Download or read book Soil Soul Society written by Satish Kumar and published by Parallax Press. This book was released on 2024-10-01 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first US edition of Satish Kumar's classic book, we rediscover how our spiritual and social well-being connects to that of our planet. Internationally-respected peace and environment activist Satish Kumar has been gently setting the agenda for change for over 50 years. As 350.org founder Bill McKibben says, "There is no one on the planet better-equipped to make you think and rethink how you're living and how you might change." The age of sustainability is grounded on the knowledge that we ourselves are very much part of nature; that what we do to nature we in fact do to ourselves; and that the earth has a soul, which we share. Drawing on the example of Rabindranath Tagore, Kumar advocates living with awareness that our personal choices have political and poetic resonance. In this book, he inspires readers with the knowledge we are all leaders and can create change in our structures and mindsets for lasting peace and a sustainable culture and society. Celebrating an emerging global consciousness that reveres nature, the book explores how, as a global society, we need to embrace diversity and be aware of our role as pilgrims on this earth. Joyful and heart-centered, Satish Kumar reminds us that to bring about change in the world, we must embody the change we wish to see.

Download or read book Soil and Culture written by Edward R. Landa and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-01-28 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SOIL: beneath our feet / food and fiber / ashes to ashes, dust to dust / dirt!Soil has been called the final frontier of environmental research. The critical role of soil in biogeochemical processes is tied to its properties and place—porous, structured, and spatially variable, it serves as a conduit, buffer, and transformer of water, solutes and gases. Yet what is complex, life-giving, and sacred to some, is ordinary, even ugly, to others. This is the enigma that is soil. Soil and Culture explores the perception of soil in ancient, traditional, and modern societies. It looks at the visual arts (painting, textiles, sculpture, architecture, film, comics and stamps), prose & poetry, religion, philosophy, anthropology, archaeology, wine production, health & diet, and disease & warfare. Soil and Culture explores high culture and popular culture—from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch to the films of Steve McQueen. It looks at ancient societies and contemporary artists. Contributors from a variety of disciplines delve into the mind of Carl Jung and the bellies of soil eaters, and explore Chinese paintings, African mud cloths, Mayan rituals, Japanese films, French comic strips, and Russian poetry.

Download or read book Between Soil and Society written by Jonathan Coppess and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2024-05 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States spends approximately $5 billion each year on federal programs designed to conserve natural resources and address the environmental consequences of modern agricultural production. Like farm policy, agricultural conservation policy is rooted in the Roosevelt administration’s New Deal efforts of the 1930s. Farm conservation policy has waxed and waned since then, related to fluctuating economic and environmental concerns. In Between Soil and Society Jonathan Coppess traces the history and development of U.S. conservation policy, especially as it compares to and interacts with the development of farm policy. By answering questions about the differences in political support and development for these similar policy regimes, with efforts to apply legal and political theory to understand the differences, Coppess considers the implications of climate change and lessons for future policy development. One of the few books to make sense of the legal and economic analysis of agricultural conservation policy, Between Soil and Society provides a window into larger issues of American politics, governance, and policy development.

Download or read book Dirt written by David R. Montgomery and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2007-05-14 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

Download or read book Soil Management written by Jerry L. Hatfield and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-01-22 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Degradation of soils continues at a pace that will eventually create a local, regional, or even global crisis when diminished soil resources collide with increasing climate variation. It's not too late to restore our soils to a more productive state by rediscovering the value of soil management, building on our well-established and ever-expanding scientific understanding of soils. Soil management concepts have been in place since the cultivation of crops, but we need to rediscover the principles that are linked together in effective soil management. This book is unique because of its treatment of soil management based on principles—the physical, chemical, and biological processes and how together they form the foundation for soil management processes that range from tillage to nutrient management. Whether new to soil science or needing a concise reference, readers will benefit from this book's ability to integrate the science of soils with management issues and long-term conservation efforts.

Download or read book Footprints in the Soil written by Benno P Warkentin and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2006-04-18 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of science discipline is contributing valuable knowledge of the culture of soil understanding, of the conditions in society that fostered the ideas, and of why they developed in certain ways. This book is about the progressive “footprints made by scientists in the soil. It contains chapters chosen from important topics in the development of soil science, and tells the story of the people and the exciting ideas that contributed to our present understanding of soils. Initiated by discussions within the Soil Science Society of America and the International Union of Soil Sciences, this book uniquely illustrates the significance of soils to our society. It is planned for soils students, for various scientific disciplines, and for members of the public who show an increasing interest in soil. This book allows us to answer the questions: “How do we know what we know about soils? and “How did one step or idea lead to the next one? The chapters are written by an international group of authors, each with special interests, bound together by the central theme of soils and how we came to our present understanding of soils. Each concentrate on soil knowledge in the western world and draw primarily on written accounts available in English and European languages. Academics, graduate students, researchers and practitioners will gain new insights from these studies of how ideas in soil science and understanding of uses of soils developed. * Discusses tracing soils knowledge accumulated from Roman times, first by soil users and after 1800s by scientists* Offers ideas about how soils knowledge was influenced by the social context and by human needs* Combines the history of ideas with scientific knowledge of soils* Written by chapter authors who combine subject matter expertise with knowledge of practical soil uses, and provide numerous references for further study of the relevant literature

