureaucracies that developed in the great river valley civilizations can likely at least be partially explained by the need for central control of irrigation.

    
71
   
Great cradles of civilization:
The environmental problems with the Mesopotamian irrigation system are discussed in Khan et al. (2006).

    
72
   
But the caliph refused:
Rashed 2002.

    
72
   
3,000 years ago:
Thebes was the only city in the world with a population of more than 100,000 in 1360
BCE
(United Nations 1980).

    
73
   
They got from their efforts:
An energetic analysis of swidden agriculturalists in New Guinea estimated that each calorie in human energy expended to produce food yielded sixteen calories in return (Rappaport 1971).

    
73
   
That people can’t digest:
The energy crisis of the 1970s prompted studies of the energetic requirements in industrial agriculture (e.g., Pimentel et al. 1973;
Steinhart and Steinhart 1974). Martinez-Alier (2011) provided an overview of the concept of energy return on energy invested (EROI) in agricultural systems. Other studies have quantified the amount of energy in the form of net primary productivity usurped by humans (e.g., Vitousek et al. 1986; Haberl 1997) and energetics for different agricultural systems (e.g., Haberl 2001, 2006; Pimentel 2002; Smil 2008).

    
73
   
6,000 or 7,000 years ago:
Sherratt 1983.

    
73
   
Person with a hoe:
Smil 2004.

    
74
   
After a few transfers:
Lindeman (1942) pioneered work on energy transformation among trophic levels. Odum (1968) described the history of thought about energy flow in ecosystems. Cousins (1987) provided a critique of the concept of trophic levels. Vasey (1992) discussed the energy flows in agricultural systems. The 10 percent rule is only approximate and generalizations are difficult, as explained by Smil (2002, 207–209).

    
75
   
“. . . [M]ost perfect in the world”:
Quoted in Leigh 2004, 109.

    
76
   
“. . . [W]e designate as filth”:
Quoted in Ashley et al. 2011, 739.

    
76
   
Nutrient-rich soil on the floodplains:
Ancient Chinese agriculture is discussed in Leigh (2004), Ellis and Wang (1997), and King (1911).

    
76
   
Human waste to vegetables:
Ellis and Wang 1997.

    
76
   
Canals to channel water:
The Dujiangyan waterworks, which made China’s Chengdu plains prosper, are an example of irrigation’s pivotal role. Scarborough (1991) provided an overview of water management strategies in nonindustrial complex societies.

    
76
   
Thousands of feet below the ground:
Details on Chinese drilling techniques since ancient times are found in Kuhn (2004) and Zhou et al. (2011).

    
77
   
Untold millions died of starvation:
Mallory (1928), Prentice (2001), and Yates (1990) discuss cannibalism in China during famines.

    
77
   
Swept through the population:
Elvin (1993) and Marks (2011) discuss shistosomiasis and cholera epidemics in ancient China, respectively.

    
77
   
Beijing in 1500:
United Nations 1980.

    
77
   
Source of night-soil:
Thorp 1940.

    
78
   
Widespread by around 1000
CE
:
Smil 2004, 553; Gimpel 1976.

    
79
   
Cereal yields nearly doubled:
Mazoyer and Roudart 2006, 281.

    
79
   
Concentrated in towns and cities:
McNeill 1985; Smil 2004; Lal et al. 2007.

    
79
   
Heavy taxes on the peasants:
For an account of the fourteenth-century famines of northern Europe, see Jordan (1996).

    
80
   
1321, 1322, 1332, 1334, 1341, and 1342:
Mazoyer and Roudart 2006, 293.

    
81
   
Also a debatable point:
Mokyr 1993.

    
82
   
Yield in other years of 18:
Turner 1982.

    
83
   
“. . . [S]ubsistence for man”:
Malthus 1798, 4.

    
84
   
“. . . [B]eing entirely disheartening”:
Smil 2002, xxvii.

Chapter 5: Ratchets from Afar

    
85
   
Dwindling soil fertility:
Law (1967) provided a range of estimates for urban and rural populations for the nineteenth century. The population census for
England and Wales did not differentiate between rural and urban until the 1851 census. Towns are generally defined as agglomerations of more than 10,000 people, and cities as populations of greater than 100,000, though definitions vary. These estimates indicate that about 30 percent of the population in England and Wales was living in towns and cities in 1801.

    
86
   
“. . . [I]mpregnated with filthy odors”:
Dickens 1838, 94.

    
86
   
14,000 in all:
Tien et al. 2011.

    
87
   
“. . . [H]andkerchief to his nose”:
London Times
1858.

    
87
   
Systems many centuries earlier:
Sewage disposal in ancient cultures is discussed in Russel and Williams (1977).

    
87
   
Wash it out to sea:
The history of London’s sewer system is given in detail in Halliday (1999).

    
87
   
“. . . [T]o run to waste”:
Quoted in Goddard 1996, 274.

    
87
   
“. . . [D]isease from the stream”:
Quoted in Marald 2002, 66.

    
88
   
“. . . [E]ndless number of years”:
Ibid., 70.

    
89
   
Were said to cure malaria:
Humboldt and Bonpland 1822, 1:xii.

    
89
   
United States for $50:
Leigh 2004, 81.

    
90
   
All sorts of nitrogen-containing waste:
Hall (1915) described the utility of different waste products used as fertilizer in England.

    
90
   
“. . . [A]ppertaining to the United States”:
United States Code 1856.

    
90
   
Christmas Island off the coast of Australia:
The political history of the islands claimed under the US Guano Act is given in Orent and Reinsch (1941), Nichols (1933), and Burnett (2005).

    
90
   
A little over half that amount:
Leigh 2004, 81.

    
91
   
“. . . [A]nd poorly fed fields:
New York Daily Times
1855, 4.