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Grasses (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R602
Discovery Miles 6 020
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Grasses (Hardcover)
Series: Botanical
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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Grasses cover approximately one-quarter of the planet's land
surface; four species - wheat, rice, maize and sugar - provide 60
per cent of human calorie intake. Almost all of us at some point
play on, relax on, plant, tend or harvest grasses for our own
pleasure or sustenance, yet for all that their importance to us is
not commonly understood. It is predicted that by 2050 the world's
population will be approximately 9 billion, and 90 per cent of the
planet's land area will be affected by human activities. To feed
ourselves we will be more dependent on grasses than ever before.
Grasses explains the history of our relationship with these humble
yet vital plants from the end of the last Ice Age to the present
day. Perhaps more than any other plant, grasses show the effects of
human influence: farmed on a massive scale, they are the ultimate
staple crop. In turn we are also influenced by grasses, often
fighting to preserve our 'green space' and public parks. Stephen
Harris describes this relationship against the background of our
heightened awareness of climate change: in the future we will have
to balance our needs of grass as food, grass as living space and
potentially even grass as fuel. Mixing biology, sociology and
cultural history, Grasses provides us with arguably the fullest
exploration yet of what grasses mean and have meant: their profound
importance to our survival but also to our pleasure, our diets and
our minds. Featuring numerous botanical images as well as many fine
examples from art and popular culture, Grasses is a must-have for
gardeners, food lovers and environmentalists alike.
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