Sustainability

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The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs: A Guide to Understanding and Using Herbal Medicinals Leslie Taylor, ND See book keywords and concepts

Here, you will find valuable information, including: sources for obtaining sustainable rainforest products, nonprofit rainforest organizations, suggested reading on sustainability and rainforest conservation issues, and online resources about rainforest plants and rainforest conservation. Leaves and flowers of rainforest plant sangre de grado. CHAPTER 1 Rainforest Destruction and Survival . 0 he beauty, majesty, and timelessness of a primary rainforest are inde-\ scribable. It is impossible to capture on film, to describe in words, ex.

By respecting and allowing them to lead the way toward a true, stable utilization of the bountiful resources of the rainforest (it they choose to use it in any commercial way at all) we have the potential of achieving true sustainability. The second step is to be a knowledgeable and responsible consumer—and that's hard work. How can you tell if a product has been sustainably harvested? Ask questions. Where do products really come from? Where are your dollars really going? Who is benefiting from the profit?

Sustainability means that the functions and processes of an ecosystem can be maintained (or sustained) and the needs of the present can be met—all without compromising the needs of future generations. Many factors must be taken into consideration, but two are key. The first step is to support the land and resource rights and economies of indigenous peoples. Preserving indigenous cultures is essential to saving the rainforest. These knowledgeable people and their ancestors have inhabited rainforests for millennia without destroying them.

Handbook of Medicinal Plants Amarjit S. Basra See book keywords and concepts

Leaman, 2001, Conservation, trade, sustainability and exploitation of medicinal plant species. 8. Murashige, T. and Skoog, R, 1962, A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue cultures, Physiologia Plantarum, 15: 473-497. 9. George, E.F., Puttock, D.J.M., and George, H.J., Plant culture media, Volume 1: Formulations and uses (Edington, England: Exegetics Limited, 1987). 10. Rout, G.R., Samantaray, S., and Das, P., 2000, In vitro manipulation and propagation of medicinal plants, Biotechnology Advances, 18(2): 91-120. 11. George, E.F.

Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, And Fair Carlo Petrini See book keywords and concepts

It is not easy; the judgment of sustainability requires a process of investigation and reflection that we as consumers have never before been required to go through. To return to the example of the mangos and the bread: at first sight, the Brazilian mangos might seem to be less sustainable than the bread, simply because they come from a long way away.

If we strive to promote sustainability, naturalness, and local tradition, we also work to promote quality, and if we start from an erroneous concept of the good, we will fail. In conclusion, the good as an objective has a political connotation. In order to reappropriate reality, we must take two important steps: recover our sensoriality as the founding act of a new way of thinking and acting or reacting; and gain respect for other cultures by learning to understand other people's categories (categories necessary for recognizing the good).

Not that what they said was not relevant to the subject—I know it is important to analyze the systems of production that are used around the world, to question their quality, verify their sustainability, and ensure that all other cultures and societies of the world are respected, but if people do not take into account the "gastronomic" side of things, they make the same mistake, in reverse, as gastronomes make when they talk about food without knowing where it comes from, confining themselves to learned disquisitions on taste.

On the part of the chefs who enter the network of new gastronomes, a precise commitment to the adoption of products of food communities near and far (respecting the criteria of sustainability) is another vital step, given their prominence and the new functions that they are assuming on the global gastronomic scene. We must free chefs from the burden and the game-playing of the media circus, of the competition for points in the guidebooks, whose hierarchy of stars pays little attention to the role of the food system, despite its relevance for the future of the restaurant business.

The first major debate then took place in 1992, with the Rio International Conference on the Environment and Development; at the end of that meeting, the world governments drew up a document, Agenda 21, which was supposed to lay down the criteria of sustainability for the next decade. It was an important document, which discussed the struggle against desertification, the protection of the climate, biodiversity, and many other problems affecting the whole world. It contained all the guidelines for the effort that needed to be made by governments and individual citizens.

Reinheriting the Earth: Awakening to Sustainable Solutions and Greater Truths Brian O'Leary See book keywords and concepts

Just what is meant by sustainability and beauty will have to be debated among world citizens and their representatives in global government. 2. A lasting and enforceable world peace and world government: Following the prescription of PlanetHood, we could replace the anarchy of warring nation-states and of rampant industrial pollution with a new representative world government which would assure us of a peaceful and friendly coexistence and a clean environment. A U.S.- and European-led Green movement well underway could provide the needed impetus.

Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet Jeremy P. Tarcher See book keywords and concepts

When I first heard about it six years ago, The Natural Step, an organization helping fold environmental sustainability into corporate decision making, seemed like a pipe dream.47 Today, more than seventy large corporations use The Natural Step's principles. Its poster child, the world's largest commercial floor-covering company, Interface, Inc., used The Natural Step to redefine itself starting in 1994.

Paul Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of sustainability (New York: HarperBusiness, 1993). Dee Hock and VISA International, Birth of the Chaordic Age (San Francisco, California: Berrett- Koehler Publishers, 1999). Jane Jacobs, The Nature of Economies (New York: Modern Library, 2000). Derrick Jensen, Listening to the Land: Conversations About Nature, Culture, and Eros (San Francisco, California: Sierra Club Books, 1995). Kevin Kelly, New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World (New York: Viking, 1998).

If people try to tell us what to do, forget about sustainability.' "I try to let people unravel rhe mystery for themselves. What is quality of life to them? Otherwise, they can't go forward. They'll think someone else will deliver the solutions. When people discover for themselves, they realize they have the potential to find solutions." Still hours from landing in Boston, I flip to the end of Hannes's booklet. There again is the trick picture with the hidden cow munching happily on grass and flowers.

Reinheriting the Earth: Awakening to Sustainable Solutions and Greater Truths Brian O'Leary See book keywords and concepts

With this statement, corroborated by reputable witnesses, the two topics of sustainability and greater truth become joined. Perhaps we can begin to understand that the genesis of the dominance of fossil fuels and nuclear energy and the suppression of options has been a secret policy of economic and political/military forces whose power Eisenhower felt so compelled to expose. Perhaps we are seeing the advanced phases of a massive conspiracy to profit and pollute by keeping the rest of us ignorant about real solutions.

I believe that the awakening will require that we move even beyond the sensible democratic policies of achieving sustainability and curbing the power of multinationals and governments who continue to profit while devastating the planet: We will need to examine who we are, why we're here, what happens after our lives on Earth, and how our consciousness can heal ourselves and the world around us. As we shall see in Chapters 5 and 6, the clues to answering those questions are everywhere, if only we dare to look.

The post-industrial exploration of space could become appealing once we have created sustainability here and have developed advanced technologies such as anti-gravity. But now we spend billions of dollars for a lackluster space program whose potential seems to serve only an elite: "Scarsdales in orbit", as anthropologist Margaret Mead once put it. (Scarsdale is an elite New York suburb.) I wonder what would have happened if I had read Vogt's book as a young person rather than now.

We have dropped dangerously below the threshold of sustainability for many systems, and the price of restoration is already high, and will get exponentially higher with each day we don't act. The cost of restoring our ecological systems is unknown, but will certainly run into trillions of dollars per year. It depends on who we ask and what our standards will be, a matter of enlightened public debate. Of one thing I can be sure: this effort will involve more participation than any single initiative in the history of the world.

Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet Jeremy P. Tarcher See book keywords and concepts

It struck me that as a chef it is my responsibility to teach the next generation about our food supplies, sustainability, and seasonality," she writes in the introduction to her book, Bitter Harvest: A Chef's Perspective on the Hidden Danger in the Foods We Eat and What You Can Do About It. Grilled Vegetable Haystack on Polenta with Summer Gazpacho Grill all of the vegetables. Place polenta in middle of large bowl or plate. Spoon the gazpacho around the polenta. Place the "haystack" of vegetables on top of the polenta.

Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton See book keywords and concepts

The Body Shop has deceived the public by trying to make us think that they are a lot further down the road to sustainability than they really are. We should recognize and encourage corporations that are moving in the right direction; but no longer should the public lionize the Body Shop and others who claim to be something they are not."38 In fact, warns author Paul Hawken, overhyped claims of "social responsibility" create dangerous illusions that may prevent society from recognizing the magnitude of the dangers it faces and moving in the direction of true sustainability.

Reinheriting the Earth: Awakening to Sustainable Solutions and Greater Truths Brian O'Leary See book keywords and concepts

The numbers speak for themselves, as we begin to exceed more and more limits to sustainability. We've somehow lost our common sense about our relationship with the natural environment and therefore our collective future. The twentieth century was our most violent and heedless one, and continues to escalate into the current century. The first half of the twentieth century revealed massive death by the war machines of two world wars; the second half vindicates Vogt's perceptive remarks about our declining environment. We are going to have to rethink, and I know Mr.

