Rice, Technology, and History: the Case of China
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Timber Users, Timber Savers: Homestake Mining Company and the First Regulated Timber Harvest
Copyright © 1992 by the South Dakota State Historical Society. All Rights Reserved. Timber Users, Timber Savers: Homestake Mining Company and the First Regulated Timber Harvest RICHMOND L CLOW The Progressive Fra (1900-1916) has emerged as a period crucial to the success of the late nineteenth century conservation crusade. During this optimistic era of social reform, with its faith in tech- nology and efficiency, demands for a halt to the destruction and waste of the nation's natural resources became established federal policy. Many studies have examined the varied themes of the con- servation movement, from the aesthetic importance of the environ- ment to the fear that the depletion of resources, such as timber, threatened the very existence of American society.' These studies have most often defined the users of resources as the despoilers of the environment. Such an approach, however, ignores the role of industry in conservation. 1. Samuel P. Hays, Conser\'ation and the Cospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Con- servation Movement, 1890-1920 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959), pp. 1-3. Donald ]. Pisani, in "Forests and Conservation, 1865-1890,"/ouma/oMmencan History 75 (Sept. 1985): 340-59, asserts that a conservation "ethic" existed for several decades before Progressive reformers popularized the cause. While scientists led the later movement, its leaders in the post-Civil War years were as often "moralists and philosophers" who anticipated modern conservationists in their understanding of the interrelatedness of natural resources. For more on the late nineteenth cen- tury fears of timber famine that helped lo spur the conservation movement, see David A. -
Harvest Ceremony
ATLANTIC OCEAN PA\\' fl.. Xf I I' I \ f 0 H I PI \ \. I \I ION •,, .._ "', Ll ; ~· • 4 .. O\\'\\1S s-'' f1r~~' ~, -~J.!!!I • .. .I . _f' .~h\ ,. \ l.J rth..i'i., \ inc-v •.u d .. .. .... Harvest Ceremony BEYOND THE THANK~GIVING MYTH - a study guide Harvest Ceremony BEYOND THE THANKSGIVING MYTH Summary: Native American people who first encountered the “pilgrims” at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts play a major role in the imagination of American people today. Contemporary celebrations of the Thanksgiving holiday focus on the idea that the “first Thanksgiving” was a friendly gathering of two disparate groups—or even neighbors—who shared a meal and lived harmoniously. In actuality, the assembly of these people had much more to do with political alliances, diplomacy, and an effort at rarely achieved, temporary peaceful coexistence. Although Native American people have always given thanks for the world around them, the Thanksgiving celebrated today is more a combination of Puritan religious practices and the European festival called Harvest Home, which then grew to encompass Native foods. The First People families, but a woman could inherit the position if there was no male heir. A sachem could be usurped by In 1620, the area from Narragansett Bay someone belonging to a sachem family who was able in eastern Rhode Island to the Atlantic Ocean in to garner the allegiance of enough people. An unjust or southeastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, unwise sachem could find himself with no one to lead, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, was the home as sachems had no authority to force the people to do of the Wampanoag. -
Leading Harvest Awarded Walton Family Foundation Grant to Scale
Contact Kathleen Barada [email protected] Leading Harvest Awarded Walton Family Foundation Grant to Scale Sustainable Agriculture on Family Farms Funding supports pilot program in the Upper Mississippi River Watershed to remove barriers, accelerate sustainability certification, and generate market opportunity for producers Arlington, Va. (Thursday, October 29, 2020) – Leading Harvest, a leader in sustainable agriculture, today announced it has been awarded a Walton Family Foundation grant to support its work with farmers in the Upper Mississippi River Watershed. Leading Harvest will engage growers to adopt certifiable land management practices aimed at improving environmental, economic and social outcomes, including the quality of waterways flowing into the Mississippi River and mitigating environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico. The grant, which will help fund a pilot program providing education and training to crop farmers in the Upper Mississippi River Watershed, advances Leading Harvest’s efforts nationwide to grow its industry-leading Farmland Management Standard. The Standard is the first scalable, industry-wide solution to the urgent issues facing our communities – from climate change and biodiversity, to the resilience of our croplands and communities. The Standard also includes indicators for water use and water quality, including fertilizer application and runoff protection. “We thank the Walton Family Foundation for recognizing Leading Harvest’s innovative efforts to promote sustainable agriculture through our Farmland Management Standard,” said Kenny Fahey, executive director of Leading Harvest. “This grant will enable us to work directly with producers in the Mississippi River Watershed to both recognize as well as enhance their efforts in sustainable agriculture and increase their market position by certifying their environmental and social management systems.” The pilot program will audit and certify sustainability activities, both those existing currently as well as facilitated through training initiatives, on family farms. -
