“What the new fertilizer technology has accomplished for the farmer is clear: more crop can be produced on less acreage than before. Since the cost of fertilizer, relative to the resultant gain in crop sales, is lower than that of any other economic input, and since the Land Bank pays the farmer for acreage not in crops, the new technology pays him well. The cost-in environmental degradation-is borne by his neighbors in town who find their water polluted. The new technology is an economic success-but only because it is an ecological failure.” WellsWaterPayTechnologyClearEconomicLandCostGainsTownsEnvironmentalNeighborAccomplishedFarmersRelativeCropsDegradationEcologicalNew TechnologyInputFertilizerEnvironmental DegradationEconomic Success Author:Barry Commoner
“I had a very simple, unremarkable and happy life. And I grew up in a very small town. And so my life was made up of, you know, in the morning going to the river to fetch water - no tap water, and no electricity - and, you know, bathing in the river, and then going to school, and playing soccer afterwards.” KnowsMadeSchoolWaterSimpleMorningGrewGrew UpRiversTownsSoccerHappy LifeElectricitySmall TownBathingFetchPlaying SoccerTap Water Author:Ishmael Beah
“The tender Evenlode that makes Her meadows hush to hear the sound Of waters mingling in the brakes, And binds my heart to English ground. A lovely river, all alone, She lingers in the hills and holds A hundred little towns of stone, Forgotten in the western wolds.” HeartLittlesSoundWaterMy HeartHundredRiversStonesTownsWesternForgottenLovelyHillsMeadowsAll AloneHushBrakeLittle TownsMinglingSound Of Water Book:Hilaire Belloc: An Anthology of His Prose and Verse Source: Hilaire Belloc: An Anthology of His Prose and Verse
“Our ancestors, when about to build a town or an army post, sacrificed some of the cattle that were wont to feed on the site proposed and examined their livers. If the livers of the first victims were dark-coloured or abnormal, they sacrificed others, to see whether the fault was due to disease or their food. They never began to build defensive works in a place until after they had made many such trials and satisfied themselves that good water and food had made the liver sound and firm, healthfulness being their chief object.” IfsFirstsMadeSoundWaterDarkObjectsDiseaseArmyTownsVictimFaultsDuesTrialsSatisfiedChiefsPostsFirmAncestorSiteCattleLiverAbnormal Author:Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
“An unfolding technology has increased our economic strength and added to the convenience of our lives. But that same technology-we know now-carries danger with it. From the great smoke stacks of industry and from the exhausts of motors and machines, 130 million tons of soot, carbon and grime settle over the people and shroud the Nation's cities each year. From towns, factories, and stockyards, wastes pollute our rivers and streams, endangering the waters we drink and use.” PeopleKnowsYearsUseNationsWaterCitiesMillionsTechnologyOur LivesEconomicDangerIndustryDrinkWasteRiversMachinesTownsEnvironmentalSmokeSettlingStreamsCarrieFactoriesPollutionCarbonConvenienceMotorUnfoldingShroudsGrime Author:Lyndon B. Johnson
“I don't think of community as being a romantic notion. I think it's as vital as air and water, and so I think that informs a lot of what I write about. It could be a story about a couple, or a song about the slow death of the family farm or a small town.” ThinkingWritingStoriesSongWaterCommunityAirCoupleTownsNotionFarmsSmall TownAir And WaterFamily Farms Author:Greg Brown