Download or read book Larding the Lean Earth written by Steven Stoll and published by Hill and Wang. This book was released on 2003-07-03 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major history of early Americans' ideas about conservation Fifty years after the American Revolution, the yeoman farmers who made up a large part of the new country's voters faced a crisis. The very soil of American farms seemed to be failing, and agricultural prosperity, upon which the Republic was founded, was threatened. Steven Stoll's passionate and brilliantly argued book explores the tempestuous debates that erupted between "improvers," who believed in practices that sustained and bettered the soil of existing farms, and "emigrants," who thought it was wiser and more "American" to move westward as the soil gave out. Stoll examines the dozens of journals, from New York to Virginia, that gave voice to the improvers' cause. He also focuses especially on two groups of farmers, in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. He analyzes the similarities and differences in their farming habits in order to illustrate larger regional concerns about the "new husbandry" in free and slave states. Farming has always been the human activity that most disrupts nature, for good or ill. The decisions these early Americans made about how to farm not only expressed their political and social faith, but also influenced American attitudes about the environment for decades to come. Larding the Lean Earth is a signal work of environmental history and an original contribution to the study of antebellum America.

Download or read book Glossary of Soil Science Terms 2008 written by Soil Science Society of America and published by ASA-CSSA-SSSA. This book was released on 2008 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 1800 terms are included in this revised glossary. Subject matter includes soil physics, soil chemistry, soil biology and biochemistry, pedology, soil and water management and conservation, forest and range soils, nutrient management and soil and plant analysis, mineralogy, wetland soils, and soils and environmental quality. Two appendices on tabular information and designations for soil horizons and layers also are included.

Download or read book Know Soil Know Life written by David L. Lindbo and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Audience: Students studying environmental science or participating in an Envirothon or Science Olympiad will find Know Soil, Know Life is an easily accessible resource. Undergraduate students in introductory ecology and environmental science classes will have a manageable soils textbook. Scientists in related disciplines wildlife, forestry, geology, hydrology, biology, zoology will enjoy this engaging introduction to soils.

Download or read book From the Soil the Foundations of Chinese Society written by Xiaotong Fei and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A lucid and fascinating work about Chinese society and values. Fei's account of how China differs from the West is every bit as telling now as it was when this book was first published almost half a century ago."--Orville Schell "What are the fundamental characteristics of Chinese society and how does it differ from the West? In From the Soil, China's foremost sociologist offered his insights, based on fieldwork in China and residence in the West, into this fascinating question. Vivid and clearly written, it has long been a classic of Chinese sociology, widely read by Chinese. It is wonderful finally to have it available in English."--David Arkush, University of Iowa

Download or read book Smallholders Householders written by Robert McC. Netting and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrasting the prevailing theories of the evolution of agriculture, the author argues that the practice of smallholding is more efficient and less environmentally degrading than that of industrial agriculture which depends heavily on fossil fuel, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. He presents a convincing case for his argument with examples taken from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, and demonstrates that there are fundamental commonalities among smallholder cultures. "Smallholders, Householders" is a detailed and innovative analysis of the agricultural efficiency and conservation of resources practiced around the world by smallholders.

Download or read book Soil Mineralogy with Environmental Applications written by Joe Boris Dixon and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few books achieve a connection between scientifc theory and real world environmental problems, but this one does. Generous use of color images, exercises, and case studies make it friendly for the classroom or non-mineralogist. Discover crystallography, surface chemistry, mineral-solution equilibria, organic matter, and soil mineral analysis. The book includes a lengthy exploration of world-wide applications of mineralogy in soil taxonomy, tectonics, radionuclides, pesticides, enzymes, and more.

Download or read book Vital Decomposition written by Kristina M. Lyons and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-17 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Colombia, decades of social and armed conflict and the US-led war on drugs have created a seemingly untenable situation for scientists and rural communities as they attempt to care for forests and grow non-illicit crops. In Vital Decomposition Kristina M. Lyons presents an ethnography of human-soil relations. She follows state soil scientists and peasants across labs, greenhouses, forests, and farms and attends to the struggles and collaborations between farmers, agrarian movements, state officials, and scientists over the meanings of peace, productivity, rural development, and sustainability in Colombia. In particular, Lyons examines the practices and philosophies of rural farmers who value the decomposing layers of leaves, which make the soils that sustain life in the Amazon, and shows how the study and stewardship of the soil point to alternative frameworks for living and dying. In outlining the life-making processes that compose and decompose into soil, Lyons theorizes how life can thrive in the face of the violence, criminalization, and poisoning produced by militarized, growth-oriented development.

