Cary Neeper's Blog: Reviewing World-changing Nonfiction - Posts Tagged "dubos"
Reviewing René Dubos’ The Wooing of Earth: New Perspectives on Man’s Use of Nature—another oldie not to be missed
René DubosThe Wooing of EarthNew York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1980.
The 1970’s explosion of interest in environmental degradation was tempered in 1980 by a voice we need to hear now, in this age of dystopias that go on and on. René Dubos--the Pulitzer Prize winner for So Human An Animal and microbiologist who demonstrated that microbes could provide us with antibiotics--reminds us that we can do better. In fact, we have. The human imprint on Earth was beautifully integrated, when we respected nature’s answers and restrained our tendency to ride roughshod over its genius.
We don’t need to cut down all the trees on planet Earth—not even those in our neighborhood—just enough to keep warm or grow something to eat. It was done in the ages-old hedgerows of Europe and Great Britain, which became interesting biosystems, as well as windbreaks and fences. The examples go on and on in this book. We need the reminder of good examples, for, apparently, in much of the world, we have forgotten how to do it, or we don’t care how much we pave and tear down.
In some areas and in the past our restraint and creative talents have created new environments enhanced by cultural inventions unimagined in the beginning. Benefit has come to both humanity and nature when we realized the necessity of those benefits and were wise enough to leave them alone.
We don’t have to pave every square foot or cut down every tree to maximize profit. By leaving to themselves a decent portion of wild lives and natural phenomena, we can use our common sense to work with planet Earth to create its best and most lovely potential. Only then will we secure the future for Homo sapiens. Dubos has shown us how it used to be done.
The 1970’s explosion of interest in environmental degradation was tempered in 1980 by a voice we need to hear now, in this age of dystopias that go on and on. René Dubos--the Pulitzer Prize winner for So Human An Animal and microbiologist who demonstrated that microbes could provide us with antibiotics--reminds us that we can do better. In fact, we have. The human imprint on Earth was beautifully integrated, when we respected nature’s answers and restrained our tendency to ride roughshod over its genius.
We don’t need to cut down all the trees on planet Earth—not even those in our neighborhood—just enough to keep warm or grow something to eat. It was done in the ages-old hedgerows of Europe and Great Britain, which became interesting biosystems, as well as windbreaks and fences. The examples go on and on in this book. We need the reminder of good examples, for, apparently, in much of the world, we have forgotten how to do it, or we don’t care how much we pave and tear down.
In some areas and in the past our restraint and creative talents have created new environments enhanced by cultural inventions unimagined in the beginning. Benefit has come to both humanity and nature when we realized the necessity of those benefits and were wise enough to leave them alone.
We don’t have to pave every square foot or cut down every tree to maximize profit. By leaving to themselves a decent portion of wild lives and natural phenomena, we can use our common sense to work with planet Earth to create its best and most lovely potential. Only then will we secure the future for Homo sapiens. Dubos has shown us how it used to be done.
Reviewing World-changing Nonfiction
Expanding on the ideas portrayed in The Archives of Varok books for securing the future.
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