Sustainability

Future Food & Seed Part 9

Book Review MANIFESTOS ON THE FUTURE OF FOOD AND SEED EDITED BY VANDANA SHIVA SOUTH END PRESS                       2007 PART IX THE MANIFESTOS PART TWO A NEW PARADIGM FOR SEED A post-industrial concept of seed and food production must take into account the failures, limitations, and vulnerability of industrial agriculture and corporate monopolies. It must be …

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Outgrowing the Earth Part 5

OUTGROWING THE EARTH THE FOOD SECURITY CHALLENGE IN AN AGE OF FALLING WATER TABLES AND RISING TEMPERATURES LESTER BROWN EARTHSCAN          2005 PART V   Chapter 3: Moving Up the Food Chain Efficiently Throughout most of our 4 million years as a distinct species we lived as hunter-gatherers. The share of our diets that came from …

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Master Farmer Part 8

MASTER FARMER TEACHING SMALL FARMERS MANAGEMENT BRUCE M. LANSDALE WESTVIEW PRESS                       1986 PART VIII Chapter 4: Dynamic Training Centers (Cont) What leads to excellence in an institution? What attributes should schools try to develop? Can the staff of institutions be both compassionate and businesslike?   STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE According to a Middle Eastern proverb, “The …

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Sustainable Agriculture Part 6

THE EARTHSCAN READER IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE EDITED BY JULES PRETTY EARTHSCAN          2005 PART VI   PART 3: SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES Perspective 15: Social Capital and Collective Management of Resources by Jules Pretty Introduction The proposition that natural resources need protection from the destructive actions of people is widely accepted. Yet communities have shown in the past …

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Future Food & Seed Part 8

Book Review Introduction In Part 8 of Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed we learn that: “So far, only two GM traits have gained significant market share, one conferring resistance to a broad spectrum herbicide Roundup (RR) and another making plants poisonous to insects by means of a soil microbe Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). …

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The Ascent of Man Part 9

THE ASCENT OF MAN  JACOB BROWNOWSKI MACDONALD FUTURA PUBLISHERS                        1973 PART IX   Chapter 9: The Ladder of Creation The theory of evolution by natural selection was put forward in the 1850s independently by two men. One was Charles Darwin; the other was Alfred Russell Wallace. Both men had some scientific background, of course, but …

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Outgrowing the Earth Part 4

OUTGROWING THE EARTH THE FOOD SECURITY CHALLENGE IN AN AGE OF FALLING WATER TABLES AND RISING TEMPERATURES LESTER BROWN EARTHSCAN          2005 PART IV Chapter 2: Stopping at Seven Billion (Cont.) The demographic bonus In contrast to these countries whose future is fading, countries that have quickly reduced birth rates are benefiting from what economic demographers …

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The End of Poverty Part 10

THE END OF POVERTY HOW WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN IN OUR LIFE TIME JEFFREY SACHS PENGUIN BOOKS              2005 PART X Chapter 12: On-the-Ground Solutions for Ending Poverty (Cont.)   INTERNATIONAL DONORS AND VILLAGES LIKE SAURI The international donor community should be thinking round the clock about one question: how can the Big Five …

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