Ramping up Reforestation in the United States: a Guide for Policymakers March 2021 Cover Photo: CDC Photography / American Forests
Ramping up Reforestation in the United States: A Guide for Policymakers March 2021 Cover photo: CDC Photography / American Forests Executive Summary Ramping Up Reforestation in the United States: A Guide for Policymakers is designed to support the development of reforestation policies and programs. The guide highlights key findings on the state of America’s tree nursery infrastructure and provides a range of strategies for encouraging and enabling nurseries to scale up seedling production. The guide builds on a nationwide reforestation assessment (Fargione et al., 2021) and follow-on assessments (Ramping Up Reforestation in the United States: Regional Summaries companion guide) of seven regions in the contiguous United States (Figure 1). Nursery professionals throughout the country informed our key findings and strategies through a set of structured interviews and a survey. Across the contiguous U.S., there are over 133 million acres of reforestation opportunity on lands that have historically been forested (Cook-Patton et al., 2020). This massive reforestation opportunity equals around 68 billion trees. The majority of opportunities occur on pastureland, including those with poor soils in the Eastern U.S. Additionally, substantial reforestation opportunities in the Western U.S. are driven by large, severe wildfires. Growing awareness of this potential has led governments and organizations to ramp up reforestation to meet ambitious climate and biodiversity goals. Yet, there are many questions about the ability of nurseries to meet the resulting increase in demand for tree seedlings. These include a lack of seed, workforce constraints, and insufficient nursery infrastructure. To meet half of the total reforestation opportunity by 2040 (i.e., 66 million acres) would require America’s nurseries to produce an additional 1.8 billion seedlings each year. -
The Institutional Causes of China's Great Famine, 1959–1961
Review of Economic Studies (2015) 82, 1568–1611 doi:10.1093/restud/rdv016 © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Review of Economic Studies Limited. Advance access publication 20 April 2015 The Institutional Causes of China’s Great Famine, 1959–1961 Downloaded from XIN MENG Australian National University NANCY QIAN Yale University http://restud.oxfordjournals.org/ and PIERRE YARED Columbia University First version received January 2012; final version accepted January 2015 (Eds.) This article studies the causes of China’s Great Famine, during which 16.5 to 45 million individuals at Columbia University Libraries on April 25, 2016 perished in rural areas. We document that average rural food retention during the famine was too high to generate a severe famine without rural inequality in food availability; that there was significant variance in famine mortality rates across rural regions; and that rural mortality rates were positively correlated with per capita food production, a surprising pattern that is unique to the famine years. We provide evidence that an inflexible and progressive government procurement policy (where procurement could not adjust to contemporaneous production and larger shares of expected production were procured from more productive regions) was necessary for generating this pattern and that this policy was a quantitatively important contributor to overall famine mortality. Key words: Famines, Modern chinese history, Institutions, Central planning JEL Codes: P2, O43, N45 1. INTRODUCTION -
Lecture 5 Agriculture, History of Energy Use I
GEOS 24705 / ENST 24705 / ENSC 21100 2017 Lecture 5 Agriculture, History of Energy Use I In earliest human history the only “engines” were people Maize farmer, somewhere in Africa, 2007 Source: CIMMYT In earliest human history the only “engines” were people Ploughing by hand, Uganda In most of the world, people quickly adopted more powerful “bio-engines” Diderot & d`Alembert eds, Encyclopédie méthodique. Paris 1763-1777 & 1783-87. Harvesting is a complex motion, difficult to automate Wheat harvest, Hebei Province, China, 2007 (source: www.powerhousemuseum.com) The combine allowed harvesting to be animal-powered 27 horsepower! (or perhaps horse- +mule-power) Horse drawn combine, likely 1910s-20s. Source: FSK Agricultural Photographs Combines functions: cuts and threshes grain ~27 horsepower may be practical upper limit Horse-drawn combine, Almira, WA, 1911. W.C. Alexander. Source: U. Wash. library Rotation: animal powered wheels have a long history First use: grinding Clay millers, W.H. Pyne, London (1806) Grindstone, China from the encyclopedia “Tiangong Kaiwu”, by Song Yingxing (1637) Human powered wheels persisted into the modern era Lathe, late 1700s Japanese water pump, still used in 1950s Rotational motion is a fundamental industrial need …. Grinding is not the only use of rotational motion. Other sources of rotational kinetic energy: wind and water Vertical-axis Persian windmill, 7th century (634-644 AD) or later Vertical-axis waterwheel 1500s or earlier Very early a switch was made from vertical to horizontal axes Pitstone windmill, believed to be the oldest Horizontal-axis waterwheel in Britain. Pluses & minuses for horizontal axes Post mill diagram, from The Dutch Windmill, Frederick Stokhuyzen Industrial windmil cogs Pluses & minuses for horizontal axes Plus: * increased efficiency (both wind & water) Minus: * complicated gearing to alter axes * must rotate windmill to match wind dir. -
