A "Green" view of the evolution of human society

Some excerpts from Quaternary International, Article in Press, Corrected Proof. What this guy says is so counterfactual that he must be quite insane -- as must be the editors who accepted it for publication

The agricultural revolution as environmental catastrophe: Implications for health and lifestyle in the Holocene

By Clark Spencer Larsen

Abstract

One of the most fundamental developments in the history of our species-and one having among the most profound impacts on landscapes and the people occupying them-was the domestication of plants and animals. In addition to altering landscapes around the globe from the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene, the shift from foraging to farming resulted in negative and multiple consequences for human health. Study of human skeletal remains from archaeological contexts shows that the introduction of grains and other cultigens and the increase in their dietary focus resulted in a decline in health and alterations in activity and lifestyle. Although agriculture provided the economic basis for the rise of states and development of civilizations, the change in diet and acquisition of food resulted in a decline in quality of life for most human populations in the last 10,000 years. [What planet does this guy live on?]

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6. Conclusions

Most of us are well aware of the dramatic changes in the Earth's landscapes as forests give way to agricultural land, and the resulting environmental degradation, loss of species, and other disasters (e.g., McKee, 2003). A common misperception is that prior to modern times, humans were much more concerned about managing their environment so as to avoid the problems that have surfaced in such a dramatic fashion in the 20th century. However, study of ancient landscapes in Mesoamerica, North America, and the Middle East shows evidence that earlier agriculturalists had profound impacts, highly negative in some areas, on the lands they exploited (see Abrams and Rue, 1988; Denevan, 1992; Kirch et al., 1992; Redman, 1999; Krech, 1999; Heckenberger et al., 2003). In the Mediterranean basin, for example, nearly all landscapes were degraded or otherwise transformed in dramatic ways (van der Leeuw, 1998). The analysis of the past reveals that the current threats to the landscape have their origins in the period of human history when plant domestication began 10,000 years (or so) ago. Finally, once the effects on Earth's climate by industrial-era human activities-the so-called greenhouse effect-were recognized, a number of workers assumed that it related to just the last couple of hundred years (e.g., Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000). However, new evidence of anamolous trends in CO2 and CH4 possibly owing to agricultural-related deforestation after about 8000 years ago, indicates that the negative impact involving greenhouse gases began soon after the start of agriculture (Ruddiman, 2003).

Coupled with these negative changes to the landscape was the decline in health and quality of life. Skeletal evidence indicates that these impacts on health were immediate-as soon as humans began to farm, health declines commenced due to population crowding, altered workloads, and increased nutritional deficiencies. In looking at different health indicators, there is variability. For example, some agriculturalists show far more skeletal evidence of iron deficiency anemia, and rice agriculturalists may be less prone to dental caries. Taken as a whole, farming was a mixed bag-it provided food for a growing world population, but with negative consequences for the health and wellbeing. These negative consequences have been largely ameliorated today in developed nations, made possible by advances in medical care, varied and nutritional diets, and stringent sanitation and water treatment laws. In the non-developed or developing world-the majority of population-the production and consumption of a limited number of plants continues to negatively impact millions of our species. At no other time in the history of our species has there been so much nutritional deficiency, crowd-related infections, infant mortality, and poor health generally. [Which is why life-expectancy has never been so high, I guess] The situation does not look like it will improve. In the next couple of decades, farmers globally will be called upon to provide food for nearly 8 billion people, representing nearly a 40% increase. Most of the growth in population will be in developing countries whose ability to produce the food necessary for the survival of all is diminishing (Gardner, 2004). Clearly, the change in how humans acquired food in a few centres 10,000 years ago has now engulfed much of the world in a profound way, arguably not for the better, either then or now.

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