Excerpt 1: Chronology Prehistory through the Eighteenth Century
440 million years-395 million years before the present
20,000-14,000 years before the present (approximately)
14,000-13,000 years before the present 13,000-11,000 years
before the present 11,000 years before the present 13,000-10,000
years before the present Approximately 10,000-3,000 years before
the present 6,000-4,000 years before the present Approximately
3,000 years before the present August 14, 1816 July 4, 1836
April 16, 1848 December 25, 1865 September 3, 1892 January 1,
1939 April 13, 1992 |Excerpt 2 : Introduction| Not content with
gathering wild onions or beaver skins, but restless to create
something ever bigger, we struggle to put human impact on
nature. We shape and reshape nature to our vision. Nature
provides a complex situation and challenges. We have our own
natures, which include ambition, commercial interests, and,
because we are animals, bodily wastes. And so ensues a mighty
struggle. A river is a work in progress, the force