Agriculture and the environment

Abstract

In most countries the landscape we see today — the shape of the land and its vegetation — has been moulded more by human activity than by the forces of nature. Take the British Isles for instance. As explained in Chapter 3, up until the Middle Ages most of Britain was clothed with trees; from then on a relentless process of forest clearance took place for the purpose of agricultural expansion and extraction of timber and firewood. As a consequence, by the turn of this century the once forest-rich lands had become one of the baldest spots in Europe.

In the case of cultivated land, a man is not entitled to think that all this is given to him to use and abuse, and deal with as if it concerned nobody but himself.

J.S. Mill