Montgomery, David. Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2007.
Reviewed by Andrew
While we normally think of it as the stuff that our houses sit on top of, or the stuff that we wipe off our shoes, but dirt has an important role in environmental history. In fact, the effects of soil erosion have caused some of humanity’s great civilizations to fall, and the scary reality of it is that in terms of global levels, the Earth is running out of dirt (Montgomery 3). Each year, millions of tons of topsoil from farmlands are lost, and annually the world loses twenty-four billion tons of soil (Montgomery 4). Montgomery dives in to look at soil’s effect on civilizations like the Greeks, the Romans, and the Maya, which all historically lasted about a thousand years, despite their lack of relation to each other and the different time frames upon which they were established. While not a direct factor, these civilizations and the treatment of their soil – none of which had a plan for sustaining the dirt – would not be able to foresee the environmental degradation and soil exhaustion that they would cause, which would eventual lead to social issues of economics, climate change, and war that would change the course of their history forever (Montgomery 5).
Montgomery studies the effect of soil on early Mesopotamian culture to provide evidence to dirt’s impact on it. Between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers sat as much fertile society as the early society could dream of. Eventually, classes began to develop between the field workers and those who owned and distributed the crops. Rivalries were created between cities that held or wanted the better dirt (Montgomery 38). Montgomery goes on to explain how the Sumerian agricultural system adopted a form of irrigation; but they would just see most of the water evaporate, putting more salt into the soil and further degrade it (Montgomery 39). Over the years, Montgomery shows, the crop yields gradually decrease as the soil becomes more salinized, to the point where some crops, like wheat, disappear from the region altogether. With fields of salt and a failed irrigation system, Sumerian civilization would decline harshly, and one of the mightiest civilizations would collapse between 1300 and 900 BC (Montgomery 40).
Montgomery also uses Greece, Egypt, and the Roman Empire as examples of early, dominant societies that ran into social upheaval and subsequent collapse because of the poor conditions of their soil. Not only that, he also explains how soil helped shape the country we live in today. Growing populations in Europe that were being fed by old-world crop productions and summarily going hungry left their countries in search of a place where they could own their own land, and with enough land to grow crops for miles (Montgomery 100). Even in today’s America, however, that no longer exists. Just like in older civilizations, there are inches of topsoil missing in the South, accounting to billions of more tons gone (Montgomery 138). Between this and other events, such as the infamous Dust Bowl of the 1930’s, could America be following down the same path as, say, the Sumerians? Montgomery says, “We’ll see.”
What Montgomery argues overall in his book isn’t a summary of the past, but rather a warning. The Dust Bowl showed that even in the modern world, the soil is still an important, albeit undervalued, natural resource. Without soil, you have no food. Without food, you have no social order. Looking at past civilizations, Montgomery points out the repeating failure of the land and the subsequent consequences: fewer crops, degraded land for future generations, and a hungry population on the move to find other sources. Well, the future is now. There is no more land to go out and look for on this Earth – the key to sustaining civilization is to sustain the soil. “Extending the lifespan of our civilization will require reshaping agriculture to respect the soil not as an input to an industrial process, but as the living foundation for material wealth (Montgomery 246).
Reviewed by Andrew
While we normally think of it as the stuff that our houses sit on top of, or the stuff that we wipe off our shoes, but dirt has an important role in environmental history. In fact, the effects of soil erosion have caused some of humanity’s great civilizations to fall, and the scary reality of it is that in terms of global levels, the Earth is running out of dirt (Montgomery 3). Each year, millions of tons of topsoil from farmlands are lost, and annually the world loses twenty-four billion tons of soil (Montgomery 4). Montgomery dives in to look at soil’s effect on civilizations like the Greeks, the Romans, and the Maya, which all historically lasted about a thousand years, despite their lack of relation to each other and the different time frames upon which they were established. While not a direct factor, these civilizations and the treatment of their soil – none of which had a plan for sustaining the dirt – would not be able to foresee the environmental degradation and soil exhaustion that they would cause, which would eventual lead to social issues of economics, climate change, and war that would change the course of their history forever (Montgomery 5).
Montgomery studies the effect of soil on early Mesopotamian culture to provide evidence to dirt’s impact on it. Between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers sat as much fertile society as the early society could dream of. Eventually, classes began to develop between the field workers and those who owned and distributed the crops. Rivalries were created between cities that held or wanted the better dirt (Montgomery 38). Montgomery goes on to explain how the Sumerian agricultural system adopted a form of irrigation; but they would just see most of the water evaporate, putting more salt into the soil and further degrade it (Montgomery 39). Over the years, Montgomery shows, the crop yields gradually decrease as the soil becomes more salinized, to the point where some crops, like wheat, disappear from the region altogether. With fields of salt and a failed irrigation system, Sumerian civilization would decline harshly, and one of the mightiest civilizations would collapse between 1300 and 900 BC (Montgomery 40).
Montgomery also uses Greece, Egypt, and the Roman Empire as examples of early, dominant societies that ran into social upheaval and subsequent collapse because of the poor conditions of their soil. Not only that, he also explains how soil helped shape the country we live in today. Growing populations in Europe that were being fed by old-world crop productions and summarily going hungry left their countries in search of a place where they could own their own land, and with enough land to grow crops for miles (Montgomery 100). Even in today’s America, however, that no longer exists. Just like in older civilizations, there are inches of topsoil missing in the South, accounting to billions of more tons gone (Montgomery 138). Between this and other events, such as the infamous Dust Bowl of the 1930’s, could America be following down the same path as, say, the Sumerians? Montgomery says, “We’ll see.”
What Montgomery argues overall in his book isn’t a summary of the past, but rather a warning. The Dust Bowl showed that even in the modern world, the soil is still an important, albeit undervalued, natural resource. Without soil, you have no food. Without food, you have no social order. Looking at past civilizations, Montgomery points out the repeating failure of the land and the subsequent consequences: fewer crops, degraded land for future generations, and a hungry population on the move to find other sources. Well, the future is now. There is no more land to go out and look for on this Earth – the key to sustaining civilization is to sustain the soil. “Extending the lifespan of our civilization will require reshaping agriculture to respect the soil not as an input to an industrial process, but as the living foundation for material wealth (Montgomery 246).
Reviewed by Kiley
Dirt has shaped the landscape of Earth and had a major impact on the success of societies through out time. More of an impact than we ever have realized previously. David R. Montgomery’s book “Dirt” dissects the many different ways in which dirt and soil has shaped the history of mankind and is still doing so today. He takes a look at the rise and decline of great dynasties and empires such as the Greek and Roman empires, and relates these great declines in civilizations to the over use and constant lose of topsoil and its impact on a society. “Civilizations don’t just disappear overnight. They don’t choose to fail. More often they falter and then decline as their soil disappears over generations”, Montgomery explains in the beginning portion of his book. He goes on to state that how we handle the problem of soil degradation and accelerated erosion will be the ultimate determinate of our fate as a society.
There are multiple problems facing us as a civilization today considering our soil. It is estimated that 24 billion tons of topsoil are lost each year total around the world. That would equal a couple of tons of lost soil for each person on the Earth. Oil and fossil fuels are often looked at as the natural resources we are most concerned about running out of, but soil should be right at the top of that list as well. Some researchers do suggest that cheap fossil fuels, the ones used to make synthetic fertilizers will run out by the end of this century.
Montgomery discusses Charles Darwin’s 1882 book of worms and how they helped shape the English countryside. Darwin did extensive research with worms and discovered that it takes worms a few centuries to plow through soil.
In this book David R. Montgomery goes into detail about the many factors that can affect soil and how we are destroying it. He explains the impact that technology has had on soil throughout history. The introduction of the plow and much later the tractor took the place of horse and it much easier to farm and plow up much larger amounts of land. Montgomery documents his travels across the globe and discusses the multiple regions he has visited and the way in which the soil is eroding. He strolls through the impact we are having on one of our most valuable and underappreciated natural resources in the present day in age. David R. Montgomery dissects the many reason why civilizations “don’t disappear overnight. They don’t choose to fail. More often they falter and then decline as their soil disappears over generations”.
David R. Montgomery makes very valid points in this book and most or points and facts that I never once considered for why civilizations crumble. Fuel is looked at in present day as one of the most valuable and limited resources that we will eventually run out of in due time unless we find alternative means. Well food is the humans fuel, and the constant erosion of the Earths precious soil instills a problem that may not be seen in the next couple years, but over time this loss will have devastating impacts on our lives.
