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Becoming Native to This Place
by
Wes Jackson
4.09 · Rating details · 170 ratings · 14 reviews
In six compelling essays, Wes Jackson lays the foundation for a new farming economy grounded in nature’s principles. Exploding the tenets of industrial agriculture, Jackson, a respected advocate for sustainable practices and the founder of The Land Institute, seeks to integrate food production with nature in a way that sustains both.
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Paperback, 136 pages
Published October 1st 1996 by Counterpoint (first published November 30th 1992)
Original Title
Becoming Native to This Place
ISBN
1887178112 (ISBN13: 9781887178112)
Edition Language
English
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September 4, 2019 – Shelved as: to-read
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4.09 ·
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· 170 ratings · 14 reviews
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Jan 21, 2008Zoe Hallez Williams rated it did not like it
Recommends it for: NOONE
This book is so white privileged and ignorant. Wes Jackson acts as though agricultural technique can erase the impact of centuries of Western Civilization. He poses the idea that a white farmer was treated as badly as a native person by colonialism. I wish I could reclaim the five hours of my life that I spent reading this.
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Jan 25, 2016Amy rated it really liked it · review of another edition
To a large extent, this book is a challenge to the universities to stop and think what they are doing with the young men and women they are supposed to be preparing for the future. The universities now offer only one serious major; upward mobility. Little attention is paid to educating the young to return home, or to go some other place, and dig in. There is no such thing as a "homecoming" major. [p.3]
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Oct 04, 2012Aaron rated it liked it · review of another edition
Recommends it for: geographers, ecologists
Mr. Jackson certainly makes some interesting arguments, ones with which I concur a great deal. However, the book itself is written at a high level and is, therefore, going to be unavailable to certain people. I know that sounds elitist, but a big part of the problem with environmental writing is that it's not written on a level that most people understand. And, when that happens, they're free to ignore it. We need writing that reaches the core of people.
To that end, Jackson advises us to foster community in the hopes of creating an ecological view of the world that enables us to survive our own bad choices from previous generations. He does, on occasion, make arguments that I don't necessarily buy into, but on the whole I find his premise to be a good one. Unfortunately, the educational level needed to read Jackson's book leaves it out of the grasp of many people...possibly the very people who could make his ideas reality. (less)
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Feb 21, 2009Josh rated it liked it
wait until you are ready
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May 04, 2017Jeff Jones rated it it was amazing
Slim but foundational.
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Jul 30, 2018Walt rated it really liked it
Wes Jackson here provides a set of very important questions for modern society. What happened to our connection with the land and with each other? Why do we continue to follow our current economic and political models if we know they fail to make us happy? What does it mean for a way of life to be sustainable? He does not quite arrive at an answer, but does emerge with what seems to be a way towards an answer, which is the formation of communities based on shared sense of place. Since this was written, we have not made a great deal of progress, but there is still time.(less)
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Jul 06, 2019Callie rated it liked it
A philosophical ballast for the scientific work the Land Institute conducts. Wes continuously (and rightfully) pays homage to Wendell Berry. Read him first. Or, seek out Land Institute research.
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Oct 08, 2014Maryanne added it
Becoming Native to This Place 05312014 by Wes Jackson
Interesting: Community!!!
Alternative perspective on human interaction with the earth
By Gregory J Guenther on June 19, 2000
Format: Paperback
Very easy reading, short book.
Wes Jackson describes a growing perspective that we need to interact symbiotically with the earth rather than considering the earth a "resource" at our disposal. He mixes philosophy with actual personal experiences to further illustrate the story.
The fact that he began the Land Use Institute in Kansas and is still and active participant lends credibility to his dialog.
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10 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Doesn't live up to the title.
By Settler on August 10, 2009
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Wes Jackson is writing with the huge disadvantage of a great title, and I have to say I value all the thought and meditation the title provokes more than the content of the book, which starts with some promise but then wanders off into the woods. He tells you early on that he's going to get lost in the woods when he says that we need to have our "evolutionary/ecological worldview inform our decisions."
Part of the problem is that the title is hopeful, but the book reads like more of a wandering lament or critique of our situation for which the author ultimately has no compelling answers.
That said, the first chapters do provide some useful information on the history of agriculture in the US and the Soviet Union. Particularly interesting is his view that the failure of Soviet agriculture (because much of it was based upon Communist ideology, including ideas about plant heredity) produced in the West the contrary view that philosophy should have no bearing whatsoever on agriculture. Jackson does want philosophy and moral reflection to influence our thinking about agriculture, but he still leaves us ungrounded in any worldview that can provide moral compulsion for care of the earth.
Skip this book in favor of any of the following:
Living at Nature's Pace, Farming and the American Dream, by Gene Logsdon
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, by Wendell Berry
The Omnivore's Dilemma, A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan
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Good book!
By Victoria Kantargis on August 21, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
it's very interesting. thought provoking...most books are but this one is really good. theres history, genetics, culture, etc. very good.
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Aug 23, 2014James rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Coronado murdered a native slave in 1542. He had led Coronado's men on a wild goose chase for gold in hopes that they would return him to his homeland.
And so there is a conflict between our greed, our trust in technology and our entering into place. This is a challenging and thought-provoking essay.
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Apr 18, 2009Lisa rated it really liked it
Shelves: agriculture-and-environment, non-fiction
There was a lot to reflect on in this book, though I think I would need to read it at least once more before seeing how all of the pieces fit together. It's difficult to see exactly what Jackson means by 'becoming native to this place' and how we are to carry it out. That's worth talking about, though.
The writing itself is at times slow-going and at times riveting.
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