The ecology of care : medicine, agriculture, money, and the quiet power of human and microbial communities Cover Image

Book

The ecology of care : medicine, agriculture, money, and the quiet power of human and microbial communities / Didi Pershouse.

Summary:

"In this richly layered book, Didi Pershouse takes us on a fast-moving, sharp-witted journey through her own life: from growing up with the neurosurgeon who accidentally discovered the seat of memory in the brain, to working in a smoke-filled office at New York magazine, to her career as an innovative acupuncturist in Vermont, and on a passion for close-knit communities, grazing cows, and soil restoration as solutions to much of what ails us. Along the way, she unfolds a surprising new take on the story of our time: how the germ theory of disease joined with a profit-based economy, and unwittingly led to a "sterilization" of agriculture, medicine, and even our social lives. This 150-year detour has brought about the near destruction of our climate as well as a great forgetting of the power of connection. By clearly documenting a scientific understanding of the intelligence of the whole, Pershouse nudges us awake with a hopeful view and shows us how to reclaim the rich, "fertile" lives we are meant for."--back cover

Record details

ISBN: 9780692613030
ISBN: 069261303X
Physical Description: 301 pages ; 23 cm
Publisher: Thetford Center, VT : Mycelium Books, [2016]
Copyright: ©2016

Content descriptions

Formatted Contents Note:

Kitchen medicine -- The lobotomy of care -- Ancient relationships: beyond the germ theory of disease -- Medicine, money, and the global pie -- Who defines "normal"? Rediscovering our inner compass -- Climate, water, and health -- The carbon underground: the microbiome of the soil -- When the machines break and the drugs don't arrive: the need to relocalize care -- Cuba's experiment in post-petroleum health care -- The commons of care -- Universal health care as if the whole universe mattered -- Appendix: Ecological medicine manifesto