Paul Voosen, “Can We Feed the World Without Damaging It?,” Greenwire, January 4, 2010

In the fifth and final installment of a series about genetically modified (GM) crops, energy and environmental writer Paul Voosen discusses the growing ranks of organic proponents who have begun to embrace GM crops to achieve “sustainable agricultures that can feed the world.” Voosen describes a plant scientist who manipulates rice in the lab and is married to an organic farmer. Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak
apparently co-authored a book, recently released in paperback, titled Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food.” They contend that current and future generations of GM crops, responsibly managed, would provide for the world’s hungry
from lands already degraded.

According to Voosen, their work has inspired others, such as Steward Brand, the passionate environmentalist who founded the Whole Earth Catalog and is now apparently “full-throated in his defense of GM crops.” Brand is quoted as saying, “I daresay the environmental movement has done more harm with its opposition to genetic engineering than with any other thing we’ve been wrong about. We’ve starved people, hindered science, hurt the natural environment, and denied our practitioners a crucial tool.” Voosen gives Ronald the final word in his article; she reportedly said, “I think it’s important to remind people that most of the arable land has been farmed. There is fourfold less water available per person on Earth than we had 50 years ago. These problems aren’t going away.”