Vernon Reynolds
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198515463
- eISBN:
- 9780191705656
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198515463.003.0010
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Of the 49 non-infant chimpanzees in the community, 16 have injuries resulting from being caught in snares. The background to snaring is described: local hunters set snares in the forest to catch ...
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Of the 49 non-infant chimpanzees in the community, 16 have injuries resulting from being caught in snares. The background to snaring is described: local hunters set snares in the forest to catch duikers and pigs. Chimpanzees are not eaten but get caught in snares, and in most cases, lose the use of a hand or a foot in consequence. Two cases of death from snares are reported. Besides forest snares, traps and spears are used in farmers’s fields and in local sugarcane plantations. A snare removal project has been run by the Budongo Forest Project since 1995, coupled with an education project in local villages to explain the rationale for removing snares. A live-trap project aimed at reducing the number of snares and traps set is described.Less
Of the 49 non-infant chimpanzees in the community, 16 have injuries resulting from being caught in snares. The background to snaring is described: local hunters set snares in the forest to catch duikers and pigs. Chimpanzees are not eaten but get caught in snares, and in most cases, lose the use of a hand or a foot in consequence. Two cases of death from snares are reported. Besides forest snares, traps and spears are used in farmers’s fields and in local sugarcane plantations. A snare removal project has been run by the Budongo Forest Project since 1995, coupled with an education project in local villages to explain the rationale for removing snares. A live-trap project aimed at reducing the number of snares and traps set is described.
Vernon Reynolds
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198515463
- eISBN:
- 9780191705656
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198515463.003.0012
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
To the south of the main block of the Budongo Forest is a forest outlier which follows the course of the Kasokwa river, running between sugarcane fields. In this outlier lives a community of 15 ...
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To the south of the main block of the Budongo Forest is a forest outlier which follows the course of the Kasokwa river, running between sugarcane fields. In this outlier lives a community of 15 chimpanzees, which used to move between the main Budongo block and their riverine home. Today, owing to population pressure, the trees between Kasokwa and the main forest have been cut down and replaced by farmers’ fields and houses. The chimpanzees are thus isolated, prompting them to raid the surrounding sugarcane fields when their forest food supply runs short. This has led to a ‘war’ between them and the local population, with losses on both sides. The chimpanzees have killed a human baby and injured a number of children, while the human population has retaliated by killing chimpanzees.Less
To the south of the main block of the Budongo Forest is a forest outlier which follows the course of the Kasokwa river, running between sugarcane fields. In this outlier lives a community of 15 chimpanzees, which used to move between the main Budongo block and their riverine home. Today, owing to population pressure, the trees between Kasokwa and the main forest have been cut down and replaced by farmers’ fields and houses. The chimpanzees are thus isolated, prompting them to raid the surrounding sugarcane fields when their forest food supply runs short. This has led to a ‘war’ between them and the local population, with losses on both sides. The chimpanzees have killed a human baby and injured a number of children, while the human population has retaliated by killing chimpanzees.
Vernon Reynolds
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198515463
- eISBN:
- 9780191705656
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198515463.003.0013
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Illegal pit-sawing, snaring, and population pressure are the main threats facing the chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest today. Population pressure is linked to the growth of agribusiness, in ...
More
Illegal pit-sawing, snaring, and population pressure are the main threats facing the chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest today. Population pressure is linked to the growth of agribusiness, in particular, the sugarcane industry. The forest has a Management Plan drawn up by the National Forest Authority, but there is a lack of enforcement of laws and a general lack of policing of the forest due to understaffing. A great deal more money and effort must be put into wildlife conservation if the survival of the Budongo chimpanzees is to be achieved. A five-year national action plan for chimpanzee conservation was published by the Uganda Wildlife Authority in 2003. This embodies a bold vision and it remains to be seen whether this vision can be realized in the face of ever increasing pressures on the Budongo chimpanzees.Less
Illegal pit-sawing, snaring, and population pressure are the main threats facing the chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest today. Population pressure is linked to the growth of agribusiness, in particular, the sugarcane industry. The forest has a Management Plan drawn up by the National Forest Authority, but there is a lack of enforcement of laws and a general lack of policing of the forest due to understaffing. A great deal more money and effort must be put into wildlife conservation if the survival of the Budongo chimpanzees is to be achieved. A five-year national action plan for chimpanzee conservation was published by the Uganda Wildlife Authority in 2003. This embodies a bold vision and it remains to be seen whether this vision can be realized in the face of ever increasing pressures on the Budongo chimpanzees.
Cindy Hahamovitch
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691102689
- eISBN:
- 9781400840021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691102689.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter details the conflict between domestic workers and guestworkers as the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), with the Florida Rural Legal Services, became involved in a struggle for “the ...
