Industrialized Nature : Brute Force Technology and the Transformation of the Natural World

The construction of the Three Gorges Dam on China's Yangtze River. The transformation of the Amazon into a site for huge cattle ranches and aluminum smelters. The development of Nevada's Yucca Mountain into a repository for nuclear waste. The extensive irrigation networks of the Grand Coulee and Kuibyshev Dams. On the face of it, these massive projects are wonders of engineering, financial prowess, and our seldom-questioned ability to modify nature to suit our immediate needs. For nearly a century we have relied increasingly on science and technology to harness natural forces, but at what environmental and social cost? In Industrialized Nature, historian Paul R. Josephson provides an original examination of the ways in which science, engineering, policy, finance, and hubris have come together, often with unforeseen consequences, to perpetuate what he calls "brute-force technologies"—the large-scale systems created to manage water, forest, and fish resources. Throughout the twentieth century, nations with quite different political systems and economic orientations all pursued this same technological subjugation of nature. Josephson compares the Soviet Union's heavy-handed efforts at resource management to similar projects undertaken in the United States, Norway, Brazil, and China. He argues that brute-force technologies require brute-force politics to operate. He shows how irresponsible—or well-intentioned but misguided—large-scale manipulation of nature has resulted in resource loss and severe environmental degradation. Josephson explores the ongoing industrialization of nature that is happening in our own backyards and around the world. Both a cautionary tale and a call to action, Industrialized Nature urges us to consider how to develop a future for succeeding generations that avoids the pitfalls of brute-force technologies. The construction of the Three Gorges Dam on China's Yangtze River. The transformation of the Amazon into a site for huge cattle ranches and aluminum smelters. The development of Nevada's Yucca Mountain into a repository for nuclear waste. The extensive irrigation networks of the Grand Coulee and Kuibyshev Dams. On the face of it, these massive projects are wonders of engineering, financial prowess, and our seldom-questioned ability to modify nature to suit our immediate needs. For nearly a century we have relied increasingly on science and technology to harness natural forces, but at what environmental and social cost? In Industrialized Nature , historian Paul R. Josephson provides an original examination of the ways in which science, engineering, policy, finance, and hubris have come together, often with unforeseen consequences, to perpetuate what he calls "brute-force technologies"—the large-scale systems created to manage water, forest, and fish resources. Throughout the twentieth century, nations with quite different political systems and economic orientations all pursued this same technological subjugation of nature. Josephson compares the Soviet Union's heavy-handed efforts at resource management to similar projects undertaken in the United States, Norway, Brazil, and China. He argues that brute-force technologies require brute-force politics to operate. He shows how irresponsible—or well-intentioned but misguided—large-scale manipulation of nature has resulted in resource loss and severe environmental degradation. Josephson explores the ongoing industrialization of nature that is happening in our own backyards and around the world. Both a cautionary tale and a call to action, Industrialized Nature urges us to consider how to develop a future for succeeding generations that avoids the pitfalls of brute-force technologies. In Industrialized Nature, The Accomplished Historian Paul R. Josephson Shows Us How Science, Engineering, Policy, Finance, And Hubris Have Come Together, Often With Unforeseen Consequences, To Perpetuate What He Calls Brute Force Technologies--large-scale Systems Created To Exploit Water, Forest, And Fish Resources. Nations With Quite Different Political Systems And Economic Orientations (such As The Former Soviet Union, Norway Brazil, And The United States) Have Pursued A Remarkably Similar Strategy Of Using Such Large-scale Technology To Turn Nature Into A Smoothly Running Machine. Josephson Vividly Demonstrates How Irresponsible - Or Well-intentioned But Misguided - Large-scale Manipulation Of Nature Has Resulted, Time After Time, In Resource Loss, Social Disruption, More Brute Force Politics, And Severe Environmental Degradation.--jacket. Prologue: Industrialized Nature -- Pyramids Of Concrete: Rivers, Dams, And The Ideological Roots Of Brute Force Technology -- The Cellulose Factory -- Corridors Of Modernization -- Cold-blooded Machines -- Epilogue: Nature Irrevocably Transformed? Paul R. Josephson. A Shearwater Book. -- T.p. Verso. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 265-298) And Index. "The restoration of the Florida Everglades. The return of the wolf to Yellowstone and the condor to the wild. The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Dismantling obsolete dams. Each was a landmark of environmental progress in the 1990s and each was realized under the guidance of then Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. Now he draws on these experiences to develop a surprising message - such episodic conservation victories, however important, will not be sufficient either to protect our disappearing open spaces or to contain the blight of urban sprawl." "In Cities in the Wilderness, Babbitt makes the case for a new national land use policy. Throughout our history, from George Washington's day to the present, federal policies have encouraged and subsidized destructive resource exploitation and out-of-control development that threaten the American landscape." "From Babbitt's incisive analysis comes a vision and a program for how it should be done: a federal leadership role in land use planning, a new way of thinking about open space that retains local control while acknowledging national interests."--Jacket "In Industrialized Nature, the accomplished historian Paul R. Josephson shows us how science, engineering, policy, finance, and hubris have come together, often with unforeseen consequences, to perpetuate what he calls "brute force technologies" - large-scale systems created to exploit water, forest, and fish resources. Nations with quite different political systems and economic orientations (such as the former Soviet Union, Norway Brazil, and the United States) have pursued a remarkably similar strategy of using such large-scale technology to turn nature into a smoothly running machine. Josephson vividly demonstrates how irresponsible - or well-intentioned but misguided - large-scale manipulation of nature has resulted, time after time, in resource loss, social disruption, more brute force politics, and severe environmental degradation."--BOOK JACKET. This volume provides an examination of the ways in which science, policy, engineering, finance and hubris have come together, often with unforeseen consequences, to perpetuate what it calls "brute-force technologies" - large-scale systems created to manage water, forest and fish resources. FLOODS, STAGNANT POOLS, rapids, seasonal trickles, and hard freezes are the nature of a river's life.