The transition about 10 000 years ago, from hunting and gathering food to cultivating crops and domesticating animals for meat, milk and draught purposes brought about two major events in the socio-cultural evolution of Homo sapiens and ecological degradation on planet Earth. One is that of a settled life with food security, setting in motion the unfolding of human creativity in arts, science, sculpture, philosophy, spiritualism, music etc. The invention of the steam engine in 1780 by James Watt heralded the beginning of the great industrial revolution. With a more settled life, the human population started increasing in numbers. On the other side, expansion of agricultural areas correspondingly reduced forest land and the associated rich biodiversity of fauna and flora especially in the regions within 22º north and south of the equator. Yet, agriculture until about the 1950s, particularly in the developing Asian countries, was largely eco-friendly in the sense that the application of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides was negligible.