Download or read book Cultivating an Ecological Conscience written by Fred Kirschenmann and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2011-08-30 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than thirty years, Frederick Kirschenmann has explored the ethical and practical principles of sustainable agriculture. An accomplished theologian, philosopher, and third–generation farmer, Kirschenmann is a dynamic leading voice in the dialogue about the challenges of modern agriculture. Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher follows Kirschenmann's personal and professional evolution as a lifelong proponent of new agrarianism. Together with agricultural economist Constance L. Falk, Kirschenmann has compiled a collection of his essential writings on farming, philosophy, and sustainability. In this fascinating blend of personal history, philosophical discourse, spiritual ruminations, and practical advice, Kirschenmann shares candid, valuable insights about the agricultural challenges facing the modern world and the necessity of achieving ecologically sound and responsible stewardship of the land. This rich book follows the development of Kirschenmann's long and distinguished career, from childhood lessons learned on the family farm to his inventive approaches for addressing contemporary agrarian issues. More than a mere retrospective, these these essays serve as an introduction to the life and wok of an extraordinary agricultural thinker.
Download or read book Cultivating an Ecological Conscience written by Frederick L. Kirschenmann and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2010-04-14 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theologian, academic, and third-generation organic farmer Frederick L. Kirschenmann is a celebrated agricultural thinker. In the last thirty years he has tirelessly promoted the principles of sustainability and has become a legend in his own right. Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher documents Kirschenmann's evolution and his lifelong contributions to the new agrarianism in a collection of his greatest writings on farming, philosophy, and sustainability. Working closely with agricultural economist and editor Constance L. Falk, Kirschenmann recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey. In a unique blend of personal history, philosophical discourse, spiritual ruminations, and practical advice, Kirschenmann interweaves his insights with discussion of contemporary agrarian topics. This collection serves as an invaluable resource to agrarian scholars and introduces readers to an agricultural pioneer whose work has profoundly influenced modern thinking about food.
Download or read book Cultivating an Ecological Conscience written by Frederick L. Kirschenmann and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2010-04-14 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theologian, academic, and third-generation organic farmer Frederick L. Kirschenmann is a celebrated agricultural thinker. In the last thirty years he has tirelessly promoted the principles of sustainability and has become a legend in his own right. Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher documents Kirschenmann’s evolution and his lifelong contributions to the new agrarianism in a collection of his greatest writings on farming, philosophy, and sustainability. Working closely with agricultural economist and editor Constance L. Falk, Kirschenmann recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey. In a unique blend of personal history, philosophical discourse, spiritual ruminations, and practical advice, Kirschenmann interweaves his insights with discussion of contemporary agrarian topics. This collection serves as an invaluable resource to agrarian scholars and introduces readers to an agricultural pioneer whose work has profoundly influenced modern thinking about food.
Download or read book Cultivating the Ecological Conscience written by David Wayne Hoelscher and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Developing Ecological Consciousness written by Christopher Uhl and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2003 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A second edition of this textbook is now available. Developing Ecological Consciousness offers an ecology-based, wonder-filled initiation to the Universe and the Planet Earth. It examines the ways in which humans are damaging the Earth and their own bodies and spirits. The book presents paradigms, values, and tools essential for both planetary and personal transformation.
Download or read book A Sand County Almanac written by Aldo Leopold and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-05 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1949 and praised in The New York Times Book Review as "full of beauty and vigor and bite," A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with a call for changing our understanding of land management.
Download or read book Two Percent Solutions for the Planet written by Courtney White and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2015-09-21 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two Percent Solutions for the Planet profiles fifty innovative practices that soak up carbon dioxide in soils, reduce energy use, sustainably intensify food production, and increase water quality. The “two percent” refers to: the amount of new carbon in the soil needed to reap a wide variety of ecological and economic benefits; the percentage of the nation’s population who are farmers and ranchers; and the low financial cost (in terms of GDP) needed to get this work done. As White explained in Grass, Soil, Hope, a highly efficient carbon cycle captures, stores, releases, and recaptures biochemical energy, mitigating climate change, increasing water storage capacities in soil, and making green plants grow. Best of all, we don’t have to invent anything new—a wide variety of innovative ideas and methods that put carbon back into the soil have been field-tested and proven to be practical and profitable. They’re mostly low-tech, too, relying on natural resources such as sunlight, green plants, animals, compost, beavers, creeks, and more. In Two Percent Solutions for the Planet, White expands what he calls the “regenerative toolbox,” to include holistic grazing, edible forests, biochar, weed-eating livestock, food co-ops, keyline plowing, restoration agriculture, bioenergy, aquaponics, animal power, Farm Hack, bees, bears, wildlife corridors, rainwater harvesting, native seeds, and various other projects from across the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe, and Australia. These short, engaging success stories will help readers connect the dots between diverse, exciting, and pragmatic practices, and inspire them to dig deeper into each individual story and concept, energized by the news that solutions do exist.
