With all of the garbage that the news media feeds us on a daily basis, I must say it is refreshing and timely that NPR still has the journalistic integrity to put out deep and thought provoking news stories that don't insult the listener. This week on NPR's morning show, "Morning Edition," journalist Daniel Zwerdling is taking on the issue of India's Green Revolution (which we discussed today incidentally) heading for collapse. It is a two-part story that deserves your attention. Thankfully with NPR, if you prefer to simply listen to the radio broadcasts of the story, you can do that, or you can read the story. In any case, please give this story your attention, and I am very interested in getting your thoughts on it. Both parts can be easily accessed by clicking on the following links: Part I and Part II. Your thoughts???
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Will the Green Revolution Ultimately Destroy India?
With all of the garbage that the news media feeds us on a daily basis, I must say it is refreshing and timely that NPR still has the journalistic integrity to put out deep and thought provoking news stories that don't insult the listener. This week on NPR's morning show, "Morning Edition," journalist Daniel Zwerdling is taking on the issue of India's Green Revolution (which we discussed today incidentally) heading for collapse. It is a two-part story that deserves your attention. Thankfully with NPR, if you prefer to simply listen to the radio broadcasts of the story, you can do that, or you can read the story. In any case, please give this story your attention, and I am very interested in getting your thoughts on it. Both parts can be easily accessed by clicking on the following links: Part I and Part II. Your thoughts???
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18 comments:
well yeahthat realllllllllly sucks right there.
even if they switch back to the old seeds, nothing would help. its pretty much garaunteed to end up as a huge dust bowl, and theirs nothing they can really do to it. i guess thats what happens when u piss of mother nature. lol
First off, I found the fact that all the villagers, although poor housing by our standards, had cell phones and tv access. Science did something amazing...and terrible...
He mentioned the Dust Bowl of the '30's, I remember learning about this. When all the agriculture had died out, wheat productions died out, leaving barren wastelands that, like the name indicates, had large, frequent dust storms. Same time as the Great Depression no doubt.
I love the note that he end on in Part I, about how science will SAVE THE DAY!, but wait...Didn't they say the same thing 40 years ago? Now they have 220-300 feet deep wells just to gather water that used to be right on the surface ground. Can we trust scientific advances again, or will it just be another way of stalling what is inevitable by now?
This is really an enlightening experience to hear that this country that has the highest birthrate, and was originally a very agriculturally well-off, is now dying due to "advances," and now they need new "advances" to get out of this...literal crisis! It just seems that India will end up suffering from famine in the future, that will result in a massive population drop in India.
Kaitlyn, I agree that this horrific experience is due to tampering with mother nature. I wonder however, if another Green Revolution is necessary cause, without the original Green Revolution, India would have already hit the point of famine, where their populations would be dying. It's really a tough call. Without it they'd be in agricultural and financial downturn, and with it they're headed there anyway...I suppose, by now the only way to fix this is with another "Green Revolution," hopefully one that won't backfire, or if it could, they recognize it sooner than they did now...
i agree with Kaitlyn. The Green Revolution is really going to end up bringing them a huge step backward, or could even destroy the country as a hole. You cant go back, there is no possible way. i mean even if they found a way it would not work. they are to far ahead to turn back now. it is really a do or die situation
i do think this will end up hurting them in the long run, but doesnt everything hurt an economy in a way? i mean right now, it seems to be working well for them. and thats really good. but if it does start to fall, which it may not do tomorrow or next year, i think it would just hurt the economy but they will find a way to fix it as it starts the decline.
harrappa was not able to
That is a tricky situation... the Green Revolution backfired. The lowering water level is alarming as is the debt and "rat race". They are destroying the soil and environment and this can not last or be sustained. The solution seems unattainable: create a new Green Revolution that is sustainable. How? Create more pesticides and GMO's that will become ineffective years later? "Harrapa was not able to" fix their problem said Prill. Is this foreshadowing? The Green Revolution was not a complete failure; it worked miracles as the program states. Too much pressure on the environment too fast? You betcha.