The views of David Montgomery relate greatly to other civilizations he did not even mention in his book. For example, the Mayan’s crumbled due to over farming of their land. Their mass population demanded the farming of so much land and their lack of care for the fertile soil in which they grew their food ultimately had a great influence in their decline. Throughout history you can look at all great civilizations that didn’t successfully sustain dominance and you can look at the history of the soil in the fields in which they farm and find a direct correlation. Although dirt is often overlooked as being just dirt, it has shaped the face of our planet and the many civilizations that sustained life throughout history. It is not just dirt.
Dirt has shaped the landscape of Earth and had a major impact on the success of societies through out time. More of an impact than we ever have realized previously. David R. Montgomery’s book “Dirt” dissects the many different ways in which dirt and soil has shaped the history of mankind and is still doing so today. He takes a look at the rise and decline of great dynasties and empires such as the Greek and Roman empires, and relates these great declines in civilizations to the over use and constant lose of topsoil and its impact on a society. “Civilizations don’t just disappear overnight. They don’t choose to fail. More often they falter and then decline as their soil disappears over generations”, Montgomery explains in the beginning portion of his book. He goes on to state that how we handle the problem of soil degradation and accelerated erosion will be the ultimate determinate of our fate as a society.
There are multiple problems facing us as a civilization today considering our soil. It is estimated that 24 billion tons of topsoil are lost each year total around the world. That would equal a couple of tons of lost soil for each person on the Earth. Oil and fossil fuels are often looked at as the natural resources we are most concerned about running out of, but soil should be right at the top of that list as well. Some researchers do suggest that cheap fossil fuels, the ones used to make synthetic fertilizers will run out by the end of this century.
Montgomery discusses Charles Darwin’s 1882 book of worms and how they helped shape the English countryside. Darwin did extensive research with worms and discovered that it takes worms a few centuries to plow through soil.
In this book David R. Montgomery goes into detail about the many factors that can affect soil and how we are destroying it. He explains the impact that technology has had on soil throughout history. The introduction of the plow and much later the tractor took the place of horse and it much easier to farm and plow up much larger amounts of land. Montgomery documents his travels across the globe and discusses the multiple regions he has visited and the way in which the soil is eroding. He strolls through the impact we are having on one of our most valuable and underappreciated natural resources in the present day in age. David R. Montgomery dissects the many reason why civilizations “don’t disappear overnight. They don’t choose to fail. More often they falter and then decline as their soil disappears over generations”.
David R. Montgomery makes very valid points in this book and most or points and facts that I never once considered for why civilizations crumble. Fuel is looked at in present day as one of the most valuable and limited resources that we will eventually run out of in due time unless we find alternative means. Well food is the humans fuel, and the constant erosion of the Earths precious soil instills a problem that may not be seen in the next couple years, but over time this loss will have devastating impacts on our lives.
The views of David Montgomery relate greatly to other civilizations he did not even mention in his book. For example, the Mayan’s crumbled due to over farming of their land. Their mass population demanded the farming of so much land and their lack of care for the fertile soil in which they grew their food ultimately had a great influence in their decline. Throughout history you can look at all great civilizations that didn’t successfully sustain dominance and you can look at the history of the soil in the fields in which they farm and find a direct correlation. Although dirt is often overlooked as being just dirt, it has shaped the face of our planet and the many civilizations that sustained life throughout history. It is not just dirt.
Reviewed by Greg
One half of David Montgomery's book Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations was good, informative and interesting; the other half unfortunately was a lame, pathetic attempt at fear mongering. The book is about how soil affects humans and how humans affect soil. Overall the author wanted to show that poor soil husbandry led to the downfall of multiple civilizations and that we could be coming to another fall if the soil is not taken care of.
The author argues that when a civilization mistreats it soil that they will soon fail due to food shortages. He uses many examples early civilizations that got geographically lucky and where blessed with good soil and how they eventually failed to take care of the dirt and died out. Montgomery tries to show that this failure to maintain the soil and the factors that led to it where the main reasons that these civilizations failed. The argument made; is common sense on the most base level due to the importance of food production to any large sedentary population. This argument is weak on a complex level as it only takes into account one major part of a civilization. For a small weak civilization this may be true as once they could no longer feed themselves it would be the end, but for a bigger civilization like the Romans this would not be the end. The Romans could always invade new lands and take food supplies from there. Due to this ability to take more from others, saying that poor soil husbandry was at fault for the fall of Rome makes little to no sense.