The Great Book of Hemp: The Complete Guide to the Environmental, Commercial, and Medicinal Uses of the World's Most Extraordinary Plant Rowan Robinson See book keywords and concepts

Not only do we have the solution to the forests, we have the only really viable concept of what sustainability is about. We're saying you don't take a two-hundred- to five-hundred-year-old plant—namely a tree—to make a house that lasts fifty years. You take a plant that takes one hundred days to grow to make a house that lasts fifty years. That gives you sustainability." Seber's partner, William Conde, adds, "The way to fix the forest is to use advanced composites from annual fibers like hemp. Anything you can make out of a tree you can make out of hemp.

The Natural Medicine Guide to the 50 Most Common Medicinal Herbs Heather Boon, BScPhm, PhD and Michael Smith, BPharm, MRPharmS, ND See book keywords and concepts

Given this increase in demand, ecological concerns have been raised with regard to the sustainability of the crop.6 The Peruvian government has recently invested in an extensive planting campaign.2 Some consider that Una de gato may offer an alternative (and more suitable) crop to the illegal cultivation of 'coca'.1 Current Medicinal Use The current medicinal uses are very similar to the traditional uses. While more research needs to be done, results from clinical studies show that cat's claw may be helpful in treating arthritic conditions.

Health from the Seas: Freedom from Disease John Croft See book keywords and concepts

Management quotas to ensure the sustainability of commercial fisheries are now in place for many species. Utilizing the by-products of a controlled industry—sometimes previously discarded as wastes—to produce valuable medicinal products is therefore a more efficient use of resources. How Can the Seas Be Farmed? In most instances farming the sea merely involves using the natural properties of seawater to grow a desired species of animal or plant under controlled conditions. The beauty of this is that no fertilizers, bactericides, or herbicides are used in the process.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

When we welcome real, local collaboration into the design and reconstruction process, we have the means not only to build more appropriate housing, but to stimulate local economic development that can help arm communities with new skills and encourage new industry as they rebuild their own lives.

Currently, the biggest obstacle for most bright green consumers is the cost of such design—demand hasn't quite reached the point that ecofurniture is affordable to all. But larger-scale furniture manufacturers like IKEA and Herman Miller are already turning out mid-range to truly inexpensive pieces that are as good to look at as they are good to the planet.

Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet Jeremy P. Tarcher See book keywords and concepts

I like that. sustainability isn't wimpy. It's tough-minded. It's realistic. It's the strength to stand up and admit that industrial farming isn't working. Jean-Yves tells us the network's latest project is to launch a Sustainable Agriculture food label—in many ways like the Food Alliance's in our Northwest, mentioned in the previous chapter. Consumers across Europe would recognize the label as a seal of approval, a stamp showing that the product was made with care for the earth, for workers, and for small farmers.

Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton See book keywords and concepts

A Declaration of sustainability. "So if a tiny fraction of the world's most intelligent managers cannot model a sustainable world, then environmentalism as currently practiced by business today, laudable as it may be, is only a part of an overall solution. Rather than a management problem, we have a design problem, a flaw that runs through all business."39 CHAPTER SEVEN PoisoNiNq jUe Grassroots The people, I say, are the only competent judges of their own welfare.

Food Revolution: How your diet can help save your life and our world John Robbins See book keywords and concepts

It was only a few years ago that vegetarians were relegated to the margins of society, and had not yet been recognized as being on the leading edge of movements toward health, ecological sustainability, and social justice. But by late 1999, Time magazine, a forum not particularly known for challenging conventional wisdom, ran a two-page feature article by Ed Ayres of Worldwatch Institute that documented the horrendous environmental and health impacts of modern meat production and predicted the demise of a meat-based culture.

Hemp Today Ed Rosenthal See book keywords and concepts

India and China. Its sustainability is amply illustrated by the large wild patches that U.S. prohibition agents still find throughout the Midwest. In August 1994, for example, a "drug eradication" task force destroyed a naturalized, 14-acre patch of wild Minnesota hemp. These plants had grown untended on the same soil since the Second World War or earlier, with a mean height from eight to ten feet. Such cases are common, and make it difficult to accept claims that hemp is a heavy feeding, soil depleting crop.

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