Cambridge Business Association
Green Gone Wrong
Book

Green Gone Wrong

Dispatches from the Front Lines of Eco-Capitalism

Heather Rogers
Verso Books, 2013
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Since 2007’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth, people have tried to consume their way out of global warming by harnessing market forces that feature among the engines driving planetary destruction. Journalist Heather Rogers investigates the hype of buying green and finds the worst kind of greenwashing: USDA rules that rig the “organic” label in favor of factory farming; organic certification agencies – and governments – that ignore the wholesale destruction of “biodiverse” rainforest ecosystems in favor of “monoculture” croplands; a marketplace that cheats and destroys indigenous communities; and people who compete with machines for fuel. Rogers asks whether market forces can curtail carbon emissions and help people and the planet. Her investigation will intrigue those who want to make sure their green investments are truly useful weapons against climate change.

Summary

The US Conventional Food System

Organic farmers know it’s not easy being green. Despite commanding higher – sometimes by 500% – prices for their products, they barely hang on economically. The majority of small producers with a mortgage depend on “off-farm income” to make ends meet. With increasing urban sprawl, municipalities rezone farmland – and drive small farmers away – in order to create commercial property that adds to their tax revenue.

The official USDA “organic” certification represents a mistaken compromise, because it is set up to enable agribusiness to use the label. The USDA does not test produce for pesticides or other chemical residue. So the certification is meaningless, though it requires farmers to keep detailed records and pay a certifier. Small farmers who do use chemicals on their crops get help from the US Department of Agriculture more readily than those who do not. Distribution channels for produce work well, but small farmers have increasing difficulty joining them. It is more cost-effective for Whole Foods to deal with one large produce provider than several smaller ones. The success of organic food has made life harder for small local farmers...

About the Author

Journalist Heather Rogers also wrote Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage.

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