The Burning Earth-Readings & Review

The Burning Earth-Readings & Review

From Permaculture Perspectives Podcast by Andrew Faust

January 8, 2026 · 1h 29m

About this episode

Andrew Faust reads and reviews excerpts from Sunil Amrith's book on environmental history, exploring themes from early civilizations to modern global food issues.

Herein I read a wide range of my favorite excerpts from The Burning Earth: 500 Year s of Environmental History written by a Yale professor Sunil Amrith, a 2024 publication. Very readable !...an erudite and articulate book. Spanning from early agrarian societies and the transition from Nomadic lifestyles to sedentary more rice and grain based agriculture. The book dives in depth into China, India and Russian histories with a powerful writing style that carries us all the way into contemporary times. Sunil Amrith observes sweeping and insightful patterns of history , tying together vast swaths of time and ecological relationships, distilling them to poignant and important connections. Please listen as we go from early civilizations to colonialism, sugar, WW I - tanks vs. horses, WW II - chemicals and industrialization, wrapping with the green revolution, India and modern global food issues and ideas.

People in this episode

Host: Andrew Faust

Topics covered

  • environmental history
  • agriculture
  • colonialism
  • global food issues
  • historical patterns
  • ecological relationships

Keywords

  • environmental history
  • Sunil Amrith
  • agriculture
  • colonialism
  • global food
  • historical patterns
  • ecological relationships

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Yale

Books & works: The Burning Earth: 500 Years of Environmental History

Places: China, India, Russia

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