Chemical agriculture and pollinators: signs of a Planet in danger

BACK COVER

Bees, these extraordinary creatures that have inhabited the Planet for over 100 million years, are the common thread that tells the story of various ecological challenges such as the reduction of biodiversity, climate change, soil degradation, and energy transition. When the most presumptuous species on the Planet interferes with the course of nature, it causes serious damage, altering the possibility of survival of non-humans, such as the pollinators, without understanding that this is actually a self-destructive ecocide. Paradoxically, agriculture, which is one of the activities most closely dependent on a healthy biosphere, is one of the major causes of irreversible and, therefore, unsustainable changes such as global warming and the extinction of pollinators from which it derives its benefits and wealth. The massive use of fossil fuels, the distribution of poisons such as pesticides (which are persistent, toxic, and bioaccumulative), the loss of fertility in monocultures of plants selected to satisfy economic needs (e.g. genetically modified organisms), are some of the main causes of an ecologically unsustainable food production system. There is no more time, we cannot afford to waste economic resources such as those dedicated to the production of agrofuels (maize cultivated to obtain methane, biogas) and genetically modified plants (e.g. those made resistant to herbicides); we must take a step backwards in the way we manage natural resources. One species can only thrive if all the others are healthy, we must embrace this principle. This book tries to show a different vision of the World we are building, a story full of backstories and full of underestimated dangers.

The Author

Giuseppe Zicari is an Italian agrotechnician and biologist (University of Padua), he specialized in Applied Genetics (University of Bologna), he obtained a PhD in Environmental Sciences, inland waters and agro-ecosystems (University of Eastern Piedmont). He worked as a biologist collaborating with companies in the food sector, some Universities and the National Health Service. He teaches natural sciences (part-time) in secondary school; he won the National Award for University Publishing (http://www.associazioneitalianadellibro.it/) with the book ENERGIE RINNOVABILI DA BIOMASSE: rischi e opportunità. Coltivazioni, allevamenti, compost, biogas e agro-carburanti: analisi degli impatti ambientali, delle ricadute sulla salute e della sostenibilità (2016 - RENEWABLE ENERGIES FROM BIOMASS: risks and opportunities. Crops, livestock farming, compost, biogas and agro-fuels: analysis of environmental impacts, effects on health and sustainability).

He has published more than 90 works including the following books: L’IGIENE DEGLI ALIMENTI (2001 - FOOD HYGIENE); GESTIONE DELLA SICUREZZA ALIMENTARE (2003 - FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT); LA TUTELA AMBIENTALE: adempimenti obbligatori e strategie volontarie (2008 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: mandatory obligations and voluntary strategies); OLTRE I LIMITI ECOLOGICI: ambiente, salute e cultura non rinnovabili (2015 - BEYOND ECOLOGICAL LIMITS: non-renewable environment, health and culture); most of the publications can be downloaded for free from the website: https://sites.google.com/site/zicari73/.