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This chapter details the conflict between domestic workers and guestworkers as the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), with the Florida Rural Legal Services, became involved in a struggle for “the worst jobs in the world.” Florida Rural was working to transform every aspect of farmworkers' lives. Its lawyers sued to gain access to labor camps, to integrate those camps, to get workers transported in buses rather than flatbed trucks, to get any Florida county to set up a Food Stamp program, to get farmworkers paid what they were owed, and to enforce local sanitation and housing ordinances. And although Florida Rural took all sorts of cases—including straight forward divorce and landlord–tenant cases—a great deal of their time would be spent suing on behalf of Caribbean guestworkers who alleged exploitation by sugarcane companies and to prove that domestic workers had been unfairly deprived of those same miserable jobs.Less
This chapter details the conflict between domestic workers and guestworkers as the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), with the Florida Rural Legal Services, became involved in a struggle for “the worst jobs in the world.” Florida Rural was working to transform every aspect of farmworkers' lives. Its lawyers sued to gain access to labor camps, to integrate those camps, to get workers transported in buses rather than flatbed trucks, to get any Florida county to set up a Food Stamp program, to get farmworkers paid what they were owed, and to enforce local sanitation and housing ordinances. And although Florida Rural took all sorts of cases—including straight forward divorce and landlord–tenant cases—a great deal of their time would be spent suing on behalf of Caribbean guestworkers who alleged exploitation by sugarcane companies and to prove that domestic workers had been unfairly deprived of those same miserable jobs.
C. Allan Jones and Robert V. Osgood
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824840006
- eISBN:
- 9780824868635
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824840006.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Pacific Studies
Sugarcane arrived in Hawai‘i with the Polynesian settlers, and sugar grew into an important industry in the mid-1800s. By the early twentieth century Hawai‘i had become a world leader in sugarcane ...
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Sugarcane arrived in Hawai‘i with the Polynesian settlers, and sugar grew into an important industry in the mid-1800s. By the early twentieth century Hawai‘i had become a world leader in sugarcane production and research. However, despite a century of almost continuous growth and development, in the last quarter of the twentieth century the industry faltered, unable to cope with continually increasing costs of production that outpaced sugar prices. Of the twenty-eight sugar companies operating in 1970, only one, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company, better known as HC&S, was still open in 2011. This was no accident. Beginning in the 1870s HC&S gathered water from the windward slopes of East Maui and moved it to its fields in sunny Central Maui. It gradually absorbed the best lands of smaller companies, drilled irrigation wells, mechanized its field operations, improved its fertilizer and irrigation technologies, modernized its factories, and reduced its labor costs. As a result, HC&S was consistently profitable into the twenty-first century. However, low sugar prices and environmental challenges increasingly threaten HC&S’s future. We hope that this book contributes to a balanced public perception and appreciation for HC&S, long Hawai‘i’s largest and now its only sugar company.Less
Sugarcane arrived in Hawai‘i with the Polynesian settlers, and sugar grew into an important industry in the mid-1800s. By the early twentieth century Hawai‘i had become a world leader in sugarcane production and research. However, despite a century of almost continuous growth and development, in the last quarter of the twentieth century the industry faltered, unable to cope with continually increasing costs of production that outpaced sugar prices. Of the twenty-eight sugar companies operating in 1970, only one, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company, better known as HC&S, was still open in 2011. This was no accident. Beginning in the 1870s HC&S gathered water from the windward slopes of East Maui and moved it to its fields in sunny Central Maui. It gradually absorbed the best lands of smaller companies, drilled irrigation wells, mechanized its field operations, improved its fertilizer and irrigation technologies, modernized its factories, and reduced its labor costs. As a result, HC&S was consistently profitable into the twenty-first century. However, low sugar prices and environmental challenges increasingly threaten HC&S’s future. We hope that this book contributes to a balanced public perception and appreciation for HC&S, long Hawai‘i’s largest and now its only sugar company.
Patrick Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198818496
- eISBN:
- 9780191917264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198818496.003.0009
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Environmental Archaeology
The transition from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene (c. 12–8 ka) witnessed increasingly intensive human manipulation of plant and animal resources that ...
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The transition from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene (c. 12–8 ka) witnessed increasingly intensive human manipulation of plant and animal resources that resulted in genetic and phenotypic changes in various species as part of what has been termed the ‘origins of agriculture’. This process has been cited as one of the most significant ecological occurrences in human evolutionary history (Bocquet-Appel, 2011; Larson et al., 2014), representing a shift in human interactions with the natural world with global environmental ramifications (Fuller et al., 2011a; Boivin et al., 2016). Martin Jones (2007) has also discussed the cultural and social changes resulting from the new spatial and practical proximity of domesticated plants and animals that made them effectively ‘family’ or ‘kin’. The tropics have, for a long time, been left out of discussions of this process, with poor preservation conditions considered unlikely to produce incipient crop or animal domesticate remains and some even arguing that the wet and acidic soils of tropical forests were too poor to support agriculture (Meggers, 1971, 1977, 1987; Grollemund et al., 2015). Nevertheless, emerging datasets from Melanesia, North and Central America, South America, and Africa are demonstrating that cultivation and, to a lesser extent, herding practices also emerged indigenously in these regions and, in some cases, perhaps as early as the traditional focus point of the ‘Fertile Crescent’ in the Near East. Moreover, these examples are having significant impacts on the way we conceptualize the emergence of ‘agriculture’ and the adaptive and social changes required (Denham et al., 2004, 2009; Barton and Denham, 2011). Here, I explore the distinctive nature of early agricultures in tropical forest environments. I also evaluate their predecessors in the form of human management including forest burning to stimulate faunal and floral growth and diversity, the deliberate movement of faunal species into tropical forest environments, and the emergence of arboriculture cultivation. In doing so, I document how the species and strategies involved in these processes differ globally with varying tropical forest formations, ranging from a focus on long-term forest interaction, drainage system construction, and tree-cropping in Melanesia (Denham et al., 2003; Denham, 2011) to diverse hunting, fishing, and cultivation strategies in theAmazon (Roosevelt, 2000; Meggers and Miller, 2002).
Less
The transition from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene (c. 12–8 ka) witnessed increasingly intensive human manipulation of plant and animal resources that resulted in genetic and phenotypic changes in various species as part of what has been termed the ‘origins of agriculture’. This process has been cited as one of the most significant ecological occurrences in human evolutionary history (Bocquet-Appel, 2011; Larson et al., 2014), representing a shift in human interactions with the natural world with global environmental ramifications (Fuller et al., 2011a; Boivin et al., 2016). Martin Jones (2007) has also discussed the cultural and social changes resulting from the new spatial and practical proximity of domesticated plants and animals that made them effectively ‘family’ or ‘kin’. The tropics have, for a long time, been left out of discussions of this process, with poor preservation conditions considered unlikely to produce incipient crop or animal domesticate remains and some even arguing that the wet and acidic soils of tropical forests were too poor to support agriculture (Meggers, 1971, 1977, 1987; Grollemund et al., 2015). Nevertheless, emerging datasets from Melanesia, North and Central America, South America, and Africa are demonstrating that cultivation and, to a lesser extent, herding practices also emerged indigenously in these regions and, in some cases, perhaps as early as the traditional focus point of the ‘Fertile Crescent’ in the Near East. Moreover, these examples are having significant impacts on the way we conceptualize the emergence of ‘agriculture’ and the adaptive and social changes required (Denham et al., 2004, 2009; Barton and Denham, 2011). Here, I explore the distinctive nature of early agricultures in tropical forest environments. I also evaluate their predecessors in the form of human management including forest burning to stimulate faunal and floral growth and diversity, the deliberate movement of faunal species into tropical forest environments, and the emergence of arboriculture cultivation. In doing so, I document how the species and strategies involved in these processes differ globally with varying tropical forest formations, ranging from a focus on long-term forest interaction, drainage system construction, and tree-cropping in Melanesia (Denham et al., 2003; Denham, 2011) to diverse hunting, fishing, and cultivation strategies in theAmazon (Roosevelt, 2000; Meggers and Miller, 2002).
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226349503
- eISBN:
- 9780226349480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226349480.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This chapter focuses on the political struggles over the ecological “restoration” of the Everglades, describing the criticisms leveled against the sugar industry for the negative environmental impact ...
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This chapter focuses on the political struggles over the ecological “restoration” of the Everglades, describing the criticisms leveled against the sugar industry for the negative environmental impact of cane cultivation, and the politics and economics of plantation production in south Florida. It discusses how the activities of sugarcane producers affect the downstream ecology, and addresses the “sugar question,” which refers to the intense international debates on the political economy of global sugar production and trade. The sugar question can be understood as a series of international and domestic political disputes and compromises over the use of various instruments employed to control global trade in the commodity. These instruments include bounties, tariffs, duties, and quotas. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This chapter focuses on the political struggles over the ecological “restoration” of the Everglades, describing the criticisms leveled against the sugar industry for the negative environmental impact of cane cultivation, and the politics and economics of plantation production in south Florida. It discusses how the activities of sugarcane producers affect the downstream ecology, and addresses the “sugar question,” which refers to the intense international debates on the political economy of global sugar production and trade. The sugar question can be understood as a series of international and domestic political disputes and compromises over the use of various instruments employed to control global trade in the commodity. These instruments include bounties, tariffs, duties, and quotas. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Suzanna M. Pratt, E. Christian Wells, and Anthony R. Tricarico
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781683401285
- eISBN:
- 9781683401735
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9781683401285.003.0008
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
The environmental legacies of sugarcane cultivation at Betty’s Hope were created over a period of three hundred years and involved massive transformations to the landscape. In this chapter, ...
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The environmental legacies of sugarcane cultivation at Betty’s Hope were created over a period of three hundred years and involved massive transformations to the landscape. In this chapter, erosion/productivity simulation is used to generate a baseline model of change over time and then historical records and geoarchaeological analysis of soils are used to evaluate the model. It is concluded that contemporary soil degradation at Betty’s Hope is a mosaic of effects including long-term sugarcane monocropping as well as the recent cessation of agriculture, which caused rapid destabilization of already vulnerable landscapes. Using an historical ecology framework, this research demonstrates the importance of long-term perspectives for understanding soil health.Less
The environmental legacies of sugarcane cultivation at Betty’s Hope were created over a period of three hundred years and involved massive transformations to the landscape. In this chapter, erosion/productivity simulation is used to generate a baseline model of change over time and then historical records and geoarchaeological analysis of soils are used to evaluate the model. It is concluded that contemporary soil degradation at Betty’s Hope is a mosaic of effects including long-term sugarcane monocropping as well as the recent cessation of agriculture, which caused rapid destabilization of already vulnerable landscapes. Using an historical ecology framework, this research demonstrates the importance of long-term perspectives for understanding soil health.