Direct Seeded Fall Root Crops Are Some of the Least Labor Intensive Crops to Grow on Our Farm
Summary: Direct seeded fall root crops are some of the least labor intensive crops to grow on our farm. Often fall root crops don’t require any cultivation or hand weeding. Later planting dates allow for all nutrient needs to be met via cover cropping. Late planting dates can also lower pest pressure, particularly if the crops are planted far away from summer crops of the same family. As we trend towards wetter or more consistent moisture in the fall, current weather patterns allow for little or no need for irrigation. Much of our fall root crop production is simply planting the crop and then harvesting it! Fall root crops are also more efficient to harvest relative to other veg crops, because root crops can be mass harvested and stored. Mass harvest allows for more efficient material handling, with the use of larger harvest containers and a more efficient organization of labor. The Use of a barrel washer and or brusher washer makes processing roots relatively quick. Planting root crops Field prep: Field cultivate (stale seed bed, summer fallow) successive times over fall root ground. Allow legume cover crop grow large before plow down helps with nutrient needs. Use of a precision seeder allows for no thinning. Even in beets! LatestPlanting Dates: Parsnips: May‐Early June (hardest root crop to grow) Carrots: last planting date mid‐late July Beets: end of July Brassicas: Rutabagas: end of July Watermelon Radish: early‐mid August Daikon, China Rose Radish, Korean Radish: mid August Hakurei Turnips: mid august to early September. Storage: winter storage of roots is often just an insulated room with a thermostat and a heat lamp. -
Wildlife Population and Harvest Trends in the United States a Technical Document Supporting the Forest Service 2010 RPA Assessment
Wildlife Population and Harvest Trends in the United States A Technical Document Supporting the Forest Service 2010 RPA Assessment Curtis H. Flather, Michael S. Knowles, Martin F. Jones, and Carol Schilli Flather, Curtis H.; Knowles, Michael S.; Jones, Martin F.; Schilli, Carol. 2013. Wildlife popu- lation and harvest trends in the United States: A technical document supporting the Forest Service 2010 RPA Assessment. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-296. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 94 p. Abstract: The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act (RPA) of 1974 requires periodic assessments of the condition and trends of the nation’s renewable natural resources. Data from many sources were used to document recent historical trends in big game, small game, migratory game birds, furbearers, nongame, and imperiled species. Big game and waterfowl have generally increased in population and harvest trends. Many small upland and webless migratory game bird species have declined notably in population or harvest. Considerable declines in fur harvest since the 2000 RPA Assessment have occurred. Among the 426 breeding bird species with sufficient data to estimate nationwide trends, 45 percent had stable abundance since the mid-1960s; however, more species declined (31 percent) than increased (24 percent). A total of 1,368 bird species were formally listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act—a net gain of 278 species since the 2000 RPA Assessment. Most forest bird communities are expected to support a lower variety of species. America’s wildlife resources will continue to be pressured by diverse demands for ecosystem services from humans. -
History of the Book in China Oxford Reference
9/1/2016 40 The History of the Book in China Oxford Reference Oxford Reference The Oxford Companion to the Book Edited by Michael F. Suarez, S.J. and H. R. Woudhuysen Publisher: Oxford University Press Print Publication Date: 2010 Print ISBN13: 9780198606536 Published online: 2010 Current Online Version: 2010 eISBN: 9780199570140 40 The History of the Book in China J. S. EDGREN 1 The book before paper and printing 2 Tang to Yuan (7th–14th centuries) 3 Ming to Qing (14th–19th centuries) 4 The 20th century 1 The book before paper and printing nd th Although the early invention of true paper (2 century BC) and of textual printing (late 7 century) by *woodblock printing profoundly influenced the development of the book in China, the materials and manufacture of books before paper and before printing also left some traces. Preceding the availability of paper as a writing surface, the earliest books in China, known as jiance or jiandu, were written on thin strips of prepared bamboo and wood, which were usually interlaced in sequence by parallel bands of twisted thongs, hemp string, or silk thread. The text was written with a *writing brush and lampblack *ink in vertical columns from right to left—a *layout retained by later MSS and printed books—after which the strips were rolled up to form a primitive *scroll binding (see 17). The surviving specimens of jiance are mostly the result of 20th th rd century scientific archaeological recovery, and date from around the 6 century BC to the 3 century AD. -
