Deforestation
There were many ways to damage the environment, but the most common and major way was deforestation. By this, I mean many trees were cut down to make room for houses and farms. This of course led to an increase in population, because many of the cut down trees were used to make roof structures and wood floors. This tree wood also was a primary source for heating for not just common house holds, but also mining, smelting, and the making of ceramics. Deforesting usually occurred around mines first. Once all the trees and wood supply was collected there, it would be shipped and sold to locations of consumption. Due to the increase of population and land, there was more room for much needed crops to feed the growing population. Slaves were used to work these fields and animals helped to richer topsoil. Trade of wood and crops boosted the economy and helped the citizens to get the necessary goods to live their lives. In the Roman area, grain became a major cash crop. Romans deforestation despite all the positive, lead to big negatives. Another difficulty from these environmental damages happened when the military began conquering land. During Roman times, military campaigns populated the countryside, resulting in farmers being forced to fight rather than care for their animals and crops. Once these natural resources were depleted, the military was sent to accumulate areas of interest for timber supply to accommodate the Roman economy. Julius Caesar even contributed to this destruction. He himself ordered his troops to cut down forests to prevent ambushes and sneak attacks . Without all the trees, Caesar was insured that no camouflage or cover could be taken by the Roman enemies.Wealth spread to the small amount of people and workers involved in the wood/timber industry, because of the high demand during this time. After a while, surrounding areas of Rome began to focus more on obtaining natural resources, but by this time the environment had already been through drastic desertification, deforestation, soil erosion, and siltation in rivers. This caused a lot of pollution from burning wood and all the manufacturing process released harmful gases into the atmosphere. As the classical years passed by, larger cities developed, contributed to the continuation of environmental damage. To stay in the trading circle or triangle or whatever shape it was at the time, ships were needed. In addition to that, ships were beginning to be necessary for military purposes. You may have already guessed, but these ships needed a large supply of timber, making a higher demand for trees, leading to an even bigger increase in deforestation. Ships were a crucial to the economy and increased sea power to climb up the social status ladder. Warships were a higher priority to be made than merchant vessels at the time. Hundreds were built within a month which put timber producers under a lot of pressure especially with such a scarce supply over time. Transportation at the time was quite expensive and travel distance became longer because of lack of wood resources around the area.
-Jacquelyn C.
http://www.geus.dk/departments/environ-hist-climate/posters/rasmussen97-uk.htm
http://freeman-pedia.wikispaces.com/Technological+%26+Environmental+Transformations+%28to+c.+600+BCE%29
-Jacquelyn C.
http://www.geus.dk/departments/environ-hist-climate/posters/rasmussen97-uk.htm
http://freeman-pedia.wikispaces.com/Technological+%26+Environmental+Transformations+%28to+c.+600+BCE%29