Paul F. Meier
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190098391
- eISBN:
- 9780190098421
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190098391.003.0009
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Sustainability
This chapter examines the use of biomass to make ethanol, or bioethanol, as a transportation fuel. Biomass is defined as any organic material that can be used as a fuel. However, in the United States ...
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This chapter examines the use of biomass to make ethanol, or bioethanol, as a transportation fuel. Biomass is defined as any organic material that can be used as a fuel. However, in the United States and Brazil, the two countries that dominate the bioethanol market, most ethanol is produced from corn grain (United States) or sugarcane (Brazil). There has also been research and some commercial trials using cellulosic material, such as corn stover, switchgrass, and sugarcane bagasse, to produce ethanol, but the approach is hindered by high capital and operating costs. In the United States, more than 35% of the total corn production goes towards ethanol production and ethanol makes up about 10% of the gasoline market. Since 2007, the gallons of ethanol produced has more than doubled, and much of this growth has been driven by federal subsidies and mandates.Less
This chapter examines the use of biomass to make ethanol, or bioethanol, as a transportation fuel. Biomass is defined as any organic material that can be used as a fuel. However, in the United States and Brazil, the two countries that dominate the bioethanol market, most ethanol is produced from corn grain (United States) or sugarcane (Brazil). There has also been research and some commercial trials using cellulosic material, such as corn stover, switchgrass, and sugarcane bagasse, to produce ethanol, but the approach is hindered by high capital and operating costs. In the United States, more than 35% of the total corn production goes towards ethanol production and ethanol makes up about 10% of the gasoline market. Since 2007, the gallons of ethanol produced has more than doubled, and much of this growth has been driven by federal subsidies and mandates.
Kathleen Araújo
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199362554
- eISBN:
- 9780197562901
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199362554.003.0009
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Sustainability
Worldwide, transportation accounts for roughly a quarter of the total final energy demand and a similar share of energy-based carbon dioxide emissions (IEA, 2016f). ...
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Worldwide, transportation accounts for roughly a quarter of the total final energy demand and a similar share of energy-based carbon dioxide emissions (IEA, 2016f). The transport sector has the most homogenous of fuel mixes, with petroleum-based products accounting for roughly 95% of the overall final share (Kahn Ribeiro et al., 2012). Biofuels and other options, like electric vehicles, have the potential to displace a notable portion of petroleum and CO2 emissions in the transport sector. Global use of ethanol, the most widely used among biofuels, has grown significantly in recent years. Between 2000 and 2010 alone, ethanol utilization increased 350% worldwide, with trade increasing by a factor of 5 and usage equaling 74 billion liters in 2010 (Valdes, 2011). This chapter examines the underlying roots of the biofuels transition in Brazil. Two micro-shifts—one that is government- led and a second that is industry-led—are evaluated, demonstrating how a new, energy market and industry can develop at a national scale through the retooling of existing industries and infrastructure. Insights on policy inflections, market longevity, and dual-use technology are also covered. Brazil is the historical leader in biofuels and the only country to substantially alter its automotive fuel mix with ethanol, shifting from 1% in 1970 to 34% in 2014 (see the section entitled “Modern Transition” later in this chapter). Ranked sixth globally for its population of roughly 206 million people and eighth for its economy of $3.1 trillion in mid-2016 (CIA, n.d.), Brazil has been a leading pioneer in the production and export of ethanol, its principal biofuel. In 2015, Brazilian ethanol equaled 28% of the global supply (Renewable Fuel Association [RFA], 2016). The country is known for having the lowest production costs of ethanol (Goldemberg, 2008; Shapouri, and Salassi, 2006; Valor International, 2014). Brazil also has a unique distribution network of more than 35,000 fuel stations supplying the renewable fuel (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis, 2008).
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Worldwide, transportation accounts for roughly a quarter of the total final energy demand and a similar share of energy-based carbon dioxide emissions (IEA, 2016f). The transport sector has the most homogenous of fuel mixes, with petroleum-based products accounting for roughly 95% of the overall final share (Kahn Ribeiro et al., 2012). Biofuels and other options, like electric vehicles, have the potential to displace a notable portion of petroleum and CO2 emissions in the transport sector. Global use of ethanol, the most widely used among biofuels, has grown significantly in recent years. Between 2000 and 2010 alone, ethanol utilization increased 350% worldwide, with trade increasing by a factor of 5 and usage equaling 74 billion liters in 2010 (Valdes, 2011). This chapter examines the underlying roots of the biofuels transition in Brazil. Two micro-shifts—one that is government- led and a second that is industry-led—are evaluated, demonstrating how a new, energy market and industry can develop at a national scale through the retooling of existing industries and infrastructure. Insights on policy inflections, market longevity, and dual-use technology are also covered. Brazil is the historical leader in biofuels and the only country to substantially alter its automotive fuel mix with ethanol, shifting from 1% in 1970 to 34% in 2014 (see the section entitled “Modern Transition” later in this chapter). Ranked sixth globally for its population of roughly 206 million people and eighth for its economy of $3.1 trillion in mid-2016 (CIA, n.d.), Brazil has been a leading pioneer in the production and export of ethanol, its principal biofuel. In 2015, Brazilian ethanol equaled 28% of the global supply (Renewable Fuel Association [RFA], 2016). The country is known for having the lowest production costs of ethanol (Goldemberg, 2008; Shapouri, and Salassi, 2006; Valor International, 2014). Brazil also has a unique distribution network of more than 35,000 fuel stations supplying the renewable fuel (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis, 2008).
