Ego potest sedere retro et iam non sinunt communistarum infiltration , communistarum indoctrination , communistarum eversionis , et gentium omnium impurify communistarum coniurationis ad succum et gemmas succis corporis nostri .
Posted on 12/13/2014 6:19:39 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Smart agricultural practices and an extensive grain-trade network enabled the Romans to thrive in the water-limited environment of the Mediterranean, a new study shows. But the stable food supply brought about by these measures promoted population growth and urbanisation, pushing the Empire closer to the limits of its food resources...
Brian Dermody, an environmental scientist from Utrecht University, teamed up with hydrologists from the Netherlands and classicists at Stanford University in the US. The researchers wanted to know how the way Romans managed water for agriculture and traded crops contributed to the longevity of their civilisation. They were also curious to find out if these practices played a role in the eventual fall of the Empire.
"We can learn much from investigating how past societies dealt with changes in their environment," says Dermody. He draws parallels between the Roman civilisation and our own. "For example, the Romans were confronted with managing their water resources in the face of population growth and urbanisation. To ensure the continued growth and stability of their civilisation, they had to guarantee a stable food supply to their cities, many located in water-poor regions."
...It takes between 1000 and 2000 litres of water to grow one kilo of grain. As Romans traded this crop, they also traded the water needed to produce it - they exchanged virtual water...
"We're confronted with a very similar scenario today. Virtual water trade has enabled rapid population growth and urbanisation since the beginning of the industrial revolution. However, as we move closer to the limits of the planet's resources, our vulnerability to poor yields arising from climate change increases," concludes Dermody.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
virtual water trade.... sounds ridiculous
At points black pepper was worth more than it’s weight in gold too.
Seems they went in looking to prove a theory, not whether all the facts led to that conclusion on their own merit. Any research biased like this to start with will always seem to benefit the theory of those doing it IMHO.
bump to read later
...the left even tries to use the Roman Empire to pimp for Global Warming.
(((
I trust you are not really surprised by this.
Ego potest sedere retro et iam non sinunt communistarum infiltration , communistarum indoctrination , communistarum eversionis , et gentium omnium impurify communistarum coniurationis ad succum et gemmas succis corporis nostri .
“However, as we move closer to the limits of the planet’s resources”
Another liberal Luddite that never read or learned from “The Population Bomb”, by Stanford University Professor Paul Ehrlich, 1968, which proclaimed the we’d all have starved to death by now.
Starvation is caused by political instability, exactly as the Romans experienced, not the ability of the planet to support all of us.
Well put. The worse thing about Ehrlich AFAIK is that he’s still alive somewhere.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3236609/posts
It happens today as well — before the current water shortage (which is partly natural in origin, but also political), Israel was an exporter of virtual water in the form of fruits and vegetables sold into the European market. Thanks to population increases, prosperity, and the aforementioned water shortage, Israel now is a net importer of virtual water as fruits and veggies. The Roman version shown in the article is wheat, but they also shipped around wine, olive oil, and other ag products.
There are plenty of nuts on the tree, yes. :’)
That sounds reasonable — the populations came off the steppes, out of Central Asia, in response to the naturally occurring climate pulses; they also went east toward China, and south into India.
Precisely. When the empire was in bad shape politically, much of the 3rd c AD, the economy boomed.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3236958/posts?page=27#27
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
;’)
America has transitioned quite nicely from wood to coal, coal to oil (for mobile apps). It will transition quite nicely to the next denser energy source if the government would butt out. Same is true for natural resources. The price mechanism of the market is mighty and very effective. Is it perfect? No. Is it a lot perfecter :) than socialism? Yup.
The other thing this article ignores is that the world is about 20 years away from a population crash. World demographics have shifted dramatically. My son will spend much of his adult life with the government frantically trying to impose socialism in order to prevent population collapse.
And sometimes political instability is caused by starvation.
“Let them eat cake.”
As know from our current history: Tyranny leads to starvation. We are hungry for liberty.
Form of government, laws, military structure
The country that faces that in the worst way is China, thanks to their draconian Maoist-era population control laws. They’ll have to either bring in lots of guest workers to manage the geriatrics, or go all Logan’s Run on their asses, or have a huge war in the next few years to clean out the surplus menfolk.
The US will grow enormously over the next 85 years.
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