For millennia, zielone szkoły na mazurach empires {consisted of|contains|contained|was comprised of} a center which consumed {raw materials|recycleables|garbage|unprocessed trash} and produced and sold finished goods {to the|towards the|for the|on the} periphery whose role {was to|ended up being to|would have been to|ended up being} extract minerals and cultivate commodities, edible {and not|and never|rather than|instead of}.