Drawing on various North American case histories, Mark Winston, a
professor of biological sciences at Simon Fraser University in
Canada, sketches out the battle lines between insects and humans
and looks at our management (and mostly mismanagement) of pests
through overuse of pesticides. This book is perhaps the worthiest
of all successors to Carson's Silent Spring: first, because it is
not a polemic against all pesticide use but offers a balanced
assessment. Second, because it is so simply yet lyrically and
authoritatively written. The book argues that we have yet to come
to grips with our ecological relationship with insects - something
Carson first alerted us to, but which still has a long way to come
to fruition, in terms of government and industrial policies as well
as personal attitudes toward insects. Short-listed for the 1998 BP
Natural World Prize. (Kirkus UK)
On our side, a vast arsenal of chemical pesticides. On their side?
They don't have a side, the pests who must do nature's bidding.
This is our war, and should we win it, ours would be a sorry
planet. With disturbing news from the front, "Nature Wars" sounds
the alarm against our dangerous tactics for controlling the pests
that are an annoying but integral part of our world.
Thirty years after "Silent Spring" woke us to the devastation
wrought by DDT, chemical pesticides are as pervasive as ever,
deployed at a rate of 4 pounds a year for every man, woman, and
child in this country. This ongoing commitment to pesticides, Mark
Winston argues, reflects our sense of place in nature: embattled,
beleaguered, driven to aggression. His book, as sensible as it is
wise, seeks to change this mindset, to show how a more measured and
discriminating approach to pests, one based on management rather
than eradication, might serve us and the natural world far better
than our ill-fated all-out war.
Winston backs up this approach with a full battery of case
studies that take us from lawns and kitchens to farms and orchards,
from insects and weeds to rats and coyotes. Here we see the complex
political, biological, economic, social, and personal interactions
that lie behind each pest management decision. Against this
background Winston considers diverse instances of past pest
management that reveal a consistent pattern of mistakes and
problems--and lead to realistic, workable proposals for reducing
pesticide use.
A compelling book about ethics and choices, "Nature Wars" shows
us the difference between protecting ourselves from real pests and
poisoning ourselves and the planet. It turns usfrom our war on
nature to our task as stewards of the environment.
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