BEIJING, July 23 (Xinhua)
-- Some modern farming techniques once
thought successful in boosting production
instead have caused ecological damage
too expensive to repair, says an
American environmental expert.
John
Cobb, a long-time researcher on
ecological sustainability, told Xinhua
recently that modern farming, with its
sole focus on raising output and
featuring excessive use of petroleum
and chemicals, has inflicted irreversible
damage on the
environment.
Industrializing agriculture
has been one of the biggest
mistakes made in the United States,
Cobb said, adding that its
implementation has effectively increased the
loss of topsoil and the depletion
of water resources while making the
sector heavily dependent on
oil.
In addition, Cobb said,
the monocrop system now used for
mass production has also played a
role in creating ecological problems
such as a dramatic drop in bee
and bird populations.
"In the
United States, the policies are
dictated by Wall Street and the
financial leaders are the most
powerful people in the country," Cobb
said. "But they have very limited
vision for the long term and
they are much more interested in
short-term profits."
Like the
United States, Cobb said, many other
countries have achieved economic success
at the price of ecological
destruction.
It is already too
late for many of the developed
nations to reverse the ecological
degradation they have caused in
pursuit of economic gains but the
late-comers to modernization have a
better chance of dealing with the
problems, Cobb said.
China,
which has astounded the world with
rapid economic development in the past
three decades, should devote more
attention to establishing an ecologically
responsible growth pattern, Cobb
said.
He said he was
happy that the Chinese government
started to build an ecological
civilization years ago and recently
has stepped up efforts to steer
the national economy toward greener
development.
However, he warned
that the pride many Chinese have
in their national economic achievements
might be a liability to the
country's so-called green
efforts.
Cobb urged policy
makers around the world not to
simply see agriculture as a source
of food but as a complicated
system that is key to the
welfare of future generations.