Download or read book Fields of Learning written by Laura Sayre and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Essays from staff on 15 farms . . . illustrate the trials, tribulations and sheer joys of establishing and maintaining such enterprises.” —USA Today Originally published in 2011, Fields of Learning remains the single best resource for students, faculty, and administrators involved in starting or supporting campus farms. Featuring detailed profiles of fifteen diverse student farms on college and university campuses across North America, the book also serves as a history of the student farm movement, showing how the idea of campus farms has come in and out of fashion over the past century and how the tenacious work of students, faculty, and other campus community members has upheld and reimagined the objectives of student farming over time. Ranging in size from less than an acre to hundreds of acres, supplying food to campus dining halls or community food banks, and hosting scientific research projects or youth education programs, student farms highlight the interdisciplinary richness and multifunctionality of agriculture, supporting academic work across a range of fields while simultaneously building community engagement and stimulating critical conversations about environmental and social justice. As institutions of higher learning face new challenges linked to the global climate crisis and public health emergency, this book holds continued relevance for readers in North America and beyond. “A timely and hopeful book.” —Jason Peters, editor of Wendell Berry: Life and Work “The opportunity for students to spend time learning on campus farms is not just a good idea—it should be mandatory.” —Gary Hirshberg, President & CEO, Stonyfield Farm “An excellent book, useful for anyone interested in the past, or the future, of the student farm movement.” —Journal of Agricultural & Food Information
Download or read book The Vandana Shiva Reader written by Vandana Shiva and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2015-01-27 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Her great virtue as an advocate is that she is not a reductionist. Her awareness of the complex connections among economy and nature and culture preserves her from oversimplification. So does her understanding of the importance of diversity."—Wendell Berry, from the foreword Motivated by agricultural devastation in her home country of India, Vandana Shiva became one of the world's most influential and highly acclaimed environmental and antiglobalization activists. Her groundbreaking research has exposed the destructive effects of monocultures and commercial agriculture and revealed the links between ecology, gender, and poverty. In The Vandana Shiva Reader, Shiva assembles her most influential writings, combining trenchant critiques of the corporate monopolization of agriculture with a powerful defense of biodiversity and food democracy. Containing up-to-date data and a foreword by Wendell Berry, this essential collection demonstrates the full range of Shiva's research and activism, from her condemnation of commercial seed technology, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and the international agriculture industry's dependence on fossil fuels, to her tireless documentation of the extensive human costs of ecological deterioration. This important volume illuminates Shiva's profound understanding of both the perils and potential of our interconnected world and calls on citizens of all nations to renew their commitment to love and care for soil, seeds, and people.
Download or read book Sowing Seeds in the Desert written by Masanobu Fukuoka and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that the Earth's deteriorating condition is man-made and outlines a way for the process to be reversed by rehabilitating the deserts using natural farming.
Download or read book Resilient Agriculture written by Laura Lengnick and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2015-05-11 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change presents an unprecedented challenge to the productivity and profitability of agriculture in North America. More variable weather, drought, and flooding create the most obvious damage, but hot summer nights, warmer winters, longer growing seasons, and other environmental changes have more subtle but far-reaching effects on plant and livestock growth and development. Resilient Agriculture recognizes the critical role that sustainable agriculture will play in the coming decades and beyond. The latest science on climate risk, resilience, and climate change adaptation is blended with the personal experience of farmers and ranchers to explore: The "strange changes" in weather recorded over the last decade The associated shifts in crop and livestock behavior The actions producers have taken to maintain productivity in a changing climate The climate change challenge is real and it is here now. To enjoy the sustained production of food, fiber, and fuel well into the twenty-first century, we must begin now to make changes that will enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of North American agriculture. The rich knowledge base presented in Resilient Agriculture is poised to serve as the cornerstone of an evolving, climate-ready food system. Laura Lengnick is a researcher, policymaker, activist, educator, and farmer whose work explores the community-enhancing potential of agriculture and food systems. She directs the academic program in sustainable agriculture at Warren Wilson College and was a lead author of the report Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation.
Download or read book India s Organic Farming Revolution written by Sapna E. Thottathil and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Should you buy organic food? Is it just a status symbol, or is it really better for us? Is it really better for the environment? What about organic produce grown thousands of miles from our kitchens, or on massive corporately owned farms? Is “local” or “small-scale” better, even if it’s not organic? A lot of consumers who would like to do the right thing for their health and the environment are asking such questions. Sapna Thottathil calls on us to rethink the politics of organic food by focusing on what it means for the people who grow and sell it—what it means for their health, the health of their environment, and also their economic and political well-being. Taking readers to the state of Kerala in southern India, she shows us a place where the so-called “Green Revolution” program of hybrid seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and rising pesticide use had failed to reduce hunger while it caused a cascade of economic, medical, and environmental problems. Farmers burdened with huge debts from buying the new seeds and chemicals were committing suicide in troubling numbers. Farm laborers suffered from pesticide poisoning and rising rates of birth defects. A sharp fall in biodiversity worried environmental activists, and everyone was anxious about declining yields of key export crops like black pepper and coffee. In their debates about how to solve these problems, farmers, environmentalists, and policymakers drew on Kerala’s history of and continuing commitment to grassroots democracy. In 2010, they took the unprecedented step of enacting a policy that requires all Kerala growers to farm organically by 2020. How this policy came to be and its immediate economic, political, and physical effects on the state’s residents offer lessons for everyone interested in agriculture, the environment, and what to eat for dinner. Kerala’s example shows that when done right, this kind of agriculture can be good for everyone in our global food system.