Thomas D. Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834336
- eISBN:
- 9781469603902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899588_rogers.10
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter examines variability across the cane zone and explores a key theme of many discourses from the period: fire. After describing its material realities and the process of its ...
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This chapter examines variability across the cane zone and explores a key theme of many discourses from the period: fire. After describing its material realities and the process of its politicization, the chapter describes how fire emerged from the period with a new use in the cane zone. It also discusses the zona da mata, which, despite its powerful regionwide association with sugarcane, is not homogeneous. Climate, topography, trends in land use, and patterns of landholding varied over time, with a discernible split between the northern and southern parts of the region. Development and the expansion of cane cultivation in the second half of the twentieth century brought a “homogenization in the landscape, and the small differences [between regions] became less perceptible.”Less
This chapter examines variability across the cane zone and explores a key theme of many discourses from the period: fire. After describing its material realities and the process of its politicization, the chapter describes how fire emerged from the period with a new use in the cane zone. It also discusses the zona da mata, which, despite its powerful regionwide association with sugarcane, is not homogeneous. Climate, topography, trends in land use, and patterns of landholding varied over time, with a discernible split between the northern and southern parts of the region. Development and the expansion of cane cultivation in the second half of the twentieth century brought a “homogenization in the landscape, and the small differences [between regions] became less perceptible.”
David Beerling
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780192806024
- eISBN:
- 9780191916427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780192806024.003.0015
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Environmental Geography
The scientific revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, if indeed it can be recognized as such, saw the foundations of modern science established. ...
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The scientific revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, if indeed it can be recognized as such, saw the foundations of modern science established. Developments by iconic figures, notably Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Galilei Galileo (1564–1642), Robert Boyle (1627–91), and Isaac Newton (1642–1727), among others, advanced the study of the natural world by moving it away from mystical concepts and grounding it firmly in the rational. Bacon outraged his intellectual contemporaries with the belief that scientific knowledge should be built on empirical observation and experimentation, and pursuing this theme is alleged to have done for him in the end, at the age of 65. According to Bacon’s former secretary, the legend goes that Bacon was travelling in a coach towards London with one of the King’s physicians on a snowy day in April 1626 when he decided to investigate whether meat could be preserved by ice. Seizing the opportunity for an experiment, Bacon purchased a chicken in Highgate, then a small village outside London, gutted it, and proceeded to stuff the carcass with snow to see if it delayed putrefaction. In his excitement he became oblivious to the cold, caught a chill, and took refuge in the Earl of Arundel’s nearby house in Highgate, the Earl being away serving time in the Tower of London. Bacon died a few days later, probably from pneumonia, after being put up in a guest room with a damp bed disused for over a year, but not before penning a letter to the Earl communicating the success of the experiment. This delightful story of Bacon’s ultimate demise would have been fitting for his contribution to modern science, but is probably apocryphal. Surviving records indicate Bacon was already ill before the end of 1625, and inclined to inhale opiates and the vapours of chemical saltpetre (potassium nitrate) to improve his spirits and strengthen his ageing body. In those days, the saltpetre was impure, a mixture of potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, and other compounds that may have given off toxic vapours. It seems possible, likely even, that Bacon overdosed on his inhalation of remedial substances to compensate for his ill health.
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The scientific revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, if indeed it can be recognized as such, saw the foundations of modern science established. Developments by iconic figures, notably Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Galilei Galileo (1564–1642), Robert Boyle (1627–91), and Isaac Newton (1642–1727), among others, advanced the study of the natural world by moving it away from mystical concepts and grounding it firmly in the rational. Bacon outraged his intellectual contemporaries with the belief that scientific knowledge should be built on empirical observation and experimentation, and pursuing this theme is alleged to have done for him in the end, at the age of 65. According to Bacon’s former secretary, the legend goes that Bacon was travelling in a coach towards London with one of the King’s physicians on a snowy day in April 1626 when he decided to investigate whether meat could be preserved by ice. Seizing the opportunity for an experiment, Bacon purchased a chicken in Highgate, then a small village outside London, gutted it, and proceeded to stuff the carcass with snow to see if it delayed putrefaction. In his excitement he became oblivious to the cold, caught a chill, and took refuge in the Earl of Arundel’s nearby house in Highgate, the Earl being away serving time in the Tower of London. Bacon died a few days later, probably from pneumonia, after being put up in a guest room with a damp bed disused for over a year, but not before penning a letter to the Earl communicating the success of the experiment. This delightful story of Bacon’s ultimate demise would have been fitting for his contribution to modern science, but is probably apocryphal. Surviving records indicate Bacon was already ill before the end of 1625, and inclined to inhale opiates and the vapours of chemical saltpetre (potassium nitrate) to improve his spirits and strengthen his ageing body. In those days, the saltpetre was impure, a mixture of potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, and other compounds that may have given off toxic vapours. It seems possible, likely even, that Bacon overdosed on his inhalation of remedial substances to compensate for his ill health.
