The term “fertilizer” is undeniably a marketing person’s invention. Looking to the roots of the word, “fertilizer” should be that which actively creates fertility.
But once we understand that the true sources of soil fertility
The term “fertilizer” is undeniably a marketing person’s invention. Looking to the roots of the word, “fertilizer” should be that which actively creates fertility.
But once we understand that the true sources of soil fertility are a rich abundance of diverse living organisms, and we realize that what chemicals do to those organisms is searing them out of existence, how can we possibly call any chemical soup a “fertilizer”?
About that chemical fertilizer
Lord Northbourne, writing in 1940 at the bare beginnings of widespread chemical agribusiness, said
Most of our “artificial manures” must be regarded at best as stimulants rather than as foods [for the land], and in no case therefore as substitutes for biologically sound feeding.
What then constitutes “biologically sound feeding”? That which will build the soil.
John Jeavons’ organization, Ecology Action, reports that in the U.S. for every pound of food eaten, 6 pounds of soil are lost due to water and wind erosion as the result of industrial agribusiness practices. In developing nations this jumps to 12 pounds of soil lost, and in China, 18. There may be as little as 40 years of farmable soil remaining globally.
There is enough evidence to know now that synthetic chemicals are destroying our health and our ability to reproduce and, thus, our ability to survive as a species.Agricultural chemicals have statistically and significantly been implicated in causing all sorts of cancers, behavioral problems, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, Parkinson’s disease, reduced intelligence, infertility, miscarriage, diabetes, infant deformities, and low birth weight …But all this research comes from the few scientists courageous enough to swim against the tide, to resist the easy funding offered by chemical and pharmaceutical companies and the pressure of their peers who rely on that funding.
We are allowing a few major global corporations, in collusion with our government, to poison us … –