Hillel 2005
Hillel, D., 2005: Civilization, role of soils. In Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment. D. Hillel, J.H. Hatfield, D.S. Powlson, C. Rosenzweig, K.M. Scow, M.J. Singer, and D.L. Sparks, Eds., vol. 1. Elsevier/Academic Press, pp. 199-204.
Manipulation and modification of the environment was a characteristic of many societies from their very inception. Long before the advent of earth-moving machines and toxic chemicals, even before the advent of agriculture, humans began to affect the land and its biota in ways that tended to destabilize natural ecosystems. In many of the ancient countries, where human exploitation of the land began early in history, we find disturbing examples of once-thriving regions reduced to desolation by human-induced degradation. Some of the early civilizations succeeded all too well at first, only to set the stage for their own eventual demise. The poor condition of the Fertile Crescent today is due not simply to changing climate or to the devastation caused by repeated wars, though both of these may well have had important effects. It is due in large part to the prolonged exploitation of this fragile environment by generations of forest cutters and burners, grazers, cultivators, and irrigators, all diligent and well-intentioned but destructive nonetheless.
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Hillel, D.: Civilization, role of soils, in: Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, edited by Hillel, D., Hatfield, J.H., Powlson, D.S., Rosenzweig, C., Scow, K.M., Singer, M.J., and Sparks, D.L., vol. 1, 199-204, Elsevier/Academic Press, Amsterdam et al., 2005.
Hillel, D. (2005), Civilization, role of soils, in Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, vol. 1, edited by D. Hillel, J.H. Hatfield, D.S. Powlson, C. Rosenzweig, K.M. Scow, M.J. Singer, and D.L. Sparks, pp. 199-204, Elsevier/Academic Press, Amsterdam et al.
Hillel, D., 2005: Civilization, role of soils. In Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment. D. Hillel, J.H. Hatfield, D.S. Powlson, C. Rosenzweig, K.M. Scow, M.J. Singer, and D.L. Sparks, Eds., vol. 1. Elsevier/Academic Press, pp. 199-204.
Hillel, D. 2005, in Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, ed. Hillel, D., Hatfield, J.H., Powlson, D.S., Rosenzweig, C., Scow, K.M., Singer, M.J., & Sparks, D.L., vol. 1, 199 (Amsterdam et al.: Elsevier/Academic Press).
Hillel D. Civilization, role of soils. In: Hillel D, Hatfield JH, Powlson DS, Rosenzweig C, Scow KM, Singer MJ, Sparks DL, editors. Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, vol. 1, pp. 199-204. Amsterdam et al.: Elsevier/Academic Press; 2005.
D. Hillel, In Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, D. Hillel, J.H. Hatfield, D.S. Powlson, C. Rosenzweig, K.M. Scow, M.J. Singer, D.L. Sparks, Eds. (vol.1, Elsevier/Academic Press, Amsterdam et al., 2005), pp. 199-204.
