Thank you Mary. The helicopters and crop dusters have begun their annual July flyover to spread poison throughout our rural landscape. My anger erupts when we are subjected to this without our permission. Corn is king and it is killing us and the land. When will we collectively demand and end to this?
On an early morning recently, I woke at dawn eager to lace up my shoes and have a jog in the direction of the glorious sunrise. To my dismay, I found myself running for cover back to the safety of my indoors under attack by the raid of a fungicide crop duster thundering overhead. This unacknowledged social contract we who live and value life in rural areas are subject needs illuminated— for our children. Thanks
Always good to read you. Tuesday, on the bus to Des Moines, a crop duster flew alongside my window, I watched it dump the dark mixture, just in front of me. I cringed. Many of those compounds accumulate in the body (fat tissue) and end up there at a much higher concentration than a onetime exposure.
However, are we no longer the prey as "predatory" implies? Are we not past the prey stage and now the captives? Captured by the hegemony of market forces and by the government that serves the interests of the hegemon. And how are we not confined by what this market and government dictate in limiting our choices and capturing its regulatory systems that no longer serve to protect us from unaccounted costs of plenty?
And if "delay" implies that the market and government are delaying a needed transition to a more sustainable system, then this too needs some questioning. For the system seems to have settled on the argument that its great strides in productivity and efficiency are proofs of sustainability. Which in the face of the great threat of climate change which will bring great tests of resiliency that may mark such "proofs" as nothing more than great hubris and delusion.
Thanks for this post, Mary, and for the thoughtful and thought-provoking interview. I had not known the term "predatory delay." It is important to have an accurate name and description for a covert practice we need to recognize and challenge.
Mary, we have often talked about all the friends in our neighborhood who have had cancer or in your case, severe allergic reactions. I wish I was a researcher. I would love to fo a study of the neighborhood when itbwas still so closebto farms.
Farm chemicals, lawn chemicals, chemicals in food, I'm afraid we were exposed to it all. And who knows, perhaps radon, too. We can only be very careful now.
Thank you for writing about this. I’m certain that these chemicals were the cause of my grandfather’s death, not to mention many of his friends, also conventional farmers. We have the second highest cancer rate and the explanation given is that we need to take better care of ourselves and stop being so lazy. Iowans are many things, but lazy is not one of them.
I worry for the rest of the family, especially my uncles who helped apply the synthetic fungicides, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers that were just how things were done, breathing in fumes from big open barrels before getting thoroughly doused in the spray. I worry for us, surrounded by corn and bean fields, and for the animals, especially the poultry with such delicate respiratory systems. Between the chemicals, the smoke and this heat, it’s a wonder they’re doing okay.
Thank you Mary. The helicopters and crop dusters have begun their annual July flyover to spread poison throughout our rural landscape. My anger erupts when we are subjected to this without our permission. Corn is king and it is killing us and the land. When will we collectively demand and end to this?
Thanks for your support. Denise. Time to demand an end now, before it is the end.
On an early morning recently, I woke at dawn eager to lace up my shoes and have a jog in the direction of the glorious sunrise. To my dismay, I found myself running for cover back to the safety of my indoors under attack by the raid of a fungicide crop duster thundering overhead. This unacknowledged social contract we who live and value life in rural areas are subject needs illuminated— for our children. Thanks
You are so right.
Always good to read you. Tuesday, on the bus to Des Moines, a crop duster flew alongside my window, I watched it dump the dark mixture, just in front of me. I cringed. Many of those compounds accumulate in the body (fat tissue) and end up there at a much higher concentration than a onetime exposure.
Good to know, Francoise. Scary.
Mary, you've hit it again. Thanks for addressing this complex and critical issue. Ardy
Thanks for reading, Ardy.
"Predatory delay". I take this important concept.
However, are we no longer the prey as "predatory" implies? Are we not past the prey stage and now the captives? Captured by the hegemony of market forces and by the government that serves the interests of the hegemon. And how are we not confined by what this market and government dictate in limiting our choices and capturing its regulatory systems that no longer serve to protect us from unaccounted costs of plenty?
And if "delay" implies that the market and government are delaying a needed transition to a more sustainable system, then this too needs some questioning. For the system seems to have settled on the argument that its great strides in productivity and efficiency are proofs of sustainability. Which in the face of the great threat of climate change which will bring great tests of resiliency that may mark such "proofs" as nothing more than great hubris and delusion.
Thanks for this post, Mary, and for the thoughtful and thought-provoking interview. I had not known the term "predatory delay." It is important to have an accurate name and description for a covert practice we need to recognize and challenge.
Mary, we have often talked about all the friends in our neighborhood who have had cancer or in your case, severe allergic reactions. I wish I was a researcher. I would love to fo a study of the neighborhood when itbwas still so closebto farms.
Farm chemicals, lawn chemicals, chemicals in food, I'm afraid we were exposed to it all. And who knows, perhaps radon, too. We can only be very careful now.
Thank you for writing about this. I’m certain that these chemicals were the cause of my grandfather’s death, not to mention many of his friends, also conventional farmers. We have the second highest cancer rate and the explanation given is that we need to take better care of ourselves and stop being so lazy. Iowans are many things, but lazy is not one of them.
I worry for the rest of the family, especially my uncles who helped apply the synthetic fungicides, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers that were just how things were done, breathing in fumes from big open barrels before getting thoroughly doused in the spray. I worry for us, surrounded by corn and bean fields, and for the animals, especially the poultry with such delicate respiratory systems. Between the chemicals, the smoke and this heat, it’s a wonder they’re doing okay.