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True Colors of the Chemical Revolution

It's ironic that the heavy use of chemicals in agriculture is still being called "green"--and that they, whoever "they" are, get away with it. Since saving the planet seems to be everyone's business now, we're being bombarded by mainstream corporations offering green products and services. There's now even a line of "green weapons," since arms manufacturer BAE recently introduced recyclable explosives and reduced-lead bullets (since, obviously, lead in bullets can pose a risk to people)... But hey, "green" is good, right? Just as "natural" is a sign of quality on the labels of cosmetic products, even when the only natural product in the list of ingredients has been enriched with a host of unpronounceable chemical substances. Chemicals, however, are not green at all, in none of all the shades we know. Just what's the true colour of this Chemical Revolution?
posted by Marco Visscher on 6/13/2007 8:44 pm | COMMENTS (3)
Comments (3)

Hello Marco,

I'd been reading the concerns about where the aid money for Africa goes. Just a question: Isn't it possible to tell Mr. & Ms. Gates about the problems which their help could bring to Africans? I mean that we could write a letter or make something 2.0 to share our toughts about this issue and may be help to make things happen in a better way.

Hope we can find the six degrees to share this issue and do something about it.

Namast

posted by Mauricio on 6/26/2007 4:35 pm

Hi sybroell, The "Green Revolution" is the name for a big transformation of agriculture. Between the 1940s and 1960s, many developing nations were adopting technologies from the industrialized nations to increase yield. These technologies included pesticides, irrigation projects and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. Initially, the yields went up, but insects gained resistance against chemical insecticides, the soil got depleted, the water polluted, etc. In other words: The ecological damage was huge and farmers got heavily indebted from buying expensive agricultural input. As Vandana Shiva explains, the Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation together recently donated $150 million to bring the Green Revolution to Africa. That may be not such a good plan after all. And it's certainly not green.

posted by Marco Visscher on 6/21/2007 8:15 pm

Hey Marco, I am not familiar with the 'Green revolution'...can you explain a bit what the Green Revolution is about...and how the Gates Foundation seems to contribute?

posted by sybroell on 6/17/2007 9:54 am

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