Considering ongoing rate of deforestation and frequent drought events in the region including Amazon basin, it might repeat the trend if we won't control region might become warmer and drier again, that may effect us in southern region as well?

Plant more and more Trees!

-Chandra

~Annie

Maya were independent city states that often were competitive with each other. Was it disease, war , revolution. All these things were going on. Think about how the huge old cities of the silk road disappeared into the deserts of Asia almost overnight because sea fairing boats took away their reason for being there. Things like that happen. Look at Detroit.

Yes , there was a very bad drought and areas of Maya's water system was a system that depended and on constant water fall. Drought was a factor. Was it the killing factor or was it just another bummer in a list of bummers. I can't really tell you. I do get irritated when someone simplifies something so it can fit in a sound bite. A multitude of books has been written about this issue and now they are going to give a conclusion in a page and a few colored on maps.

A lot of the grains and food stuffs were not grown where the big cities were. They had a huge network of trade routes that extended far outside the area of the droughts and they were capable and flexible enough to deal with regional drought.

I can tell you that archaeologist used to dismiss mayan agriculture as uncontrolled slash and burn but now they have changed their tune, about that. The 'slash and burn" Milpa system was done in a very organized fashion in a cycle using the ash as fertilizer and then using fresh soil as cropland and then letting lay fallow and letting it go to orchard and then to forrest and then back to slash and burn. I think I remember a 29 year cycle in the process. It is still practiced by the traditional Mayan communities. Their Agriculture was very sophisticated and maintained their society in areas that the present inhabitants find difficult to maintain with all the tools of the modern age. Their agriculture system fed a culture that was over a thousand years long.

The Maya were also very aware of how many people could live on their land and have it remain sustainable. They were aware that that balance could be broken. They were much more aware of it than we are. They used birth control and population control in a manner that was rather brutal as seen from a Judea/christian belief system.

I do apologize for getting all ruffled and running at the mouth. If you want to read an interesting book that is a joy, easy to read, not heavy archeology and gives you a look at the culture and what remains in the area today.. Read "Sacred Monkey River" by Christopher Shaw. This guy gets into talking about the agricultural practices past and present.

I have been binging on reading books about Maya, Aztecs and Toltecs. I have read 6 books on them since thanksgiving. And three more in a stack by my bed.

I agree with you regarding the ancient Mayans.
My comment was regarding the current problems there. Big chemical companies and etc. who are "raping" the once pristine Middle and South American countries of all their natural resources, which impacts their cultures and climate, leaving their lands polluted and in ruin.

Sorry I was not specific about that.

~Annie

Beerhog, I think some of us like to discuss the transgressions of trouble areas because what makes us garden also makes us care what happens to fellow farmers in other places in this world. That shared connection with the earth connects me to all the paisanos of the world. It is what makes me read about ancient agricultural systems and the societies that supported them. It might be un relaxing to you, but looking squarely at what is happening is important to me.

Interesting conversations do tread on difference of opinion. As long as people are not rude or incendiary OR overly sensitive and not read in things that are not stated, a conversation can proceed. I don't see any "demonizing" here.

I am even tolerant of a little rudeness since a rude person is perceived as a fool shooting off his/her mouth and if it is ignored, they loose street cred and implode. They do more damage to their selves than to others. The over reaction to rudeness is what hurts a conversation.

I think that one can over sanitize a conversation into a blandness of uniformity.