Sustainable Agriculture in China
Multiple pathways: case studies of sustainable agriculture in China Edited by Seth Cook and Lila Buckley Contributing authors: Qiao Yuhui, Qi Gubo, Seth Cook, Lila Buckley, Song Yiching, Zhang Yanyan, Zhang Li, He Xueqing, Friederike Martin, Yue Shizhong and Wang Zhen Multiple pathways: case studies of sustainable agriculture in China Edited by Seth Cook and Lila Buckley Contributing authors: Qiao Yuhui, Qi Gubo, Seth Cook, Lila Buckley, Song Yiching, Zhang Yanyan, Zhang Li, He Xueqing, Friederike Martin, Yue Shizhong and Wang Zhen About the editors Lila Buckley, senior researcher, China Team, Natural Resources Group, IIED. See www.iied.org/users/lila-buckley Seth Cook, senior researcher, China Team, Natural Resources Group, IIED. See www.iied.org/users/seth-cook Produced by IIED’s Natural Resources Group The aim of the Natural Resources Group is to build partnerships, capacity and wise decision-making for fair and sustainable use of natural resources. Our priority in pursuing this purpose is on local control and management of natural resources and other ecosystems. Published by IIED, 2015 Cook, S. and Buckley, L. (eds.) (2015) Multiple pathways: case studies of sustainable agriculture in China. IIED, London. See: http://pubs.iied.org/17579IIED Typesetting by: Judith Fisher, email: [email protected] Copyediting by: Fiona Hinchliffe, email: [email protected] and Mary Buckley, email: [email protected] Cover photo: Harvesting vegetables in Shanggula village © Simon Lim Printed by Full Spectrum Print Media, -
6Z Yita Pc 6 4 R OVERSHOT WATERWHEEL a DESIGN and CONSTRUCTION MANUAL
OVERSHOT WATERWHEEL A DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MANUAL PROTECT DAM WOOD OR METAL SLUICE CUT .FLUME .- (OPERATE WITH RACK AND PINION: AT T S "J"-"" -' 1CHUTE POND /'. DAM R PIPE SUPPORTS . *=fALA FORUMET1N FUNDATIN CONCRETE OR BEARING BLOCK MASONRY (HELD WITH ANCHOR BOLTS) Adjustable Gate . Headwater", 4 ""e ""f- wate ' /Je\ %o Wte °" I- V - ' 1 atmt~~r - - 44( ......#+-w_--. 6Z yITA pc 6 4 r OVERSHOT WATERWHEEL A DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MANUAL Published by VOLUNTEERS IN TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 3706 Rhode Island Avenue Mt. Rainier, Maryland 20822 USA This book is one of a series of manuals on renewable energy technologies. It is primarily intended for use by people in international development projects. The construction techniques and ideas presented here are, however, useful to anyone seeking to become energy self-sufficieit. OVERSHOT WATERWHEEL- A DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MANUAL I. WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS USED FOR ............... 1 II. DECISION FACTORS .............................. 5 Applications ..........o............. ............. 5 Advantages ................. ...... .............. 5 Considerations ................................ 5 Cost Estimate ............. ................ 5 III. MAKING THE DECISION AND FOLLOWING THROUGH ........ 7 IV. PRE-CONSTRUCTION CONSIDERATIONS .................. 9 Undershot Waterwheel ................ ......... 9 Overshot Waterwheel. ........................ ..... 10 Site Selection ... ...................... 14 Power Output ............................. ....... 16 Applications ......o ........................... -
Wang Zhen (1867 -1938 ), Businessman, Philanthropist, and Artist
AForgotten Celebrity Wang Zhen (1867 -1938 ), Businessman, Philanthropist, and Artist H SI NG -YUAN TSAO The name Wang Zhen is unfamilar to most young people in today's China. Even worse, he has been almost unknown in his own country for more than forty years, and his paintings are collected principally outside of China. It is not an uncommon situation under the Commu• nist regime that some celebrities who lived prior to the founding of the People's Republic, and who were involved in various political activities, suffer the fading away of their names. A considerable part of modern Chinese history is covered in this way by a great gray mist of political ambiguity. In the case of Wang Zhen, who was better known as Wang Yiting, two other factors have negatively affected his reputation: his having worked for the Japanese as a comprador, and the support he gave to, and admiration he received from, the Nation• alist regime .' A decline in his popularity was thus more or less inevi• table after the founding of the People's Republic. WangZhen's relative obscurity today demonstrates again that art history has not been free from the influence and sometimes domination of politics, especially when the artist himself was an activist on the political and cultural stage. Itwas onlyin 1988 that a book on his art was published in Shang• hai.' Ironically, its publication was sponsored by aJapanese company as an expression of gratitude forwhat Wang Zhen had done after the great 1923 earthquake in Tokyo.' In contrast to his relative obscurity in recent times, the 1931 edi• tion of Who's Who in China presented Wang Zhen with more titles of social involvement than, seemingly, any individual could bear.