Word: soils
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...years we have smugly looked at other countries and held our democracy up for all to see. We have often asked how Nazi Germany could happen. I think we have our own answer now. An apathetic people is fertile soil for any person who wishes power to use to his own advantage. It appears that we are no longer a government of the people, by the people and for the people, but of. by and for the President...
...effects of high levels of sulfur dioxide, given off by low grade coal, on farmland are well-documented; areas have suffered soil fertility decreases of 20 to 30 per cent from these emissions. The effects on health are less clear, but appear to be cause for concern...
Because the semiarid region is ecologically fragile, reports AID, "mistakes in the use of soil, water and vegetation are magnified." Trees have been cut down for fuel, savannah grass has been replaced by seasonal crops, and available ground water has been squandered. Most damaging of all, the inhabitants have allowed their huge herds of livestock to denude the land through overgrazing. These practices, combined with the drought, have killed off the natural vegetation and allowed the Sahara to creep southward-in some places, says AID, by "as much as 30 miles a year...
Fortunately, there are solutions to these man-made disasters. India and Pakistan can, like China and Algeria, reforest their hills. The sub-Saharan nations of Africa can, with massive international help, copy the U.S.'s 1930s soil conservation program and reclaim their land. If the anchovies do return in great numbers, the Peruvians can strictly limit the yearly catch and still get fine harvests. But clearly, the first lesson is to understand-and respect-basic ecological realities. As Economist Lester Brown puts it: "If we are to get the food we need, we cannot put more stress on nature...
...loyal Catalan right up to his death last week at the age of 96. Catalan "was the language of troubadours," he once said, "and of free spirits." He liked to quote a Catalan poet, Joan Maragall, who wrote: "To take flight to Heaven, we must stand on the firm soil of our native land." And he sometimes told about Luis Companys, president of Catalonia under the Spanish Republic. Casals had met him while conducting concerts for the Workingmen's Concert Association he'd organized and playing the cello at benefits for Loyalist Spain. After the fascists triumphed, Companys was executed...