The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis (35 page)

  
155
   
“. . . [S]top the menace”:
Quoted in Buhs 2002, 387.

  
155
   
Millions more acres after that:
Details on the fire-ant eradication program is also given in Buhs (2002).

  
155
   
Problem became even worse:
Myers et al. 1998.

  
155
   
“Vietnam of entomology”:
There are multiple sources for the Wilson quote, including Buhs (2004, 155–156).

  
156
   
Leaves in his new homeland:
Liebhold et al. 1995.

  
156
   
Eradicating the moth:
Liebhold and McManus 1999.

  
158
   
One or more pesticides:
Georghiou 1986.

  
159
   
Battle against pests:
Pest resistance to pesticides is discussed in Georghiou (1986), Palumbi (2001), and Carvalho (2006), among many other published papers and reports.

  
159
   
Diseases killed deer:
Rattner 2009.

  
160
   
“. . . [A]mounts to cause death”:
Allen 1958, 145.

  
160
   
On February 7, 1945:
Davis 1945.

  
161
   
California’s Klamath Basin:
Cottam 1965; Fry 1995; Gavrilescu 2005.

  
161
   
Wreaking havoc on wildlife:
Employed as an aquatic biologist at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Carson worked her way up the ladder to become editor-in-chief of the agency’s publications. In her time off she wrote eloquent books about the beauty of nature, including
Under the Sea-Wind
(1941),
The Sea Around Us
(1951), and
The Edge of the Sea
(1955).

  
162
   
“. . . [C]onception until death”:
Carson 1962, esp. opening sentences of Chapter 3.

  
162
   
“. . . [S]prayed on the land”:
Ibid., Chapter 7.

  
162
   
On July 22, 1962:
Lee 1962.

  
162
   
“. . . [A]nd downright error”:
Lear 1993, 27.

  
162
   
“[B]ird and bunny lover”:
Ibid., 36.

  
162
   
“. . . [B]alance of nature”:
Ibid., 37.

  
163
   
“. . . [R]eductions of persistent pesticides”:
Lear 1993, 39; President’s Science Advisory Committee 1963.

  
163
   
On Long Island, New York:
The legal action to ban DDT was undertaken by Art Cooley, Charlie Wurster, and Dennis Puleston. They founded the Environmental Defense Fund in 1967, which today is one of the United States’ leading environmental nongovernmental organizations. See the organization’s website at
www.edf.org/about/our-mission-and-history
.

  
163
   
“. . . Michigan after a lingering illness”:
Higdon 1969.

  
164
   
“. . . [P]eople on our planet”:
Howes 1971.

  
164
   
High concentrations of the chemical:
Scheringer 2009; Sonne 2010.

  
164
   
Sprayed so far to the north:
Smith 1999; Dewailly et al. 1993.

  
165
   
On May 17, 2004:
Hagen and Walls 2005.

  
165
   
To control agricultural pests:
WHO 2011; Longnecker et al. 1997; Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 2002; Eskenazi et al. 2009; Casals-Casas and Desvergne 2011.

  
166
   
“. . . [N]onchemical agents and methods”:
Nixon 1972.

  
167
   
Bonanza went bust:
The history of integrated pest management is described in Kogan (1998) and Casida and Quistad (1998).

  
167
   
The unwelcome bug:
Norgaard 1988.

  
167
   
Produce viable offspring:
Myers et al. 1998. Reichard et al. (1992) described screwworm control programs in other parts of the world. Myers et al. (1998, 2000) provided many examples of successful and unsuccessful programs with biological control of exotic species.

  
168
   
From unsafe handling practices:
Stephenson 2003.

  
168
   
Non-target species as well:
Losey et al. (1999) touched off the controversy about the effects of
Bt
corn on monarch butterflies. The study has received much criticism, e.g., from Shelton and Sears (2001) and Mendelsohn et al. (2003).

  
169
   
Rearing their heads:
Tabashnik et al. 2008; Gassmann et al. 2011.

  
169
   
Experiment remains to be seen:
Sanchis 2011; Romeis et al. 2006; Steinhaus 1956.

  
169
   
Between 1960 and 2000:
Oerke 2006.

Chapter 9: The Revolution Goes Global

  
172
   
Tables of the hungry:
Ortiz et al. 2007.

  
172
   
Program’s wheat-research effort:
Ibid.; Borlaug 2007.

  
173
   
“. . . [C]onstantly evolving enemy”:
Ortiz et al. 2007, 3.

  
173
   
“. . . [L]ook what happened”:
Borlaug 2007, 289.

  
174
   
Doubled over the taller varieties:
Ortiz et al. 2007.

