“Since chemical fertilizer burns out the soil organic matter, other farmers struggle with tilth, water retention, and basic soil nutrients. The soil gets harder and harder every year as the chemicals burn out the organic matter, which gives the soil its sponginess. One pound of organic matter holds four pounds of water. The best drought protection any farmer can acquire is more soil organic matter.” GivingYearsMatterWaterStruggleFourLandHarderProtectionSoilAcquirePoundsChemicalsFarmersDroughtBurn OutNutrientsFertilizerRetention Author:Joel Salatin
“When we mistake what we can know for all there is to know, a healthy appreciation of one's ignorance in the face of a mystery like soil fertility gives way to the hubris that we can treat nature as a machine. Once that leap has been made, one input follows another, so that when the synthetic nitrogen fed to plants makes them more attractive to insects and vulnerable to disease, as we have discovered, the farmer turns to chemical pesticides to fix his broken machine.” KnowsWayGivingHas BeensMadeFacesTurnsMistakeMysteryLandIgnoranceBrokenHealthyDiseaseMachinesTreatsPlantAppreciationVulnerableAttractiveSoilFedsLeapChemicalsFarmersInsectsInputHubrisFertilitySyntheticPesticidesNitrogen Author:Michael Pollan
“Patents are like fertilizer. Applied wisely and sparingly, they can increase growth. But if you apply too many chemicals, or make patents too strong, then you can leach the land, making growth more difficult.” IfsStrongDifficultGrowthLandIncreaseChemicalsPatentsFertilizer Author:Alex Tabarrok
“Adolescence hits boys harder than it does girls. Girls bleed a little and their breasts pop out, big deal, but adolescence lands on a guy with both feet. . . . Your body is engulfed by chemicals of rage and despair, you pound, you shriek, you batter your head against the trees. You come away wounded, feeling that life is unknowable, can never be understood, only endured and sometimes cheated.” LittlesDoeSometimesFeelingsBodyBigsLife IsGuyGirlDealsBoysTreeFeetLandDespairUnderstoodHarderPopsRageYour BodyBreastsPoundsChemicalsWoundedAdolescenceBig DealCheated Book:The Book of Guys: Stories Source: The Book of Guys: Stories
“Food consists not just in piles of chemicals; it also comprises a set of social and ecological relationships, reaching back to the land and outward to other people.” PeopleSocialLandReachingChemicalsEcologicalReaching Back Book:In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto Source: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
“We have not wondered enough at the delights God has given us to appreciate them, and be good stewards. We have overworked the land, poured pollutants into river and stream, fouled the air we breathe with gas fumes and chemical smoke spiraling up from industrial chimneys. We have sown the wind. We are reaping the whirlwind.” EnoughGivenAirLandWindAppreciateRiversEnvironmentalDelightBreatheBe GoodSmokeStreamsGasChemicalsStewardshipChimneysStewardsWhirlwind Book:A Stone for a Pillow Source: A Stone for a Pillow
“I live in the land of delight - of just walking in the street, and the sun is shining, and I'm on my way to Starbucks and I'm feeling good. I also live for those aha! moments when you understand something new, when you see two things fitting together to make a surprising third. There's actually a chemical that's produced in the brain by learning that gives you that little ecstatic moment of, Oh, that's why.” WayGivingLittlesTwoMomentsFeelingsTogetherBrainSunStreetsLandWalkingThirdsShiningDelightFeel GoodMy WayTwo ThingsSomething NewChemicalsSurprisingFittingEcstaticStarbucksAha MomentFitting Together Author:Gloria Steinem
“If Saddam's regime and survival are threatened [by invasion], he will have nothing to lose, and may use everything at his disposal... If weapons of mass destruction land on Israeli soil, killing innocent civilians, the experts I have consulted believe Israel will retaliate, and possibly with nuclear weapons... Nor can we rule out the possibility that Saddam would assault American forces with chemical or biological weapons.” IfsBelieveMayUseForceLosesLandPossibilityWeaponsSurvivalMassDestructionKillingIsraelNuclearInnocentExpertsSoilChemicalsRegimesNuclear WeaponsThreatenedAssaultSaddamCiviliansInvasionIsraeliWeapons Of Mass DestructionMass DestructionNothing To LoseBiological Weapons Author:Edward Kennedy
“No country can hope to beat the Yanks off with conventional weapons - they've got air, sea and land completely covered. The only recourse is chemical, biological and nuclear weapons (the Yanks used them in Vietnam, and have not ruled out using them in this war).” WarCountryUsedAirSeaLandWeaponsBeatsNuclearCoveredChemicalsVietnamNuclear WeaponsConventionalRecourse Author:Margo Kingston
“Israel has WMD, and it has to sign [chemical warfare agreement], and Israel is occupying our land, so that's we talked about the Middle East, not Syria, not Israel ; it should be comprehensive.” ShouldLandMiddleIsraelEastAgreementChemicalsMiddle EastWarfareSyriaComprehensiveWmdChemical Warfare Author:Bashar al-Assad