The Arid Lands: History, Power, Knowledge (History For A Sustainable Future) Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Deserts are commonly imagined as barren, defiled, worthless places, wastelands in need of development. This understanding has fueled extensive anti-desertification efforts -- a multimillion-dollar global campaign driven by perceptions of a looming crisis. In this book, Diana Davis argues that estimates of desertification have been significantly exaggerated and that deserts and drylands -- which constitute about 41% of the earth's landmass -- are actually resilient and biodiverse environments in which a great many indigenous people have long lived sustainably. Meanwhile, contemporary arid lands development programs and anti-desertification efforts have met with little success. As Davis explains, these environments are not governed by the equilibrium ecological dynamics that apply in most other regions. Davis shows that our notion of the arid lands as wastelands derives largely from politically motivated Anglo-European colonial assumptions that these regions had been laid waste by "traditional" uses of the land. Unfortunately, such assumptions still frequently inform policy. Drawing on political ecology and environmental history, Davis traces changes in our understanding of deserts, from the benign views of the classical era to Christian associations of the desert with sinful activities to later (neo)colonial assumptions of destruction. She further explains how our thinking about deserts is problematically related to our conceptions of forests and desiccation. Davis concludes that a new understanding of the arid lands as healthy, natural, but variable ecosystems that do not necessarily need improvement or development will facilitate a more sustainable future for the world's magnificent drylands.
Series: History for a Sustainable Future
Hardcover: 296 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press (April 1, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0262034522
ISBN-13: 978-0262034524
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.7 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #1,130,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #60 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecosystems > Deserts #2519 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Civil & Environmental > Environmental #3310 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Ecology
This is a good book but it may appeal to a small readership. It's a sort of academic argument aimed at other specialists in arid lands, I think, although the science is accessible. The argument is based in a revisionist approach best described by some examples. Davis claims that the dominant view of arid lands has for centuries been that arid lands represent degraded land, with the indigenous people the usual culprit. That view could be just a view, but it has led to many decades of mistaken policies. These policy issues include massive intervention into local cultures, s***ting down migrants and movement of their livestock, which degraded large numbers of people and is still operative. Another policy is the planting of shelterbelts of trees, which Davis says have not helped much and in some cases caused more problems, such as deep-rooted trees depleting the water table. Another common assumption is that arid lands were once forests and could eventually be reclaimed by developing new forests--a massive error, Davis claims (her claims are based on studies, logic and other analyses, as far as I can tell backing her claims up quite well).Davis connects bits of history in intriguing ways. She says that the areas of European common lands came to be seen as wastes and were taken up by people with the means to develop them, neglecting the role the commons played in the lives of common people--firewood, grazing, sometimes game. She sees a connection with European empire building, justifying itself by visualizing turning wastes into edens. She connects this with the American policies in the Southwest (largely against non-Anglos and again aimed at redeeming "waste" land) and these with some British policies in India. She's convincing. She also notes that some governments of now independent former colonies continue such policies and programs as a means of exercising more complete control.Davis claims that the prevailing view of desertification is too drastic, that there is really not much of it occurring and that the real issue is policies and programs based on old assumptions that are outdated and harmful in social, economic and environmental terms.
An extremely well researched book, informatively and cogently undermining many assumptions I had about the arid lands. For all of the persuasiveness of the writing, it lacks scientific analysis, leading to a narrative which is grounded in a fair degree of dogma - exactly what Davis tries to polemicise in the first place.
The Arid Lands: History, Power, Knowledge (History for a Sustainable Future) Arid and Semi-Arid Environments (Access to Geography) Riparian Ecosystem Recovery in Arid Lands: Strategies and References (Smith]; [Paper at $19.95]) These American Lands: Parks, Wilderness, and the Public Lands: Revised and Expanded Edition Beginning Power BI with Excel 2013: Self-Service Business Intelligence Using Power Pivot, Power View, Power Query, and Power Map Power Pivot and Power BI: The Excel User's Guide to DAX, Power Query, Power BI & Power Pivot in Excel 2010-2016 Out of Water - Design Solutions for Arid Regions Trout in the Desert: On Fly Fishing, Human Habits, and the Cold Waters of the Arid Southwest (Heartstreams) Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future, Second Edition Energy Systems and Sustainability: Power for a Sustainable Future Re-engineering for Sustainable Industrial Production: Proceedings of the OE/IFIP/IEEE International Conference on Integrated and Sustainable ... in Information and Communication Technology) The Mystery of the Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future! The Mystery of Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future The Mystery of the Shemitah With DVD: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future! Orthopaedic Knowledge Update: Foot and Ankle 4 (Orthopedic Knowledge Update) Integrated Theory & Knowledge Development in Nursing, 8e (Chinn, Integrated Theory and Knowledge Development in Nursing) The New Edge in Knowledge: How Knowledge Management Is Changing the Way We Do Business The Knowledge Manager's Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Embedding Effective Knowledge Management in your Organization A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future Designed for the Future: 80 Practical Ideas for a Sustainable World
