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  • From: Harvey Ussery <boxwood@nelsoncable.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Madmen in charge (was: Food and Agriculture News - Oct. 8)
  • Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:30:08 -0400


Book Review: Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
by Bill McKibben,
reviewed by John Marsh ~Posted by Douglas

I recently read DEEP ECONOMY and will add my recommendation to Douglas's.

One thing in the book that has stuck in my mind is the story of Mao Zedung and his directive to the countryside during the Great Leap Forward or similar grandiose push. "The sparrows are eating up much of the rice," he decreed, "so we'll harvest a lot more if we get rid of them." So millions of peasants were ordered to harass the poor birds non-stop, banging pot lids and the like every time they came to rest, sending them into panicked flight again until they died of exhaustion. The campaign was amazingly effective: Millions of sparrows were killed. And the next growing season, the bugs devestated the rice harvest.

It's easy to sneer at Mao and his bone-headed bird campaign, but he illustrates a point I made on the list recently--that once we get totally divorced from food production and the natural systems in which it occurs, even our "smartest" moves to ameliorate our perceived problems are almost guaranteed to make things worse. Sometimes a lot worse.

Everywhere I look at the folks calling the shots regarding American agriculture--agribusiness CEO's, secretaries of USDA and FDA, politicians--I see the face of Mao Zedung.

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used."
~Wendell Berry




  • [Livingontheland] Madmen in charge (was: Food and Agriculture News - Oct. 8), Harvey Ussery, 10/09/2007

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