Anthony S. R. Juo and Kathrin Franzluebbers
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195115987
- eISBN:
- 9780197561157
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195115987.003.0017
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Soil Science
Allophanic soils are dark-colored young soils derived mainly from volcanic ash. These soils typically have a low bulk density (< 0.9 Mg/m3), a high water ...
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Allophanic soils are dark-colored young soils derived mainly from volcanic ash. These soils typically have a low bulk density (< 0.9 Mg/m3), a high water retention capacity (100% by weight at field capacity), and contain predominantly allophanes, imogolite, halloysite, and amorphous Al silicates in the clay fraction. These soils are found in small, restricted areas with volcanic activity. Worldwide, there are about 120 million ha of allophanic soils, which is about 1% of the Earth's ice-free land surface. In tropical regions, allophanic soils are among the most productive and intensively used agricultural soils. They occur in the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Caribbean and South Pacific islands, East Africa, Central America, and the Andean rim of South America. Allophanic soils are primarily Andisols and andic Inceptisols, Entisols, Mollisols, and Alfisols according to the Soil Taxonomy classification. Allophanic soils generally have a dark-colored surface soil, slippery or greasy consistency, a predominantly crumb and granular structure, and a low bulk density ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 Mg/m3. Although allophanic soils are apparently well-drained, they still have a very high water content many days after rain. When the soil is pressed between fingers, it gives a plastic, greasy, but non-sticky sensation of a silty or loamy texture. When dry, the soil loses its greasiness and becomes friable and powdery. The low bulk density of allophanic soils is closely related to the high soil porosity. For example, moderately weathered allophanic soils typically have a total porosity of 78%, with macro-, meso-, and micropores occupying 13%, 33%, and 32%, respectively. Water retained in the mesopores is readily available for plant uptake. Water retained in the micropores is held strongly by soil particles and is not readily available for plant use. The macropores provide soil aeration and facilitate water infiltration. The high water retention capacity is also associated with the high soil porosity. In allophanic soils formed under a humid climate, especially those containing large amounts of allophane, the moisture content at field capacity can be as high as 300%, calculated on a weight basis. Such extremely high values of water content seem misleading.
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Allophanic soils are dark-colored young soils derived mainly from volcanic ash. These soils typically have a low bulk density (< 0.9 Mg/m3), a high water retention capacity (100% by weight at field capacity), and contain predominantly allophanes, imogolite, halloysite, and amorphous Al silicates in the clay fraction. These soils are found in small, restricted areas with volcanic activity. Worldwide, there are about 120 million ha of allophanic soils, which is about 1% of the Earth's ice-free land surface. In tropical regions, allophanic soils are among the most productive and intensively used agricultural soils. They occur in the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Caribbean and South Pacific islands, East Africa, Central America, and the Andean rim of South America. Allophanic soils are primarily Andisols and andic Inceptisols, Entisols, Mollisols, and Alfisols according to the Soil Taxonomy classification. Allophanic soils generally have a dark-colored surface soil, slippery or greasy consistency, a predominantly crumb and granular structure, and a low bulk density ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 Mg/m3. Although allophanic soils are apparently well-drained, they still have a very high water content many days after rain. When the soil is pressed between fingers, it gives a plastic, greasy, but non-sticky sensation of a silty or loamy texture. When dry, the soil loses its greasiness and becomes friable and powdery. The low bulk density of allophanic soils is closely related to the high soil porosity. For example, moderately weathered allophanic soils typically have a total porosity of 78%, with macro-, meso-, and micropores occupying 13%, 33%, and 32%, respectively. Water retained in the mesopores is readily available for plant uptake. Water retained in the micropores is held strongly by soil particles and is not readily available for plant use. The macropores provide soil aeration and facilitate water infiltration. The high water retention capacity is also associated with the high soil porosity. In allophanic soils formed under a humid climate, especially those containing large amounts of allophane, the moisture content at field capacity can be as high as 300%, calculated on a weight basis. Such extremely high values of water content seem misleading.
Jessica B. Teisch
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834435
- eISBN:
- 9781469603513
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807878019_teisch.9
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
This chapter focuses on the case of Hawaii. Like California, Australia, and South Africa, the case of Hawaii shows how technical and capitalist growth guided infrastructural development in the late ...
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This chapter focuses on the case of Hawaii. Like California, Australia, and South Africa, the case of Hawaii shows how technical and capitalist growth guided infrastructural development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Pulling Hawaii into a global economy via American imperialism meant growing sugarcane on an unprecedented scale; developing sophisticated irrigation, transportation, and marketing systems; hiring cheap, foreign labor; and dealing with the native Hawaiian question. Also as in California, Australia, and South Africa, Californians facilitated Hawaii's entry into a global economy, but certain incongruities arose. California businessman Claus Spreckels's sugar empire, for example, inextricably tied California's industrial growth to Hawaii's political and economic future and to the islands' destiny: the creation of a poor, urban class of Hawaiians.Less
This chapter focuses on the case of Hawaii. Like California, Australia, and South Africa, the case of Hawaii shows how technical and capitalist growth guided infrastructural development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Pulling Hawaii into a global economy via American imperialism meant growing sugarcane on an unprecedented scale; developing sophisticated irrigation, transportation, and marketing systems; hiring cheap, foreign labor; and dealing with the native Hawaiian question. Also as in California, Australia, and South Africa, Californians facilitated Hawaii's entry into a global economy, but certain incongruities arose. California businessman Claus Spreckels's sugar empire, for example, inextricably tied California's industrial growth to Hawaii's political and economic future and to the islands' destiny: the creation of a poor, urban class of Hawaiians.
