The costs of industrial agriculture are astonishing in terms of damage to the environment, human health, animal suffering, and social equity, and the situation demands that we expand our ecological imagination to meet this crisis. In response to growing dissatisfaction with the existing food system, farmers and consumers are creating alternate models of production and consumption that are both sustainable and equitable. In Growing Stories from India: Religion and the Fate of Agriculture, author A. Whitney Sanford uses the story of the deity Balaram and the Yamuna River as a foundation for discussing the global food crisis and illustrating the Hindu origins of agrarian thought. By employing narrative as a means of assessing modern agriculture, Sanford encourages us to reconsider our relationship with the earth. Merely creating new stories is not enough -- she asserts that each story must lead to changed practices. Growing Stories from India demonstrates that conventional agribusiness is only one of many options and engages the work of modern agrarian luminaries to explore how alternative agricultural methods can be implemented.
Over the course of four years, A. Whitney Sanford visited over fifteen intentional communities - ecovillages, cohousing communties, Catholic worker houses and farms - where individuals are striving to forego a hurried, distracted existence and embrace a mindful and productive way of life. In this engaging book, Sanford shares insights from people who are designing and testing positive forms of sustainable living while finding creative solutions to resolve conflicts within their communities. She examines their methods of reviving and adapting traditional agrarian skills, testing alternate building materials for their homes, and developing local governments that balance group needs and individual autonomy. Living Sustainably is a teachable testament to the idea that new cultures based on justice and sustainability are attainable in many ways and in countless homes and communities. Sanford's engaging and insightful work demonstrates that citizens can make a conscious effort to subsist in a more balanced, harmonious world. -- from back cover.
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