Hero of the Day: Norman Borlaug (reprise)

Lance's picture
Submitted by Lance on Sun, 2007-11-25 10:04.

Heard of him? Nope? Well neither had I until this evening. Norman Borlaug is an American agricultural scientist, humanitarian, Nobel laureate, and has been called the father of the Green Revolution.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeech, what?! Green Revolution?! Don't worry, it's not what you think! Green Revolution:
The Green Revolution was the worldwide transformation of agriculture that led to significant increases in agricultural production between the 1940s and 1960s.

Borlaug is one of five people in history to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

And he may have been responsible for feeding more people on the planet than anyone else. (Eat your heart out McDonald's) His work is there to read about in the links above. One item of interest is the eponymous Borlaug hypothesis:

Borlaug has continually advocated increasing crop yields as a means to curb deforestation. The large role he has played in both increasing crop yields and promoting this view has led to this methodology being called by agricultural economists the "Borlaug hypothesis", namely that increasing the productivity of agriculture on the best farmland can help control deforestation by reducing the demand for new farmland. According to this view, assuming that global food demand is on the rise, restricting crop usage to traditional low-yield methods such as organic farming would also require at least one of the following: the world population to decrease, either voluntarily or as a result of mass starvations; or the conversion of forest land into crop land. It is thus argued that high-yield techniques are ultimately saving ecosystems from destruction.

Interview in Reason Magazine

Take a few minutes, have a coffee, sit back and take time to learn about a living legend and a true hero.


( categories: )

Reprised as a refreshing

Lance's picture

Reprised as a refreshing counterpoint to today's rather distasteful "Villain of the Day"


Human haters!

Olivia's picture

Such deeply entrenched cynicism and low respect for human lives... malevolent universers! Makes me sick that they're so well respected amongst the majority of the world's population.


The avowed motives of the man-hating Greens

HWH's picture

Landon

Greens would'nt spare a proverbial drop of piss on mankind if they found us all burning in a ditch, they'dd add gasoline.

Here are some statements from their leaders that should make it clear that these mindless mystics are our mortal enemies.

"If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels."
Prince Philip, reported by Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), August, 1988. Prince Philip, first President of WWF-UK from its foundation in 1961 to 1982, and President of WWF-International from 1981 to 1996, is now President Emeritus for WWF. He was a founder of the Australian Conservation Foundation and its President from 1971 to 1976.

One "human way to reduce the population might be to put something in the water, a virus that would be specific to the human reproductive system and would make a substantial proportion of the population infertile. Perhaps a virus that would knock out the genes that produce certain hormones necessary for conception. ... A triage approach will be necessary so that scarce medical resources go to those who can contribute most to the long-term viability of the planet. Consequently, many middle-aged-to-elderly people will die uncomfortable deaths. Not every problem is solveable."
Dr John Reid speaking with Robyn Williams on ABC radio, 10 December, 2006.
See http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2006/1807002.htm for full transcript.

"Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialised civilisations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring that about?"

Maurice Strong, Secretary-General of the UN Earth Summit, June 1992.

"...At present the population of the world is increasing at about 58,000 per diem. War, so far, has had no very great effect on this increase, which continued throughout each of the world wars.... War ... has hitherto been disappointing in this respect ... but perhaps bacteriological war may prove more effective. If a Black Death could spread throughout the world once in every generation, survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full.... The state of affairs might be somewhat unpleasant, but what of it? Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other peoples'...."

Lord Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society, 1953

"This is a terrible thing to say. In order to stabilize world populations, we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. It is a horrible thing to say, but it's just as bad not to say it."
Jacques Cousteau, co-recipient in 1977 (with Sir Peter Scott) of the International Environmental Prize awarded by the United Nations for outstanding contributions in the field of the environment.
Quoted from UNESCO Courier, November 1991.

"We, in the green movement, aspire to a cultural model in which killing a forest will be considered more contemptible and more criminal than the sale of 6-year-old children to Asian brothels."
Carl Amery, Founding member of the German Green Party, quoted in Mensch & Energie, April 1983.

"I got the impression that instead of going out to shoot birds, I should go out and shoot the kids who shoot birds."

Paul Watson, founder of Greenpeace, as quoted by Dixy Lee Ray in her book Trashing the Planet (1990).

"Childbearing should be a punishable crime against society, unless the parents hold a government license. ...All potential parents should be required to use contraceptive chemicals, the government issuing antidotes to citizens chosen for childbearing."
David Brower, first executive director of the Sierra Club; founder of Friends of the Earth; and founder of the Earth Island Institute.

"I suspect that eradicating small pox was wrong. It played an important part in balancing ecosystems."

John Davis, editor of Earth First! Journal

"We advocate biodiversity for biodiversity’s sake. It may take our extinction to set things straight."

David Foreman, co-founder of Earth First!

[Cannibalism is a] "radical but realistic solution to the problem of overpopulation."
Dr Lyall Watson, anthropologist, Commissioner for the International Whaling Commission, as quoted in the Financial Times, 15 July 1995.

"To feed a starving child is to exacerbate the world population problem."
Dr Lamont Cole, Professor of Ecology, Cornell University, as quoted by Elizabeth Whelan in her book Toxic Terror.

"The world has cancer, and that cancer is man."
Merton Lambert, former spokesman for the Rockefeller Foundation, quoted from Harpeth Journal, Dec. 18, 1962.

"A total population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal."

Ted Turner, media mogul, as quoted in Audubon, November-December 1991

From a CEC circular

 

Scanpro 300i Microfilm Scanner

 

I admit that reason is a small and feeble flame, a flickering torch by stumblers carried in the starless night, -- blown and flared by passion's storm, -- and yet, it is the only light. Extinguish that, and nought remains.- - Robert Green Ingersoll


an annoying irony

Landon Erp's picture

If greens were serious they'd be this guy's biggest supporters. Yet I see them protesting his work and promoting the organic movement which is more environmentally devastating.

---Landon

Inking is sexy.

http://www.angelfire.com/comics/wickedlakes


Yes

Elijah Lineberry's picture

he does seem like a hero! Smiling


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