Reclaiming the Commons: Community Farms and Forests in a New England Town - Hardcover

Donahue, Brian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300076738 ISBN 13: 9780300076738

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Describes efforts to halt urban sprawl through a cooperative farm that raises organic vegetables, and maintains a public trail system

About this title

Reviews

The title of Donahue's visionary, green blueprint for transforming the face of America's suburbs is no mere metaphor. He wants each suburb or town in the U.S. to establish a local commons, a swath of the surrounding countryside that would be jointly owned by the citizens and used for local, sustainable food production, forestry or both. Donahue, who teaches American environmental studies at Brandeis, speaks from hands-on experience: in 1980, he and fellow activists launched Land's Sake, a nonprofit community farm in the Boston suburb of Weston, Mass., a model of organic farming and local self-reliance. To critics who blast the local commons concept as a form of creeping socialism, Donahue replies that common land ownershipAa system brought over from EnglandAwas an important yet largely forgotten feature of the first New England towns. His grassroots, dirt-under-the-fingernails autobiography is interwoven with an eco-history of New England, showing how the mixed husbandry practiced by colonial farmers gave way to commercial livestock production, which ultimately yielded to today's factory farms, automotive suburbs and clogged cities. Donahue advocates a national shift away from agribusiness toward increased local food production for reasons of health, energy conservation, climatic stability, and reduction of pollution, pesticide use and fossil fuel consumption. His radically conservative manifesto offers new approaches to make suburbia economically healthy, more livable and ecologically balanced. Photos. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Environmentalist Donahue appeals to suburbanites to protect farmland by using the land for small nonprofit community farms. His observations are based on the 25 years he has spent helping to operate community farms in the Boston suburb of Weston. Donahue describes the experience of creating a farm that grows fruits, flowers, and vegetables using organic methods. He recounts the successes, failures, and hard lessons learned about ecology, agriculture, and sociology. His suggestions aren't meant to replace private farming but to move Americans who voice concerns about the environment from a passive to an aggressive stance that gets them engaged with the land. Donahue combines social and natural history to examine how our culture and economy favor development and consumerism at the expense of the environment. His message is aimed at the suburbs because of their proximity to rural areas and because they epitomize irrational development, with sprawling subdivisions and commuter traffic. This book is an engaging look at environmental issues and what can be done beyond hand-wringing. Vanessa Bush

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300076738
• ISBN 13: 9780300076738
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 349