Wake-up and Read!

Nedd WILLARD, WHO

Apublisher in the U.K. puts out a series of easy-to-read but controversial books on the crises the world today is facing. They range from a Water Manifesto to the question of Our Simmering planet. Anyone who wants a fresh view of the main issues of our time should read one of more of this series by Zed books, London and New York, entitled Global Issues in a Changing World.

Here are some examples of what these books can offer. The Water Manifesto by Riccardo Petrella deals with the crisis where one and half billion people have no access to clean drinking water. What is worse is that all of humanity faces declining water quality because of pollution. The book is a cogent call to action and calls for a world water contract to enshrine fresh water as a good to which all people have a right and not a commodity for those who can afford it.

Our Simmering Planet by Joyeeta Gupta takes serious note of the changes already visible in the world’s climate and what governments are doing, or not doing, about it. The book makes clear what is at stake for both North and South and calls for action to press politicians to take climate change seriously and begin to do something effective now.

Hungry for Trade, or how the poor pay for free trade , by John Madeley examines whether free trade will actually benefit the millions of people who are hungry or only the transational corporations. He also questions whether small farmers will find new markets or lose even their local markets to cheap, subsidized food produced industrially that is too often dependent on the heavy use of insecticides and genetically modified seeds?

Another book by Vandana Shiva, Protect or Plunder , shows how intellecutal property rights, and even the manipulations of life forms can now be owned and exploited for profit by giant corporations. Moreover, even their huge profits have so far not resulted in increased creativity. Ms Shiva makes it clear just how important it is for the public to have its say about what should be patented and how it should be used.

Nor are these Zed books simply manuals giving facts and figures that make the reader sad or angry. Books such as Food for All by John Madeley demonstrate how a new sustainable kind of agriculture can feed the world. Ideas for such an approach to growing food is now being promoted by many European counties. Thus organic food production and a rediscovery of traditional farming techniques are still relevant and by not depleint the land offer a better future for tomorrow’s children. This book and its message was welcomed by Jacques Diouf, Director General the FAO.

Give and Take , by David Sogge deals with the underside of foreign aid. But the author after his documented criticism suggests better ways for us to grasp what is going on and how it could be remedied.

So turn off the TV and try browsing through some of these recently issued books in paperback. Food for thought is often as necessary as food for the body.

Zed books:www.zedbooks.demon.co.uk