The Green Revolution?

Has anyone listened to a recent NPR broadcast referencing an article in the June issue of National Geographic titled The End of Plenty? As I listened, I kept hearing the term, Green Revolution...I was perplexed because this revolution was not a positive, reaffirming one...No, this Green Revolution, which began in the 50's, was quite different than the "Planet Green/Cradle to Cradle", one we are moving towards today. Joel K Bourne Jr., in his NG article, painfully points out what has happened around the world as we've stopped paying attention to the realities of our food supply.
The author's insightful essay reminds us that today most of our food is shipped to us from the far corners of the globe and "we no longer, grow, harvest or prepare most of our daily bread".
The new monocultures require lots of water, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Of course nothing lasts forever and much of the land in India, to name one country, has today, been lost to salinization. The water is poisoned-truly a grim picture. (The same is happening with conventional cotton production around the globe).

The article wraps up on a more positive note with an alternative offering-sustainable agriculture or "agroecology". Farmers and consumers facing the realities of climate change can no longer afford to support monocultures with their dependence on fossil-fuel based fertilizers. "The underlying idea is that we must stop focusing on simply maximizing grain yields at any cost and consider the environmental and social impacts of food production. It is disturbing that we continue to encourage farmers to rely on expensive, toxic imputs that are making money for corporate giants rather than on more ecological methods that use local resources and skills".

Read the story, grow a garden, enjoy and celebrate the healthy choices we have, support sustainable agriculture--for our food, for our fibers and for our kids' futures.
Dawn & Deb