Tao Te Ching

“Because the Great Wall of China and the ancient cities in the Middle East and along the Silk Road were all made of bricks, trees disappeared from these areas and the soil died—a great deal of firewood is needed to make bricks. This destruction of nature brought about the decline of human civilization.”

— Masanobu Fukuoka 福岡 正信 1913 – 2008 CE via Shan Dao
from Road Back to Nature