Re: RE: Re: "Hydraulic lock-in"

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

China's system was sustainable.  All nutrients (virtually) returned to the
land.  You may want to look at an old book by King, Farmers of 40
Centuries.

On Wed, Jun 20, 2001 at 09:21:47PM +0100, Mark Jones wrote:
> Ricardo Duchesne:
>
> >.but  China's intensive
> > agrarian growth was ultimately unsustainable.
> >
>
> I'm still having problems with how an agriculture which has sustained itself
> for several millennia can be called ultimately unsustainable, but I suspect
> I haven't been paying close enough attention to your argument and I'm
> wondering if you can repeat the salient bits (offlist if it's been said
> recently).  I just read something on the net about how (contra Lester Brown)
> the quality of Chinese topsoil has if anything improved in the past 4
> decades, because of good husbandry. I found your stuff about the sweet
> potato fascinating btw. Thanks.
>
> Mark
>

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx