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Dying bees, wholistic science and paying our way

Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Posted in Organics | Tagged Organics

How is it possible to apply tons of pesticides onto crops around the world and let reactive chemicals enter our atmosphere without there being measurable harm to complex natural systems with many vulnerable components?

Well, it’s not, actually. That not to say it isn’t profitable, when the products from these techniques are sold at an effective “discount” that avoids the cost of ecological responsibility for the damage done.

This is the unwelcome truth presented ever more clearly as scientific analysis advances to identify some of the things that degrade air quality, insect populations and human health. The unintended consequences of synthetic compounds used in agriculture or manufacturing has become a common discovery as the Information Age displaces the Technology Age.

Bee on apple blossoms.

Two examples: The realizaton that best-selling agricultural pesticide formulations could be behind the deaths of 90 billion bees and the discovery that a reactive nitrogen product used to make semi-conductors and liquid-crystal displays is really a “missing greenhouse gas” that contributes measurably to global warming.

Calling for a common-sense reigning in of human economic activity that is profitable but destructive are two writers in a Canberra Times op-ed. We need science that enhances sustainability whilst maintaining productivity. To do this, we desperately need improved understanding of the landscapes in which we farm. Traditionally, food prices do not include the cost of environmental damage. The natural resource base (land, water, biodiversity) for agriculture continues to suffer. We can’t afford to keep running down the systems that feed us.

Some of the next generation of sustainable scientists.

Fortunately, there are thousands of young adults with sustainable determination to build up our natural systems, some starting to farm and some committed to becoming the next generation of scientists. Both streams will combine earth-air-water impact assessments with every exploration of agriculture. The scientists are agroecologists, and one of them starts today to share her educational experience at a world-class graduate school in Norway. Her program is designed to produce graduates “who will be successful contributors to future food systems that must deal with production and economics, environmental impacts and social-equity issues.” Read more >>

That’s science we need to know how to reshape economies around what builds up natural systems and human communities, the only foundations for “profit” that build a livable future.

Greg Bowman and the
Rodale Institute editorial team

PS: Our coverage of four lectures on raw milk at Rugters University concludes this update with a cautionary word about milk safety testing from a specialist in quantitative microbial risk assessment.
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