Organic Manifesto: How Organic Food Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe

The book deals with organic foods and the process of growing them, also describing the so called "chemical" farming. The book has no tables of data, so any claims she makes have to be tracked down through the references.The aspects to do with the plants and farming is the most correct part of the book. Other places the science is wrong. Global warming is here and we do get it from too much CO2 emitted. But C02 is not toxic to us at 300, 600 or even 1200 PPM. as long as air has about 20% oxygen we are OK. Our farming is such a small part of the plant life on the planet that we are not even close to ruining any carbon cycle. We so in fact add CO2 but mostly from burning coal and oil. Farming is part of it as far as machinery goes. If we all go away, all will go back to preindustrial levels. The organic farming retains more carbon in the ground in the form of rotting matter.Is Roundup toxic? It is. It is one of the lesser toxic herbicides. It should not end up in food nevertheless. Neither should Bt toxin of GMO crops. It is not nutrition. A more detailed and accurate description of the ag and former chemical giant Monsanto explains these things a little better,  The World According to Monsanto  though the current book gives the basics.What she says about soils, fungi, overuse of additives ("chemicals") to our agriculture is also true. Even the fact that we have mostly monoculture is not a good idea in the long run. Pests will find a way.I can't find a better book at this price to explain these concepts, so go ahead a give it a crack. Past this level of evidence you will have to go to college texts and articles in agriculture and biology journals.

This is a MUST READ for everybody. You cannot afford to ignore the information in this book. Like it says on the intro., if you even like to eat, you have to know this data. It's very well read. The author was raised as an "organic". Her grandfather started the first organic magazine in the U.S. Her father worked his own farm and started an organization to do actual research of the "standard" system of farming and the organic system. His idea was that if they were ever going to be taken seriously, they would have to preseny solid evidence of the two ways and how they compare. I have never read this much shocking data about the effect of chemicals, not only on the body, but on the land. And the oceans. And the water that we drink. And . . .etc, etc. I was in open-mouthed astonishment (literally open-mouthed) and I was only on page 14! It's a "cant-put-down" book. I'm just starting it and I find it incredible and sometimes very hard to read, because of the nature of the information, which is very upsetting. Read this. It's the most important thing you can do for this world. When the land is all dead, we will also die, through starvation. Ms.Rodale has taken on the chemical movement, which cares about nothing but how much money they can stuff in their bank accountsand care nothing about the reality that they are bringing this world to a nasty end. Get a few copies and give them to your friends and anyone you care about. I know this sounds like I'm exaggerating but when you read the book you will see for yourself whether that's true or not.

My wife has been preaching the virtues of organic food to me for years and I always ignored her. At the time I was over 300 pounds. When I started to lose weight a bit over a year ago I started paying more attention to what I was eating and wanted to make sure I was eating correctly. During my research I discovered that organic food was significantly less-bad for me than "conventional" food and started eating organic whenever it was convenient for me.After reading through The Organic Manifesto, while it comes off as alarmist at times, I believe that Maria Rodale is 100% correct and that we need to make changes from the government down, and we need to start making them immediately. The facts that are presented are mind-numbing and I have decided to convert 100% to organic. I no longer want to eat the poison that is being presented to me as healthy fruits and vegetables.Everyone needs to read this book, and not only read it, but also take to heart what it is saying. I don't care if you think organics are overpriced. How much is your life worth to you?

From the first word to the last this book is a stark realization of why we are reaching the tipping point in the climate crisis, health care crisis, global economy crisis. We can live without oil but we cannot live without food or water and we are destroying on an everyday basis our ability to sustain ourselves. The book in a very clear and articulate way explains why this is happening and how we can turn it all around by doing one simple thing...buying Organic. Yes really....by supporting the Organic movement we can show BIG Agro-Business that "they" cannot mess with the public's health anymore. Greed has taken over this country in the form of BIG BUSINESS with very little regard to human life. It's all about the Green...in this case I am not talking about the "dollar". I loved this book and Maria did her homework...she did her research and speaks the truth and she is Correct. It is now up to us to take her words and go beyond the pages of her book and do something or we will not have a planet left for our future generations.

i recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in knowing why they should consider buying organics or why not to. Depending on which side of the coin your on. It is a great explanation of the how, why and what if you are new to the idea. It covers politics as well as eating and its a natural combination because in this country the two are thoroughly intertwined. I gave the book four stars out of five not because of the book but because of myself. By the time I read it I had already gleaned most of the information from dozens of other sources. But if you want to save yourself a lot of time and reading this is the defacto start for organic information. May it launch you on a journey of 10,000 delicious and organic or mostly organic meals.

Excellent book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well written and very educational.

You'll never doubt your belief in Organics, when you read this book.It contains all the basic ingredients. Some bits are a little repetitious, but then aren't we all.

Everybody should read this. Thank you Mrs. Rodale.Buy Organic!