Looking at the environment today, one can easily say that the goodness of the environment is deteriorating due to the lack of concern and care. However, many don’t realise that most of the environmental problems that we have today such as erosion and forest depletion is actually the after math of environmental disasters that happened years ago. When examining the environmental problems of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the statement “cause and effect”, plays a very significant role in explaining the relationship between humans of that time and the effects that had placed on the environment around them.
In many cases, the effects of their cause were very threatening to the environment. By looking back and what the Greeks and Romans had done, we can understand some of the environmental problems of today. Nonetheless, it is also acceptable to understand that the ancient Greeks and Romans did not have enough knowledge to take and understand about their environment, hence therefore, problems had occurred. Forests were a very vital resource for the ancient Greeks and Romans because wood had an extremely important material in their daily lifestyles.
The Greeks and Romans used wood for many things such as building, heating, industry, agriculture and especially warfare. “Wood and its carbonized product charcoal were the primary ancient fuels in households, public facilities such as baths, and industries, producing both heat and light. Consumption of fuel constituted the most extensive use of wood by far, accounting perhaps 90 percent… [therefore] placing great pressures on forests” (Donald Hughes 74) Besides wood being extensively used for fuel, another area that used tremendous amounts of wood was for warfare.
The Research paper on Brazil: Environmental Problems And Solutions
The South American country of Brazil is well-known for its biodiversity and wealth of natural resources. The Amazon River and rainforest are located in Brazil, a country with more than 800,000 square miles of coastline, and a landmass so large that its borders touch all but two of its neighboring countries (Rich, 1999). The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, and ...
Warfare ships were built completely from wood, from kneel to mast, wood was also used for most military machinery. However, “deliberate destruction of forests, usually by fire, [became] a common tactic in warfare. ” (Donald Hughes 75).
Therefore it is quite evident that war had become a prime factor in the process of deforestation. Along side warfare, other factors that also had a contribution to the depletion of forests were clearing for agriculture and increased amounts of overgrazing. Clearing for agriculture also had a significant amount of impact on deforestation, yet not so harsh as warfare.
New farms had begun to establish is forested regions which in result called for the removal of forests to make room for farming. “Trees were uprooted or cut down, the useful parts removed and the rest burned. ” (Donald Hughes 77).
Overgrazing of domestic animals was also seen as “one of the most consistent and widespread forces of environmental degradation” (Donald Hughes 77).
The four major animals for grazing in Greco-Roman were cattle, sheep, goats, and swine. Goats were the most destructive grazing animals as they prevented forest regeneration by eating baby trees right from its roots.
When we combine all these factors together, there is no doubt that the environment in which the ancient Greeks and Romans were living was slowly, yet surely deteriorating. The effects of deforestation could then be seen through four major concerns. The first is the disruption of water supply and flooding. “Forests regulate the runoff of the precipitation they receive. Like a sponge, the plants and soil hold water and preventing floods” (Donald Hughes 82).
Therefore due to deforestation, erosion of hillsides will occur, flooding since there will be no trees to absorb the water, and siltation of lowlands and coastlands. Unimpeded erosion destroyed uplands that might have grown trees again” (Donald Hughes 83).
The second concern is climate. When intensive amounts of forests are removed, local climate also referred to as microclimates changes as well. Hughes states that after “the trees had been cut down around Philippi, the waters dried up and the weather became warmer. Such impacts were no doubt most serious in marginal areas such as the edges of the Sahara and Arabian deserts” (Donald Hughes 85).
The Term Paper on Four Styles Of Roman Wall Painting
The wall paintings evolved from around 2nd BC. Romans created these extravaganza works to emphasise their wealth. The evidence for the techniques used is described by Vitruvius’ in _De Architectura._ He noted that wall paintings were interior wall designs as frescoes, which were executed using damp plaster (lime and sand mixed together). There must have been at least several layers of this ...
The third major concern is malaria and other illnesses. Although this wasn’t a primary result of deforestation, it is still considered to be a significant one.
Due to less tress and more marshes, mosquitoes increased dramatically. Therefore malaria had dramatically spread as well because mosquitoes were the carriers. “The Romans periodically embarked on ambitious programs for the draining of marshlands, destroying wildlife habitat as they did so” (Donald Hughes 65).
The fourth and final concern is effects on the economy. Since wood was a vital resource for the ancient Greeks and Romans, deforestation had increased the price of wood and “lumber became rarer and had to be imported over longer distances” (Donald Hughes 85).
Therefore “the shortage and high cost of building timber due to deforestation contributed to the shift from wood to stone construction” (Donald Hughes 86).
During the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, it is acceptable to understand that at that time there wasn’t enough knowledge to maintain a balance with the environment, hence the Greeks and Romans had failed. “There are four factors that determine how a society will relate to nature and how suitable that relationship will be” (Donald Hughes 194).
The first factor is how a society thinks about nature. Second is a society’s knowledge and understanding of nature. Third is whether or not a society has at its disposal, the technology necessary to care for nature. And lastly how a society is organized, are social structures in place to encourage or enforce people to act in an appropriate way. It is very clear by looking at the Greeks and Romans past to say that that had failed in these four factors in order to successfully obtain and maintain a viable balance with nature.
In conclusion it is quite evident that the Greeks and Romans took advantage and did not take very good care of their environment and did not leave it in very good shape for the generations after them. By examining their actions we can see what the results were and how badly it had affected the natural world. But looking at their mistakes we can understand the environmental problems of today and motivate us to treat our environment with better care and not make the same mistakes as the Greeks and Romans did.
The Essay on Legacies Roman Greeks And Hebrews
Legacies: Roman, Greeks, and Hebrews In the ancient days, when culture, as well as civilizations we redeveloping, many things came to be known as options for later cultures. Civilizations had different ways of doing things and therefore each of their cultures differed considerably. The Romans, the Greeks and the Hebrews all presented different legacies to the world. The Romans actually gave a ...
