Mary Wildfire

Who needs to read this book? Mostly, anyone who sees the dark age coming and is worried about it but interested in discussion about how we might have a hand in guiding the trajectory, in our own locales so that the future is, as Nate Hagens likes to say, “better than the default.”

Overall, the message of this book is that transitioning from the chemical-intensive approach to farming that has come to be called “conventional” to ways of doing things that try to sequester carbon in soil and regenerate the health of the soil, while making a living, can be done and is being done by these people who have this in common: they care.

Allowing corporations decisive power over our governments was a huge mistake– like the sorcerer’s apprentice thinking his dandy automated broom was such a great idea till he realized he should have put an “off” switch on the thing.

Kayaking with Lambs is an easy book to read, but a hard one to review, because it doesn’t really have a trajectory; it doesn’t build to a conclusion.

Who needs to read Saying No to a Farm-Free Future? Anyone thinking that the ecomodernist prescription might be a good idea; and anyone arguing with ecomodernists and looking for data to back up their feeling that  “food” factories in megacities is not the best path.

I am arguing here to consider opting out of the rat race, or even, if you’re a teenager, never climbing on that treadmill in the first place.