Saving the Planet With Pesticides and Plastic The Environmental Triumph of High Yield Farming

If one listens to the latest pronouncements from a number of prominent environmentalists, things seem very dire indeed. Poisonous apples, genetically engineered milk, rising global temperatures, and decreasing rainforest acreage are favorite causes. And all too often the media uncritically carries the environmentalists tainted water. Fortunately, there is another side to the story. The second edition of Dennis Averys 1995 seminal work, Saving the Planet Through Pesticides and Plastics shows that cancer risks in the industrialized nations are decreasing; that the worlds temperature rises and falls naturally; that governments, not agribusinesses, have been encouraging people to cut down rain forests; that the industrial nations pollute less than other countries; and that the widespread use of organic farming threatens the worlds wildlife. Avery shows that high yield farming techniques can both feed the earths burgeoning population that will reach 8 billion in the next century while preserving wildlands and wildlife. Thoroughly updated and re-written with new information and data, Averys controversial book shows how agricultural technology can save the planet for both people and wildlife.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great work about this subject
I'm a brazilian and (unemployed) agronomist.This book is really good about this subject.This books shows to the general public, many realities about pesticides and his goods efects in economy and farms.The GREEN MAFIA is also quacking in USA, not only in Brazil.

1 Star Finally! Ignorance has a manual!
This book is testimony to the ignorance of many men. This book is written by a man who profits from plastics and pesticides. It cannot be trusted in the least. All of the data goes against common sense. This is one of those books that will have a place in museums in future years, showing future generations how and why our earth is in the state of chaos it will surely be in thanks to garbage like this.

5 Stars I Fear For The Environment
The latest edition of Dennis Avery's book, "Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic," was published in 2000, but given the green mania that is presently sweeping the Western world, it is still a timely and important work. As the author admits, the idea that pesticides and plastic will literally save the planet is just an attention-getting exaggeration, but he neatly pulls together the evidence from nearly all reputable researchers and official bodies in the fields of agronomy, soil science and ecology that pesticides, when properly used, present no significant risk to the environment or human health. Avery effectively makes the case for industrial fertilizers as a vital input to modern agriculture. He also shows how the growing practice of mass indoor feeding of livestock is both humane and enviromentally beneficial. This should be required reading for animal-rights activists and their urban sympathizers, though I doubt that nothing short of a religious conversion could ever change their minds.

One of the most important parts of the book is Avery's critique of organic farming. At one time, organic farming could be dismissed as a relatively harmless fad that serviced a boutique North American market. Now, eight years after this book's publication, organically-grown food is becoming a mainstream component of consumer tastes. The most serious failing of organic farming is its invariably mediocre crop yields. Avery (and other agricultural professionals) have calculated that in order to feed by organic and other traditional farming the projected 9 billion people populating the world in the mid-21st century, a land area equal to South America and Europe will have to be cleared off just to grow crops. You can kiss the Amazon rainforest and the North American temperate forests goodbye. The organic food movement, for all its endless declarations of environmental sensitivity and "sustainable living", is apparently incabable of grasping the irony. Organic farming is manifestly unsustainable in the real sense of the term, but as its alleged "sustainability" hardens into popular dogma all over the developed world, I fear for the environment the world's wilderness areas.

5 Stars This is crazy
Pesticide is a poison. If you think spraying poison on our food is going to improve anything, you've got another think coming. Sustainable agriculture puts back what it takes from the environment. Factory farming pollutes our air, water and soil. According to a study conducted by the Department of Economics at the University of Essex , industrial farms cause $34.7 billion worth of environmental damage in the U.S. each year. True, there have been cases of E. coli bactiria, but the is the result of improper handling, using fresh manure instead of allowing it to decompose properly first. And it isn't only organic foods that were grown in maure. And non-organic food is also sometimes grown in manure. And the pesticides kill bugs, not E. coli bacteria.

Recent studies have shown that sustainable crops contain higher levels of nutrients, minerals, and antioxidants, including vitamin C, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and polyphenols. Organic crops also have lower levels of certain toxic heavy metals. Better soil management (crop rotation, cover crops and composting) used in organic and sustainable farming helps enrich the soil and increase the concentration of vitamins and minerals in the plants. Chemical fertilizers, used on conventional, factory farmed crops, lower the nutrient content of the soil, increase the level of potentially harmful nitrates, and can contain certain toxic heavy metals which can be absorbed by the plants.

Pesticides are one of the most common toxic substances found in food. They can impair the immune system and cause diseases.

Pesticides can also affect the nervous system, endocrine (glands and hormones) system, immune system and reproductive system. Pesticides have been linked to Parkinson's disease, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, emotional disorders, weakened immune systems, and birth defects. Long after their use, pesticides remain in the soil and water. Despite being banned in 1972, DDT has been found in the breast milk of over 99% of all mothers in America. The American Association of Poison Control Centers estimates that in 2002, 69,000 children suffered from pesticide related poisoning or exposure to poisonous pesticides. According to Cornell entomologist David Pimentel, "It has been estimated that only 0.1% of applied pesticides reach the target pests, leaving the bulk of the pesticides (99.9%) to impact the environment."

1 Star Good for a laugh
Avery tries to pass his chemical company advocacy off as science. If you are familiar with real science, you might just want to read this for the laughs. If you are looking for actual information, don't read this--it will only confuse you.

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