Carbon in the Rise and Fall of Civilizations
The growth and glory of empires is generally (and rather falsely) attributed to the acumen and valour of their heroes. Unfortunately, history fails to recognize that human civilizations and empires cannot grow in a vacuum. They grow by consuming the natural resources in and around them, consuming and exploiting resources to become bigger, faster. Paradoxically, the overuse of resources pushes empires to the verge of their own extinction.
In this lecture, K N Ganeshaiah demonstrated this with a set of examples: the decline of a civilization in Easter Island, the growth and fall of the Vijayanagara empire and the death of Talakadu, a rich urban complex in Karnataka. He also argued that several urban areas of the world are now showing the symptoms of such decay due to uncontrolled use of resources. This talk traced the role of our carbon-rich resources in the emergence and extension of empires.
This lecture was conducted in Kannada.
About the Agricultural Scientist
Professor K N Ganeshaiah is retired Dean of Post Graduate Studies, University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), GKVK Bengaluru. He is now working as a Senior Scientist at Indian National Science Academy (INSA) at the UAS. He has been working in the area of evolutionary ecology of plants and insects, mapping and assessing biodiversity and building databases on Indian Bioresources. He was instrumental in mapping the plant resources of major bio-rich areas such as Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Eastern Himalayas and of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He has a special interest in tracing the role of bio-resources in the emergence and growth of human civilizations. He also indulges in writing novels, short stories and columns in local language (Kannada) especially in the area of history and science.