Man and Natural Resources An Agricultural Perspective

Originally published in 1975, yet prophetic in its wisdom this book deals with major aspects of man’s ecological destruction in an industrial framework. As well as discussing the destruction of forests by early civilizations the book examines the rate and extension of environmental deterioration in more recent times and the importance of the integrated ‘feed-back’ controls which maintain stability in the ecosphere of which humankind forms a part. Examining the role of entropy, energy quanta and indeterminacy in overthrowing both science and economic theory, the book provides examples from the 20th Century of the uncontrolled demands for energy and material resources, as well as of increasing toxic hazard in the biosphere.

1. The Human Situation 2. Man in the Biomass 3. Inter Faeces et Urinam Nascimur 4. Down to Earth 5. Taken For Granted 6. Industrial Man 7. Scientific Man 8. The Forest and Trees 9. Agricultural Man 10. Reproductive Man 11. To Be or Not To Be 12. In Conclusion.

Cedric Stanton Hicks was Professor of Human Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Adelaide, Australia.