The last part of this book makes many bold claims on how are current farming system is failing and how it can be improved to prevent bad things from happening. The claims may or may not be true, but there is no way to tell for this section of the book is not backed up with source references. Since these claims of future woe are not backed up they should not have been published as it is just fear mongering. The other bad part of the last couple sections of the book is that they do not fit the scope of the book. Going from an in depth look at soil to a preachy look at how the author thinks things are done in modern times throws the book way of course. It also does nothing to help his argument as it makes it look like he steered the course of his book to fit his agenda. The other weak part of the book is its failure to look into nomadic populations to show how they have been affected by poor dirt and how they dealt with it. This would be important because it would look at another group of important people throughout history and would make his argument less one sided
The methods of this book was to first give the reader a crash course on the science of dirt, from there it went to the first people to grow crops and then looked at the major players throughout history and how dirt effected there live. The part of the book that shows how dirt effects people the best was the look at three small islands in the Pacific and how all but one island failed due to poor soil use. The book does use these case studies to show how the way these societies worked was a key figure in why they lasted or not.
The main audience for this book would be people that are interested how small parts of the environment can have a big effect on the people. Also, those people who believe that humans are evil and killing the planet would love the last half of the book. The major contribution to environmental history is showing how humans can affect the soil and thus the way they feed themselves. This is important because eating is something that people need to do on a daily bases to survive. People who would not be the audience for this book are those that can use common sense and inherently know that poor soil quality leads to poor food production and that would kill off a society.
This book left some unanswered questions that some may see as important to the author's argument. Such as if all this soil is eroding at such rates as he claims where is it all going? It is not like the soil just left Earth for good, it has to go somewhere. His main argument would have been solid if he did not take it to the extreme that he did. Due to these extremes the book Dirt is a failure and should never have left the editors desk.
One half of David Montgomery's book Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations was good, informative and interesting; the other half unfortunately was a lame, pathetic attempt at fear mongering. The book is about how soil affects humans and how humans affect soil. Overall the author wanted to show that poor soil husbandry led to the downfall of multiple civilizations and that we could be coming to another fall if the soil is not taken care of.
The author argues that when a civilization mistreats it soil that they will soon fail due to food shortages. He uses many examples early civilizations that got geographically lucky and where blessed with good soil and how they eventually failed to take care of the dirt and died out. Montgomery tries to show that this failure to maintain the soil and the factors that led to it where the main reasons that these civilizations failed. The argument made; is common sense on the most base level due to the importance of food production to any large sedentary population. This argument is weak on a complex level as it only takes into account one major part of a civilization. For a small weak civilization this may be true as once they could no longer feed themselves it would be the end, but for a bigger civilization like the Romans this would not be the end. The Romans could always invade new lands and take food supplies from there. Due to this ability to take more from others, saying that poor soil husbandry was at fault for the fall of Rome makes little to no sense.
The last part of this book makes many bold claims on how are current farming system is failing and how it can be improved to prevent bad things from happening. The claims may or may not be true, but there is no way to tell for this section of the book is not backed up with source references. Since these claims of future woe are not backed up they should not have been published as it is just fear mongering. The other bad part of the last couple sections of the book is that they do not fit the scope of the book. Going from an in depth look at soil to a preachy look at how the author thinks things are done in modern times throws the book way of course. It also does nothing to help his argument as it makes it look like he steered the course of his book to fit his agenda. The other weak part of the book is its failure to look into nomadic populations to show how they have been affected by poor dirt and how they dealt with it. This would be important because it would look at another group of important people throughout history and would make his argument less one sided
The methods of this book was to first give the reader a crash course on the science of dirt, from there it went to the first people to grow crops and then looked at the major players throughout history and how dirt effected there live. The part of the book that shows how dirt effects people the best was the look at three small islands in the Pacific and how all but one island failed due to poor soil use. The book does use these case studies to show how the way these societies worked was a key figure in why they lasted or not.
The main audience for this book would be people that are interested how small parts of the environment can have a big effect on the people. Also, those people who believe that humans are evil and killing the planet would love the last half of the book. The major contribution to environmental history is showing how humans can affect the soil and thus the way they feed themselves. This is important because eating is something that people need to do on a daily bases to survive. People who would not be the audience for this book are those that can use common sense and inherently know that poor soil quality leads to poor food production and that would kill off a society.
