An essential and timely collection of wise and compelling essays from
one of the longtime leaders of the sustainable agriculture movement in
America.
Wes Jackson, "a well-known and admired advocate for sustainability
especially as it relates to agriculture, has the rare ability to
transform his convictions into captivating prose . . . Jackson's
thoughts are still as significant and profound as they were nearly 20
years ago" (Publishers Weekly) and can teach us many things about the
land, soil, and conservation, but what most resonates is this: The
ecosphere is self-regulating, and as often as we attempt to understand
it, we are not its builders, and our manuals will often be faulty. The
only responsible way to learn the nuances of the land is to study the
soil and vegetation in their natural state and pass this knowledge on to
future generations.
"[A] small book rich in ideas" (The New York Times Book Review),
Nature as Measure collects Jackson's essays from Altars of Unhewn
Stone and Becoming Native to This Place, presenting ideas of land
conservation and education that are written from the point of view of a
man who has practiced what he's preached and proven that it is possible
to partially restore much of the land that we've ravaged. Wes Jackson
lays the foundation for a new farming economy, grounded in nature's
principles and located in dying small towns and rural communities.
Exploding the tenets of industrial agriculture, Jackson seeks to
integrate food production with nature in a way that sustains both. His
longtime friend Wendell Berry provides an informative, contextual
Introduction.
"For those concerned about what will be left and how many billion will
be starving in twenty years, this is a must read." --Register of the
Kentucky Historical Society
"A good introduction to a thinker whose ideas on agriculture are radical
both in their technical approach to food production as well as in terms
of the economic, social, and cultural context within which it is
practiced." --Review of Radical Political Economics
