1,673 research outputs found
The East Country Almanac Tales of Valley and Shore
No full textThe East Country is a work of creative nonfiction in which the acclaimed nature writer Jules Pretty integrates memoir, natural history, cultural critique, and spiritual reflection into a single compelling narrative. Pretty frames his book around Aldo Leopold and his classic A Sand County Almanac, bringing Leopold’s ethic—that some could live without nature but most should not—into the twenty-first century. In The East Country, Pretty follows the seasons through seventy-four tales set in a variety of landscapes from valley to salty shore. Pretty convinces us that we should all develop long attachments to the local, observing that the land can change us for the better
Participatory Methods in the Analysis of Poverty: A Critical Review
No full textThis paper reviews and analyses the literature on participatory methods in poverty analysis. The popularity of participatory poverty assessments has greatly increased in the last decade, and a growing number of development agents is adopting some form of participatory methodology. This spread however seems to be possible even without a shared understanding of what participation stands for. This paper starts by introducing the broad lines of the debate on participation, before focusing more specifically on participatory methods in poverty analysis. After having discussed the tools as well as the insights they provide, some recent evidence comparing participatory and non-participatory methods is presented. Such literature allow to highlight both the strengths and the weaknesses of participatory assessments, as well as opening the way for new approaches integrating elements of both. In the last analysis, however, the challenge to the non-extractive nature of the methodology, posed by the transposition of participatory techniques from the project context in which they were developed to the policy one, remains serious and poses questions on what 'listening to the voices of the poor' means.
The East Country
No full textThis book is a work of creative nonfiction in which the acclaimed author integrates memoir, natural history, cultural critique, and spiritual reflection into a single compelling narrative. The book is framed around Aldo Leopold and his classic A Sand County Almanac, bringing Leopold's ethic—that some could live without nature but most should not—into the twenty-first century. The author follows the seasons through seventy-four tales set in a variety of landscapes from valley to salty shore. The book convinces us that we should all develop long attachments to the local, observing that the land can change us for the better.</p
Green care: Nature-based interventions for vulnerable people
No full textThis chapter begins by defining green care and outlining the key types of green care available in the UK, before giving a historical overview. An overview of different ways of experiencing and engaging with nature is then presented in order to illustrate the key elements of a range of green care interventions. The chapter concludes by exploring the evidence base for green care
Jules Pretty, Sea Sagas of the North: Travels & Tales at Warming Waters (Stroud: Hawthorne Press, 2022)
No full textAgricultural sustainability: concepts, principles and evidence
No full textConcerns about sustainability in agricultural systems centre on the need to develop technologies and practices that do not have adverse effects on environmental goods and services, are accessible to and effective for farmers, and lead to improvements in food productivity. Despite great progress in agricultural productivity in the past half-century, with crop and livestock productivity strongly driven by increased use of fertilizers, irrigation water, agricultural machinery, pesticides and land, it would be over-optimistic to assume that these relationships will remain linear in the future. New approaches are needed that will integrate biological and ecological processes into food production, minimize the use of those non-renewable inputs that cause harm to the environment or to the health of farmers and consumers, make productive use of the knowledge and skills of farmers, so substituting human capital for costly external inputs, and make productive use of people's collective capacities to work together to solve common agricultural and natural resource problems, such as for pest, watershed, irrigation, forest and credit management. These principles help to build important capital assets for agricultural systems: natural; social; human; physical; and financial capital. Improving natural capital is a central aim, and dividends can come from making the best use of the genotypes of crops and animals and the ecological conditions under which they are grown or raised. Agricultural sustainability suggests a focus on both genotype improvements through the full range of modern biological approaches and improved understanding of the benefits of ecological and agronomic management, manipulation and redesign. The ecological management of agroecosystems that addresses energy flows, nutrient cycling, population-regulating mechanisms and system resilience can lead to the redesign of agriculture at a landscape scale. Sustainable agriculture outcomes can be positive for food productivity, reduced pesticide use and carbon balances. Significant challenges, however, remain to develop national and international policies to support the wider emergence of more sustainable forms of agricultural production across both industrialized and developing countries.</jats:p
March
No full textThis chapter details the beginning of spring in the east country, when the days grew longer, rain fell, and the buds became a little greener. Inland, spring-messenger celandine and lemony primrose had appeared in hedge banks. However, forecasters said it will have been the coldest March, just three degrees, quite unlike last year's heat. Nevertheless, hedgerows up and down the valley revealed the erratic arrival of warmth and light. In a good year, Prunus dominates March landscapes. Many call them blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, but mostly this is mistaken. Blackthorn forms spiny thickets, one or two flowers together. The chapter also narrates a day of celebration for the valley's finest author, Ronald Blythe, who writes and gardens every day.</p
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