Thomas D. Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834336
- eISBN:
- 9781469603902
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899588_rogers
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This book traces social and environmental changes over four centuries in Pernambuco, Brazil's key northeastern sugar-growing state. Focusing particularly on the period from the end of slavery in 1888 ...
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This book traces social and environmental changes over four centuries in Pernambuco, Brazil's key northeastern sugar-growing state. Focusing particularly on the period from the end of slavery in 1888 to the late twentieth century, when human impact on the environment reached critical new levels, the author confronts the day-to-day world of farming—the complex, fraught, and occasionally poetic business of making sugarcane grow. Renowned Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre, whose home state was Pernambuco, observed, “Monoculture, slavery, and latifundia—but principally monoculture—they opened here, in the life, the landscape, and the character of our people, the deepest wounds.” Inspired by Freyre's insight, the author tells the story of Pernambuco's wounds, describing the connections among changing agricultural technologies, landscapes and human perceptions of them, labor practices, and agricultural and economic policy. This web of interrelated factors, the author argues, both shaped economic progress and left extensive environmental and human damage. Combining a study of workers with analysis of their landscape, he offers new interpretations of crucial moments of labor struggle, casts new light on the role of the state in agricultural change, and illuminates a legacy that influences Brazil's development even today.Less
This book traces social and environmental changes over four centuries in Pernambuco, Brazil's key northeastern sugar-growing state. Focusing particularly on the period from the end of slavery in 1888 to the late twentieth century, when human impact on the environment reached critical new levels, the author confronts the day-to-day world of farming—the complex, fraught, and occasionally poetic business of making sugarcane grow. Renowned Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre, whose home state was Pernambuco, observed, “Monoculture, slavery, and latifundia—but principally monoculture—they opened here, in the life, the landscape, and the character of our people, the deepest wounds.” Inspired by Freyre's insight, the author tells the story of Pernambuco's wounds, describing the connections among changing agricultural technologies, landscapes and human perceptions of them, labor practices, and agricultural and economic policy. This web of interrelated factors, the author argues, both shaped economic progress and left extensive environmental and human damage. Combining a study of workers with analysis of their landscape, he offers new interpretations of crucial moments of labor struggle, casts new light on the role of the state in agricultural change, and illuminates a legacy that influences Brazil's development even today.
William D. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807828755
- eISBN:
- 9781469603667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807895627_schwartz.6
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
For thousands of years, the Iberian Peninsula has supported fields of sugarcane, and sugar became a marginal product in the Mediterranean. This chapter surveys sugar in Iberia, including the Islamic ...
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For thousands of years, the Iberian Peninsula has supported fields of sugarcane, and sugar became a marginal product in the Mediterranean. This chapter surveys sugar in Iberia, including the Islamic and Christian origins of the industry and its subsequent development. It discusses Iberia's role as a sugar producer, and traces the geographical distribution of sugar production and aspects of its internal organization.Less
For thousands of years, the Iberian Peninsula has supported fields of sugarcane, and sugar became a marginal product in the Mediterranean. This chapter surveys sugar in Iberia, including the Islamic and Christian origins of the industry and its subsequent development. It discusses Iberia's role as a sugar producer, and traces the geographical distribution of sugar production and aspects of its internal organization.
Stuart B. Schwartz
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807828755
- eISBN:
- 9781469603667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807895627_schwartz.10
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter discusses the introduction of sugarcane and the beginnings of the sugar industry in Brazil from 1550–1670. It begins with an overview of the Brazilian sugar economy and the expansion of ...
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This chapter discusses the introduction of sugarcane and the beginnings of the sugar industry in Brazil from 1550–1670. It begins with an overview of the Brazilian sugar economy and the expansion of the industry in the Atlantic market. This is followed by a brief overview of the Dutch experience with sugar production during their occupation of the Brazilian Northeast (1630–54). The chapter also examines the extensive use of sharecropping and other forms of contract, the transition from indigenous labor force to African slaves, and increased sugar shipping from Brazil during the period of the industry's rapid growth.Less
This chapter discusses the introduction of sugarcane and the beginnings of the sugar industry in Brazil from 1550–1670. It begins with an overview of the Brazilian sugar economy and the expansion of the industry in the Atlantic market. This is followed by a brief overview of the Dutch experience with sugar production during their occupation of the Brazilian Northeast (1630–54). The chapter also examines the extensive use of sharecropping and other forms of contract, the transition from indigenous labor force to African slaves, and increased sugar shipping from Brazil during the period of the industry's rapid growth.
Sunila S. Kale
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780804787963
- eISBN:
- 9780804791021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804787963.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
This chapter analyzes the politics of electrification in Maharashtra, which provides the strongest example of how a politicized peasantry wielded the instruments of democratic institutions and an ...