  
174
   
Pacific Northwest in the early 1960s:
Socolofsky 1969; Dalrymple 1985.

  
174
   
“. . . [A]chieve significant impact”:
Borlaug 2007, 292.

  
175
   
Population Bomb
: Ehrlich 1968.

  
175
   
“. . . [N]ext decade or so”:
Ibid., 36.

  
175
   
“. . . [B]y 1971, if ever”:
Ibid., 40.

  
175
   
Importing large quantities of grain:
Ortiz et al. 2007; Borlaug 2007; Herdt 2012.

  
176
   
India was exporting grains:
Sanyal 1983.

  
176
   
Disseminate them to farmers:
These international centers make up today’s Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR); CGIAR is still dedicated to reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring sustainable management of natural resources.

  
177
   
“. . . [I]mproved semi-dwarf variety”:
Hargrove and Coffman 2006, 37.

  
177
   
“. . . [S]cratches my throat”:
Ibid., 38.

  
177
   
Philippines, China, and throughout Asia:
Khush 2001.

  
177
   
“. . . [I]nspiration, and chance”:
Rice Today
2012, 3. Yuan Longping (or Loung-ping) was awarded the World Food Prize in 2004. See “2004: Jones and Yuan,” World Food Prize,
www.worldfoodprize.org/en/laureates/20002009_laureates/2004_jones_and_yuan/#longping
.

  
177
   
Irregularly shaped, and sterile:
Shih-Cheng and Loung-ping 1980.

  
178
   
Corn blight of the 1970s:
Duvick 2001.

  
178
   
Chinese farmers in the early 1970s:
Shih-Cheng and Loung-ping 1980, 44. The hybrids showed vigorous growth and strong roots. The strong roots made the plant stand upright and reach deeper stores of water, producing more edible grains than with conventional rice.

  
178
   
Over half of China’s rice:
UN FAO 2004.

  
178
   
“. . . [C]entury and a half ago”:
Gaud 1968.

  
179
   
“. . . [H]ungry people of the world”:
Haberman 1972.

  
179
   
Humanity’s struggle against hunger:
Borlaug 2003; Haberman 1972.

  
179
   
Added numbers were in developing countries:
United Nations 2013.

  
179
   
São Paulo surpassed that number:
United Nations 1980.

  
179
   
Out of every ten people lived in cities:
United Nations 2012.

  
180
   
“. . . [K]eep out of this country entirely”:
Harwood 2009, 390.

  
180
   
People prospered:
Ladejinsky 1970; Dasgupta 1977.

  
181
   
“. . . [M]ust now come to grips”:
Haberman 1972.

  
181
   
Fill the newspapers:
Appropriate Technology
2002; Dutta 2012.

  
181
   
“. . . [D]am builders and large landowners”:
Shiva 1991, 1.

  
181
   
Water tables are dropping:
World Bank 2010; Rodell et al. 2009.

  
182
   
Productive fields into wasteland:
Groundwater and soil salinization are discussed in World Bank (2010) and Tyagi et al. (2012).

  
182
   
Yields in Mexico and much of Asia:
Norman Borlaug was president of the Sasakawa Africa Association with the support of President Jimmy Carter. Borlaug became involved in the project in 1986 to transfer food crop production technologies to sub-Saharan Africa (Borlaug 2003).

  
182
   
“. . . [M]ission in Africa,” he replied:
Olson and Schmickle 2009.

  
182
   
Extinctions of wildlife species:
Borlaug 2003.

  
183
   
“. . . [D]eny them these things”:
Ortiz et al. 2007, 5.

  
183
   
Biotechnology for the benefit of poor farmers:
Swaminathan 2004, 2006.

  
184
   
Rust-resistance into wheat:
Stokstad 2009.

  
184
   
Manipulating genes to our liking:
Pardey et al. (2013) have discussed the investments needed to contain rust outbreaks.

  
184
   
Domestic stock if they still exist:
Zamir 2001.

  
184
   
Paved over, or plowed under:
Hajjar and Hodgkin 2007; Rick and Chetelat 1995; Estabrook 2010.

  
185
   
Ever-expanding human presence:
Maxted et al. 2010.

  
185
   
Possibly ensures its future:
Fowler and Hodgkin 2004; Sachs 2009; Fowler 2008.

  
186
   
Frontier for manipulating genes:
Swaminathan 2004.

  
186
   
Dangers of genetic engineering:
Enserink 2008.

  
186
   
Genetic treasure of wild species:
Basu et al. 2010; Federoff et al. 2010; Moose and Mumm 2008.

  
186
   
Much trepidation from others:
Nature
(2013) provides a graphic depiction of the limited number of countries that have adopted GM crops to date.