Download or read book Soils and Societies written by John Robert McNeill and published by . This book was released on 2010-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Described in Nature as 'a delight for the soil aficionado', this multi-authored collection examines the complex interrelations between societies in different parts of the world and the soils they relied on from the perspectives of geomorphology, archaeology, pedology and history. The geographical spread includes Mesoamerica, Africa, Europe, Australia, India and Easter Island. Few things are more important to human survival than the fertility of the soils from which so much of our food comes. Yet few aspects of the relationship between human society and the environment get so little attention. This book explores some of the enormous variety in the ways that people have worked with, thought about, damaged and restored soils. It also shows some of the ways in which soils, their properties and their histories have influenced human affairs. Soils are the substrate of all human society: from the palaeolithic to the present, their history is our history

Download or read book Applied Statistics in Agricultural Biological and Environmental Sciences written by Barry Glaz and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-01-22 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Better experimental design and statistical analysis make for more robust science. A thorough understanding of modern statistical methods can mean the difference between discovering and missing crucial results and conclusions in your research, and can shape the course of your entire research career. With Applied Statistics, Barry Glaz and Kathleen M. Yeater have worked with a team of expert authors to create a comprehensive text for graduate students and practicing scientists in the agricultural, biological, and environmental sciences. The contributors cover fundamental concepts and methodologies of experimental design and analysis, and also delve into advanced statistical topics, all explored by analyzing real agronomic data with practical and creative approaches using available software tools. IN PRESS! This book is being published according to the “Just Published” model, with more chapters to be published online as they are completed.

Download or read book Soil Health and Intensification of Agroecosystems written by Mahdi M. Al-Kaisi and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2017-03-15 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soil Health and Intensification of Agroecosystems examines the climate, environmental, and human effects on agroecosystems and how the existing paradigms must be revised in order to establish sustainable production. The increased demand for food and fuel exerts tremendous stress on all aspects of natural resources and the environment to satisfy an ever increasing world population, which includes the use of agriculture products for energy and other uses in addition to human and animal food. The book presents options for ecological systems that mimic the natural diversity of the ecosystem and can have significant effect as the world faces a rapidly changing and volatile climate. The book explores the introduction of sustainable agroecosystems that promote biodiversity, sustain soil health, and enhance food production as ways to help mitigate some of these adverse effects. New agroecosystems will help define a resilient system that can potentially absorb some of the extreme shifts in climate. Changing the existing cropping system paradigm to utilize natural system attributes by promoting biodiversity within production agricultural systems, such as the integration of polycultures, will also enhance ecological resiliency and will likely increase carbon sequestration. Focuses on the intensification and integration of agroecosystem and soil resiliency by presenting suggested modifications of the current cropping system paradigm Examines climate, environment, and human effects on agroecosystems Explores in depth the wide range of intercalated soil and plant interactions as they influence soil sustainability and, in particular, soil quality Presents options for ecological systems that mimic the natural diversity of the ecosystem and can have significant effect as the world faces a rapidly changing and volatile climate

Download or read book Elegant Simplicity written by Satish Kumar and published by New Society Publisher. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A profound and accessible guide to an ecological civilization of peace, material sufficiency, and spiritual abundance for all.” —David Korten, international-bestselling author of When Corporations Rule the World Consumerism drives the pursuit of happiness in much of the world, yet as wealth grows unhappiness abounds, compounded by the grave problems of climate change, pollution, and ecological degradation. We’ve now reached both an environmental and spiritual dead-end that leaves us crying out for alternatives. Elegant Simplicity provides a coherent philosophy of life that weaves together simplicity of material life, thought, and spirit. In it, Satish Kumar, environmental thought leader and former monk, distills five decades of reflection and wisdom into a guide for everyone, covering: · The ecological and spiritual principles of living simply · Shedding both “stuff” and psychological baggage · Opening your mind and heart to the deep value of relationships · Embedding simplicity in all aspects of life including education and work · Merging science and spirituality for a coherent worldview. Elegant Simplicity is a life guide for everyone wanting off the relentless treadmill of competition and consumption and seeking a life that prioritizes the ecological integrity of the Earth, social equity, and personal tranquility and happiness. “Satish Kumar embodies the elegance of simplicity . . . follow his path to make your life simple, elegant, and inspiring.” —Deepak Chopra, New York Times–bestselling author “In this moving and eloquent book, Satish Kumar takes us through his own journey to a simpler, happier life with a low ecological footprint.” —David Suzuki, award-winning geneticist, author, broadcaster, and environmental activist