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This chapter analyzes the politics of electrification in Maharashtra, which provides the strongest example of how a politicized peasantry wielded the instruments of democratic institutions and an expanding state sector to channel resources to the countryside, although farmers in just a handful of districts cornered most of the gains. Even before independence, agrarian elites organized in the Maratha caste cluster began to command a large measure of influence in the nationalist movement. After independence, subsidized electricity along with support for cooperative farming and credit institutions bound the political order in Maharashtra to an emerging class of farmers and agro-industrialists, known as the “sugar barons.” In the period of market reforms, the government considered utility privatization an unattractive policy option. In its place, it adopted policies that were nominally market friendly but continued to protect the interests of powerful rural actors, for example, through the promotion of a bagasse industry.Less
This chapter analyzes the politics of electrification in Maharashtra, which provides the strongest example of how a politicized peasantry wielded the instruments of democratic institutions and an expanding state sector to channel resources to the countryside, although farmers in just a handful of districts cornered most of the gains. Even before independence, agrarian elites organized in the Maratha caste cluster began to command a large measure of influence in the nationalist movement. After independence, subsidized electricity along with support for cooperative farming and credit institutions bound the political order in Maharashtra to an emerging class of farmers and agro-industrialists, known as the “sugar barons.” In the period of market reforms, the government considered utility privatization an unattractive policy option. In its place, it adopted policies that were nominally market friendly but continued to protect the interests of powerful rural actors, for example, through the promotion of a bagasse industry.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226349503
- eISBN:
- 9780226349480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226349480.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This chapter explains an apparent economic contradiction: the transformation of the Everglades into an agro-industrial complex for sugarcane at great ecological and monetary cost during a period of ...
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This chapter explains an apparent economic contradiction: the transformation of the Everglades into an agro-industrial complex for sugarcane at great ecological and monetary cost during a period of oversupply depressed prices in the global sugar market. It begins by discussing the impact of World War I on U.S. sugar politics. The prospect of sugar shortages and the need to share the Cuban crop with allies provided Florida boosters with a powerful discourse in their struggle to construct a Florida sugar bowl; politically and economically interested parties developed a nationalistic and moral-geographic discourse concerning the transformation of the Everglades for sugar production. In the postwar period, under markedly different political-economic conditions for the global sugar market, protectionist policies sparked development, bringing long-promoted ideas about Florida's agro-industrial potential to fruition. The chapter demonstrates how, once established, the “Nation's Sugar Bowl” in Florida became a locus of power in the political struggles over domestic and international sugar policy.Less
This chapter explains an apparent economic contradiction: the transformation of the Everglades into an agro-industrial complex for sugarcane at great ecological and monetary cost during a period of oversupply depressed prices in the global sugar market. It begins by discussing the impact of World War I on U.S. sugar politics. The prospect of sugar shortages and the need to share the Cuban crop with allies provided Florida boosters with a powerful discourse in their struggle to construct a Florida sugar bowl; politically and economically interested parties developed a nationalistic and moral-geographic discourse concerning the transformation of the Everglades for sugar production. In the postwar period, under markedly different political-economic conditions for the global sugar market, protectionist policies sparked development, bringing long-promoted ideas about Florida's agro-industrial potential to fruition. The chapter demonstrates how, once established, the “Nation's Sugar Bowl” in Florida became a locus of power in the political struggles over domestic and international sugar policy.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226349503
- eISBN:
- 9780226349480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226349480.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
In the context of the Cold War, the 1959 Cuban Revolution produced a profound historical shift in the economic geography of U.S. sugar sourcing. This chapter concentrates on the years immediately ...
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In the context of the Cold War, the 1959 Cuban Revolution produced a profound historical shift in the economic geography of U.S. sugar sourcing. This chapter concentrates on the years immediately preceding and following the revolution. Prior to the revolution, Cuba was both Florida's principal rival and its production model. When, in 1960, President Eisenhower suspended the Cuban quota, a scramble to increase allotments ensued among producing regions, both domestic and foreign. Florida emerged as one of the significant “winners” in the fight to secure a larger share of the U.S. market. The chapter shows why that was so, how the industry was able to expand five-fold within five years, and how the relationship between the Florida and Cuban sugar industries was transformed. The explosive growth of south Florida sugarcane production, historically unprecedented in U.S. agro-industry, made the region the single most powerful player in the competition over quotas during the Cold War.Less
In the context of the Cold War, the 1959 Cuban Revolution produced a profound historical shift in the economic geography of U.S. sugar sourcing. This chapter concentrates on the years immediately preceding and following the revolution. Prior to the revolution, Cuba was both Florida's principal rival and its production model. When, in 1960, President Eisenhower suspended the Cuban quota, a scramble to increase allotments ensued among producing regions, both domestic and foreign. Florida emerged as one of the significant “winners” in the fight to secure a larger share of the U.S. market. The chapter shows why that was so, how the industry was able to expand five-fold within five years, and how the relationship between the Florida and Cuban sugar industries was transformed. The explosive growth of south Florida sugarcane production, historically unprecedented in U.S. agro-industry, made the region the single most powerful player in the competition over quotas during the Cold War.