This book left some unanswered questions that some may see as important to the author's argument. Such as if all this soil is eroding at such rates as he claims where is it all going? It is not like the soil just left Earth for good, it has to go somewhere. His main argument would have been solid if he did not take it to the extreme that he did. Due to these extremes the book Dirt is a failure and should never have left the editors desk.
Reviewed by Nick
For something that we want to wash off of us everyday, step on and usually take for granted there are some people out there who don’t see it that way. That it that I’m talking about of course is dirt. David Montgomery is one of the people who doesn't take dirt for granted. In his book cleverly tilted “Dirt” Montgomery offers an explanation as to why dirt is so important. So important Montgomery argues that there might not be anything on the planet that can claim to be more important.
There are some main points the Montgomery wants to engrain in the readers head time and time again over the course of the book. Those are that of soil erosion and soil production. The growing world population and the challenge of feeding the 6+ billion people that it inhibits. Finally the saying. “ Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it”. Not that saying exactly but Montgomery stresses that if we don’t look at how past civilizations overused their land we could make the same mistake.
A scientist is quoted in the text saying that naturally the earth use to naturally strip 1 inch of topsoil every 1000 years. With modern agriculture that rate is up to 1 inch for every 40 years. Also from the text Charles Darwin is quoted saying it could take worms up to 200 years to thoroughly plow and restore a field. With no virgin land left in sight for modern times and only under 1% of the world’s population working farms soil preservation needs to be our top priority if we are going to have food to eat in 50 years.
As smart as we think we are with modern technology we know this, technology cannot replace topsoil for us. We know this also from the collapse of ancient civilizations such as Rome and the Mayans. These once great and powerful societies with the help of deforestation and not enough crop rotation crumbled slowly away when their soil was withered to nothing and crops failed to grow.
In the end Montgomery makes a strong case for how much we as a world should value our soil. Soil is what gives life to our planet by way of plants and crops that feed humans and wild animals alike. If we loose this precious resource we will have a shortage of food and a definite population drop. With 6 billion mouths to feed we as a world need to start taking action! But how? While Montgomery keeps hitting the reader with the negatives of soil erosion and how long soil production can take, Montgomery never gives us a clear cut way on how we can improve things. Vaguely he speaks of how in Peru there farming ways have preserved their land for 1500 years. However there is never a way or process given on how to fix this problem. This is the only thing holding Montgomery’s book back from being great to what it is now, just an above average account of dirt.
For something that we want to wash off of us everyday, step on and usually take for granted there are some people out there who don’t see it that way. That it that I’m talking about of course is dirt. David Montgomery is one of the people who doesn't take dirt for granted. In his book cleverly tilted “Dirt” Montgomery offers an explanation as to why dirt is so important. So important Montgomery argues that there might not be anything on the planet that can claim to be more important.
There are some main points the Montgomery wants to engrain in the readers head time and time again over the course of the book. Those are that of soil erosion and soil production. The growing world population and the challenge of feeding the 6+ billion people that it inhibits. Finally the saying. “ Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it”. Not that saying exactly but Montgomery stresses that if we don’t look at how past civilizations overused their land we could make the same mistake.
A scientist is quoted in the text saying that naturally the earth use to naturally strip 1 inch of topsoil every 1000 years. With modern agriculture that rate is up to 1 inch for every 40 years. Also from the text Charles Darwin is quoted saying it could take worms up to 200 years to thoroughly plow and restore a field. With no virgin land left in sight for modern times and only under 1% of the world’s population working farms soil preservation needs to be our top priority if we are going to have food to eat in 50 years.
As smart as we think we are with modern technology we know this, technology cannot replace topsoil for us. We know this also from the collapse of ancient civilizations such as Rome and the Mayans. These once great and powerful societies with the help of deforestation and not enough crop rotation crumbled slowly away when their soil was withered to nothing and crops failed to grow.
In the end Montgomery makes a strong case for how much we as a world should value our soil. Soil is what gives life to our planet by way of plants and crops that feed humans and wild animals alike. If we loose this precious resource we will have a shortage of food and a definite population drop. With 6 billion mouths to feed we as a world need to start taking action! But how? While Montgomery keeps hitting the reader with the negatives of soil erosion and how long soil production can take, Montgomery never gives us a clear cut way on how we can improve things. Vaguely he speaks of how in Peru there farming ways have preserved their land for 1500 years. However there is never a way or process given on how to fix this problem. This is the only thing holding Montgomery’s book back from being great to what it is now, just an above average account of dirt.