World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 49)

Mixed Media Food for Thought credibility with his African partners on the soccer field. An adventurer, Bolton recounts his harrowing drive across the continent on his way home to England in an unreliable Range Rover. These side trips make Africa Doesn’t Matter more approachable than other books that tackle the same subjects but are too dry to appeal to people outside academia or the development field. The pages between these just-for-fun vignettes are packed with serious and bold suggestions that we do away with domestic subsidies to create a global free market, substantially beef up national and international aid, and consolidate aid organizations to increase efficiency. Instead of just griping, Bolton clearly maps out a plan he believes could make African nations self-sufficient within the next few decades. The fact that I like Bolton’s work is notable, considering that he doesn’t much like mine. Bolton is a fan of national and international aid, and would happily do away with private charities. He believes their focus on smaller projects and frequent failures to coordinate with each other render them not much real help. The author snidely dismisses organizations that give goats to families: “While we as individuals can still make a difference to a few people’s lives through thoughtfully chosen charity donations, we can make a far bigger impact by improving the quality and quantity of national and international aid.” Those goats that Bolton is so quick to dismiss are hugely important to the families who receive them, and organizations like Heifer International offer training and community building that give overarching benefits to entire regions. So on that point we must agree to disagree. Still, Africa Doesn’t Matter is a great entry point for people who care about what’s happening on the continent and want to understand why the struggles continue. AGROECOLOGy Can agriculture be a healing force in our environment instead of a destructive one? Agroecology embraces the idea that agriculture can work with natural systems instead of fighting them. Jim Hoey, Heifer International’s environmental strategies director, suggests the following books for learning more about the topic and how people are putting the idea into practice. Classic Clip The Soil and Health: A Study of Organic Agriculture Sir Albert Howard University Press of Kentucky Paperback | $24.95 Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture by Miguel Altieri Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems, Second Edition by Stephen R. Gliessman What is agriculture? It is undoubtedly the oldest of the great arts; its beginnings are lost in the mists of man’s earliest days. Moreover, it is the foundation of settled life and therefore of all true civilization … . Campesino a Campesino: Voices from Latin America’s Farmer-to-Farmer Movement for Sustainable Agriculture by Eric Holt-Giminez New Roots for Agriculture by Wes Jackson Agroecology in Action: Extending Alternative Agriculture through Social Networks by Keith Douglass Warner www.heifer.org November/December | WORLD ARK 49 http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008

World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked and Answered Finding Peace in Africa Sierra Leone on the Mend The Roma: A People Apart Mixed Media Heifer Bulletin Heifer Spirit Calendar First Person

World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008

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