The Green Revolution Delusion: A False Promise - Brossura

Davis, Walt; Winslett, Tony

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1499348363 ISBN 13: 9781499348361

Casa editrice: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Riassunto

The Green Revolution Delusion is a fictional depiction of a real life drama that is playing out daily where ever industrial agriculture is practiced. In two generations agriculture has been changed radically. What was once a biological process driven by sunshine and rainfall and a prime generator of wealth has become, in many cases, an unsustainable industrial process dependent upon ever increasing inputs of energy and capital. Aside from the financial aspects, agriculture practiced in the industrial mode is inherently wasteful of natural resources; soil, water and energy are consumed in untenable amounts while producing pollution of soil, water and food stuffs. What was once a very good way to live and raise a family has become an occupation filled with stress and outright danger. In far too many cases, the wholesomeness of our food supply has taken second place to the needs of industry. These situations do not have to continue; there are methods that can produce food and fiber in the quantities needed in ways that are ecologically, financially and sociologically sound. One purpose of the book is to present options to the methods and practices causing the most damage that are feasible in the real world. The Green Revolution Delusion is a portrayal of some of the real and very disturbing problems of modern agriculture. Damage is being done to farm families, to the environment and to human health. The book is not a doom and disaster tirade but rather an attempt to explain why the conventional wisdom – that we must adopt all of the current toxic technology: the confined animal feeding operations, the genetically modified organisms and the chemical fertilizers and pesticides in order for agriculture to be profitable and productive – is simply wrong. It is not a technical dissertation but it presents, without a lot of jargon, some of the scientific and economic reasons that industrial agriculture is neither sustainable nor profitable in the long term. It also provides a look at proven alternatives to some of the most damaging technology and gives examples of how these alternative methods can be applied in a practical manner. Fiction is used as the vehicle for putting forth this information in the hope that an enjoyable reading experience will bring useful knowledge to a wider audience. The book is not a how to manual but rather it tries to at least partially explain, in a non-technical manner, the functioning of the ecological processes that control the natural world and how these processes can be used to create agriculture that is financially, ecologically and sociologically sound.

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L'autore:

Walt Davis was born into a ranching family in west Texas and spent his working life as a rancher. He grew up with the traditional methods and techniques that his family had used for many years and then in 1956 went off to Texas A&M College to learn “modern” agriculture. He studied animal husbandry, range science and agronomy at a time when tremendous changes were being made in what was considered to be “good” agricultural practice; in the span of one generation newly available antibiotics, insecticides, hybrid seeds, herbicides and chemical fertilizers along with greatly increased mechanization changed agriculture from a low input biological endeavor to something more similar to an industrial process. In 1975, close to bankruptcy after years of fighting a losing battle to achieve real profitability using the “modern” techniques, Walt began to search for ways to reduce the amount of inputs that were draining the operation. Initially the changes were just that – ways to save money – but as the use of chemicals of all kinds and the use of tillage were phased out, good things began to happen on and in the soil. It took a number of years but the result was a management program that was consistently profitable and was improving the health of all parts of the soil-plant-animal-wealth-human complex we call a ranch. Tony Winslett spent forty years in marketing and is very aware of how advertising can be used to promote the sale of products even when the use of these products is actually contrary to the best interests of the purchaser. For many years American agriculturists, and the public at large, have been bombarded with “facts” and “information” proving that pesticides, chemical fertilizers and genetically modified organisms are not only labor reducing and profit producing but are absolutely necessary to “feed the world.” Tony became interested in learning a more rational system of agriculture in order to produce wholesome food to be shared with friends and family. The average American has very little knowledge of the dangers posed by a diet heavy in transfats, soy, high fructose corn syrup, chemically fertilized produce and grains, and genetically modified food products; this ignorance has been promoted intentionally as all of these harmful products have been and still are touted as “health foods.” This novel is one step in an attempt to inform people that there are alternatives to industrial agriculture.

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• Editore: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Data di pubblicazione: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1499348363
• ISBN 13: 9781499348361
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 300