wow... This puts indain farmers in a bad position. It almost seems that there is a lose lose choice to be made- let the agricultural industry die by stopping the revolution or destroy your farmlands i the hopes of maintaining the Green revolution. India is in a tricky situtation... no matter which way they turn, India seems set up to fail.
thas not good. there really is nothing they can do about it. with the water gone they cant really grow anything.
i mean i see them digging themselves into a deeeeep hole that they dont ned to be in... no water, no farming. I think this is destroying india..
This really puts India in a bad situation. It stinks that they thought they were doing something good but they really weren't. Its kind of too late and they may end up as a huge dustbowl.
I wouldnt say the Green Revolution was necessarily a step backward. the farmers are just going back to step one. The technology that was given to them helped their crops, but eventually it became limited. The report stated that one farmer was unhappy because he had to drill deeper down his well every year because the water level kept dropping. This is unfortunate because of limited water supply, but if it wasnt for the ideas of irrigation and such, they would have had to depend on rainfall, which is something you can not control. I wouldnt blame the Green Revolution so much, just nature and its limitations.
oh my god. who knew that a proposed solution could create so many problems? at least they had some small success...for a while. but then, it hardly seems worth it. they sacrificed the fertility of their land for money and cell phones, it seems. and even that is not helping them. they're really in a tough spot. man's done some pretty crazy and harmful things in the quest for higher yeilding crops. maybe the world should stop following the US example. it seems to screw them over every time.
so, when we whent over this in class, i wasn't really paying attention. i only thought the problem was the farmers couldn't grow enough because there were just too many people. now i c that the farmers can't make hardly enough food to live. the waters gone, the soil's gone, the money's gone. the hope is gone. i have no idea what to do. switching seeds does nothing because the ground's ruined. we could pump in money, but it would mostly go to bepts, not imprvments. this has no quick solution as far as I can see, and we need one, and fast!
Not only are they destroying their langd, but that's their home. If the indian farmers are unable to produce enough crops to be able to survive, what's going to happen? they are all going to die or be forced to move elsewhere. India is already very populated and will be come more populated if others are forced to find homes other places. Tehy arent jsut hurting themselves, either. They are hurting neighboring farms and towns. They are taking all the water, causing a nationwide struggle. This seems to only be heading one way, and its not up.
so because of the grren revolution india has like ultimate agriculture mess....that is really not good! but i dont see how there is no possible way that things can get better. i mean it makes sense but how could it be this bad?!
India seems screwed either way. I almost find it hard to believe that they have cell phones though but I think it's pretty cool that they have ringtones that are like directed towards India. It seems like the green revolution was so great at first I mean one guy completely redid his house and made it better. I think that it's up to western countries to come up with a chemical that can revive soil or something. Whatever they do something has to change quickly because if the do run out of water or if it becomes too salty they're going to have even bigger problems
I understand that what was done has adverse effects on India's economy and environment now and in the future. But what was India supposed to do. Starve? Remain in industrial and economical obscurity? As members of the human race, they made the most instinctual mistake: making decisions based on the short-term. When you can not make enough food to feed your children, you don't worry about long-term implications; you do whatever you can to feed your children. As the situation gets worse, India will no doubt look toward short term answers, just like every other civilization since the beginning of time. And so we find ourselves continuing the cycle of rise and decline. I think right when India is about to gain economic (guessing from the rapid growth) supremacy this crisis will, for lack of a better euphemism "bite them in the butt."
When the people of India put away the traditional farming of seeds and the natural crops, India went backwards with their economy. The Green Revolution is indeed killing the country, even right now at this moment, but I think it's much too late to do anything about it now.
People in India have already grown out of farming with the traditional crops and most likely, the traditional farming of India won't work for their country anymore.
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