Changes in the Land Report - Book Report/Review Example

Climate change was among the main problems he also sought to address (p. 53). This paper will review the problems that faced the environment from the time of colonists to how they affect the world today. In writing the book, the historian was creating an avenue where he could freely express himself. In his expression, he went after the people living in the land at the time. He considered them to have caused a change in the way and manner in which the climate changed. He talks of a wild land that was rich and wealthy in its natural state before the people caused a shift in balance in the ecology (p. 65). The natural forest cover would never be the same again after what man has done to it over the years.

He further indicates how the earlier inhabitants of the land used to take care of the land. An example would be the way that they paved way for new growth of shrubs and undergrowth in the forest. This would be by burning the forests. The fires would burn out fast which would later on clear the way for the growth of more crops. This happened as the sun was able to reach the undergrowth (p. 78). This meant that later, the forest would be passable to wild animals and hunters alike, “In short, Indians who hunted game animals were not just taking the unplanted bounties of nature.

” This was the natural balance that he sought out to seek. His main idea was for the people to go back to such ways of taking care of the environment. That would have been for the betterment of all those involved, both in the present and the past. However, the people that came about did the complete opposite of what was initially done to preserve the natural environment. He talks of how colonialists burned down the forests completely (p. 104). They did this since they thought that certain crops could only grow in certain areas while others could not.

“Trees that required and maintained moist forest conditions such as hickories, maples, ashes, and beeches, generally produced a rich black humus beneath their fallen leaves, and settlers interpreted them as indicators of prime agricultural land. Oaks and chestnuts, with their denser undergrowth and more frequent ground fires, had thinner soils which required more work before they would produce favourable European crops.” This meant that they did not understand the mechanisms involved in the growth and maintenance of these resources.

The soil and its nutrients would never be the same after what they did. He sought to make people understand that the trees are more about producing soil as the soil is about producing trees. The two are co-related. Burning of underbrush every two years by the inhabitants made the soil rich in nutrients (p. 159). This means that the rate at which the nutrients were being recycled was very high. The colonialists did not seem to understand this even as they grew their different crops at different times of the year.

The climate affected with these changes was a cause for concern according to the historian. The forest on occasions would help the land be a little bit warmer during the winter. However, with the depletion of the forest cover, it meant that it would be much colder than it would have been. This was the creation of the micro-climates. He believed that the colonialists led to this. The depletion made there to be the introduction of micro-climates meaning that there was