Fred Magdoff ist emeritierter Professor für Böden, dessen Fachwissen in Bodenfruchtbarkeit und -management liegt, einschließlich der Entwicklung zuverlässiger Bodentests für die Nährstoffverfügbarkeit. Magdoff konzentriert sich auf die Anwendung ökologischer Prinzipien in der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion sowie auf die politischen und wirtschaftlichen Fragen, die die Landwirtschaft umgeben.
Der Antrag von Finanzminister Paulson im September 2008 auf 700 Milliarden Dollar zur Rettung des Finanzsystems könnte einen Wendepunkt in der politischen Ökonomie markieren. Die Frage, wer die Kosten der Finanzkrise trägt, bleibt zentral, wobei die Lasten oft die unteren Schichten treffen. Eine breitere Aufklärung ist entscheidend, um diesen Missstand zu erkennen.
The failures of "free-market" capitalism are perhaps nowhere more evident than in the production and distribution of food. Although modern human societies have attained unprecedented levels of wealth, a significant amount of the world's population continues to suffer from hunger or food insecurity on a daily basis. In Agriculture and Food in Crisis, Fred Magdoff and Brian Tokar have assembled an exceptional collection of scholars from around the world to explore this frightening long-term trend in food production. While approaching the issue from many angles, the contributors to this volume share a focus on investigating how agricultural production is shaped by a system that is oriented around the creation of profit above all else, with food as nothing but an afterthought.As the authors make clear, it is technically possible to feed to world's people, but it is not possible to do so as long as capitalism exists. Toward that end, they examine what can be, and is being, done to create a human-centered and ecologically sound system of food production, from sustainable agriculture and organic farming on a large scale to movements for radical land reform and national food sovereignty. This book will serve as an indispensible guide to the years ahead, in which world politics will no doubt come to be increasingly understood as food politics.
Aiming squarely at replacing capitalism with an ecologically sound and socially just society, Magdoff and Williams provide accounts of how a new world can be created from the ashes of the old. They show that it is possible to envision and create a society that is genuinely democratic, equitable, and ecologically sustainable. And possible--not one moment too soon--for society to change fundamentally and be brought into harmony with nature. --From publisher description.
"There is a growing consensus that the planet is heading toward environmental catastrophe: climate change, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, global freshwater use, loss of biodiversity, and chemical pollution all threaten our future unless we act. What is less clear is how humanity should respond. The contemporary environmental movement is the site of many competing plans and prescriptions, and composed of a diverse set of actors, from militant activists to corporate chief executives. What Every Environmentalist Needs To Know about Capitalism tackles the two largest issues of our time, the ecological crisis and the faltering capitalist economy, in a way that is thorough, accessible, and sure to provoke debate in the environmental movement."--Pub. desc.
Na podzim 2008 se Spojené státy a s nimi většina světa propadly do finanční krize horší než kdykoli předtím od dob Velké hospodářské krize. Když se hroutily banky a stát se zasazoval o jeden z největších přesunů majetku v historii, mnozí - včetně ekonomů a finančních expertů - byli šokováni rychlostí, s jakou byly tyto záměry zveřejněny. V této nové knize (originál vyšel v New Yorku v lednu 2009) nabízejí Foster a Magdoff odvážnou analýzu finanční krize, jak k ní došlo a jaké bude mít důsledky do budoucna. Tato aktuální a vysoce fundovaná kniha, která začala vznikat už dva roky před začátkem krize, je vhodná pro všechny, kdo chtějí rozumět současné situaci, jak jsme se v ní octli a kam směřujeme.