Download or read book The Organic Grain Grower written by Jack Lazor and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2013 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Organic Grain Grower is an invaluable resource for both home-scale and commercial producers interested in expanding their resiliency and drop diversity through growing their own grains. Longtime farmer and organic pioneer Jack Lazor covers how to grow and store wheat, barley, oats, corn, dry beans, soybeans, oilseeds, grasses, nutrient-dense forages, and lesser-known cereals. In addition, Lazor argues the importance of integrating grains on the organic farm (not to mention within the local food system) for reasons of biodiversity and whole-farm management. The Organic Grain Grower provides information on wide-ranging topics, from nutrient density and building soil fertility to machinery and grinding grains for livestock rations.--COVER.
Download or read book Cultivating Awareness of Interconnectedness Between Humans and Nature written by Jade Nguyen and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Dirt to Soil written by Gabe Brown and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-11 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A regenerative no-till pioneer."—NBC News "We need to reintegrate livestock and crops on our farms and ranches, and Gabe Brown shows us how to do it well."—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation See Gabe Brown—author and farmer—in the Netflix documentary Kiss the Ground Gabe Brown didn’t set out to change the world when he first started working alongside his father-in-law on the family farm in North Dakota. But as a series of weather-related crop disasters put Brown and his wife, Shelly, in desperate financial straits, they started making bold changes to their farm. Brown—in an effort to simply survive—began experimenting with new practices he’d learned about from reading and talking with innovative researchers and ranchers. As he and his family struggled to keep the farm viable, they found themselves on an amazing journey into a new type of farming: regenerative agriculture. Brown dropped the use of most of the herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers that are a standard part of conventional agriculture. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes, and changed his grazing practices. In so doing Brown transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life—starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time. In Dirt to Soil Gabe Brown tells the story of that amazing journey and offers a wealth of innovative solutions to restoring the soil by laying out and explaining his "five principles of soil health," which are: Limited Disturbance Armor Diversity Living Roots Integrated Animals The Brown’s Ranch model, developed over twenty years of experimentation and refinement, focuses on regenerating resources by continuously enhancing the living biology in the soil. Using regenerative agricultural principles, Brown’s Ranch has grown several inches of new topsoil in only twenty years! The 5,000-acre ranch profitably produces a wide variety of cash crops and cover crops as well as grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured laying hens, broilers, and pastured pork, all marketed directly to consumers. The key is how we think, Brown says. In the industrial agricultural model, all thoughts are focused on killing things. But that mindset was also killing diversity, soil, and profit, Brown realized. Now he channels his creative thinking toward how he can get more life on the land—more plants, animals, and beneficial insects. “The greatest roadblock to solving a problem,” Brown says, “is the human mind.”
Download or read book Ecology of Wisdom written by Arne Naess and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-05-21 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ecology of Wisdom is a definitive collection of essays by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess, a founder of the Deep Ecology movement and one of the leading thinkers of modern environmentalism. Drengson and Devall provide a comprehensive and accessible portrait of Naess's philosophy and activism, and showcase his enthusiasm, wit, and spiritual fascination with nature.
Download or read book Rebuilding the Foodshed written by Philip Ackerman-Leist and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Droves of people have turned to local food as a way to retreat from our broken industrial food system. From rural outposts to city streets, they are sowing, growing, selling, and eating food produced close to home—and they are crying out for agricultural reform. All this has made "local food" into everything from a movement buzzword to the newest darling of food trendsters. But now it's time to take the conversation to the next level. That's exactly what Philip Ackerman-Leist does in Rebuilding the Foodshed, in which he refocuses the local-food lens on the broad issue of rebuilding regional food systems that can replace the destructive aspects of industrial agriculture, meet food demands affordably and sustainably, and be resilient enough to endure potentially rough times ahead. Changing our foodscapes raises a host of questions. How far away is local? How do you decide the size and geography of a regional foodshed? How do you tackle tough issues that plague food systems large and small—issues like inefficient transportation, high energy demands, and rampant food waste? How do you grow what you need with minimum environmental impact? And how do you create a foodshed that's resilient enough if fuel grows scarce, weather gets more severe, and traditional supply chains are hampered? Showcasing some of the most promising, replicable models for growing, processing, and distributing sustainably grown food, this book points the reader toward the next stages of the food revolution. It also covers the full landscape of the burgeoning local-food movement, from rural to suburban to urban, and from backyard gardens to large-scale food enterprises.