The most critical natural resource on the planet is at risk, but its not one we’re accustomed to thinking of as endangered.

Dr. Vandana Shiva is the founder of Navdanya International , an India-based science and policy research center. Its mission: "To protect nature and people's rights to knowledge, biodiversity, water and food."

Dr. Shiva notes that pesticide use contributes to the "desertification" of soils, a process that is accelerated when the soil is poor to begin with.

One little-known consequence of the widespread adoption of genetically modified cotton seed by farmers in India has been a surge in suicides by debt-ridden farmers whose crops do not earn enough to pay their seed bills. Dr. Shiva says that a generation ago, suicide was rare in India, but the numbers now suggest there is a new death approximately every 20 mintes.

On August 27^th, the Jackson Theater at Sonoma Country Day School in Santa Rosa will host an evening with Dr. Shiva, advocate and author as well as winner of the alternative Nobel Peace Prize. For more information about the speaking event, click here . KRCB will also record her presentation for later broadcast next month.

International free trade agreements are an expansion of domestic US policies that have been in place for over a century, but critic Jane Anne Morris says they were never a good idea.

Below, Morris explains how the issues generating protests against NAFT and the WTO now are much the same as they were 125 years ago when free trade was first imposed within the United States.

In Gaveling Down the Rabble, author/activist Jane Anne Morrow explores a century and a half of efforts by corporations and the courts to undermine local democracy in the United States by using a "free trade" model. It was that very nineteenth-century model that was later adopted globally by corporations to subvert local attempts at protecting the environment and citizen and worker health.

Jane Anne Morris is a corporate anthropologist with a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Texas. Her 1994 book was based on her work on energy issues in Texas during the 1980s. She has been active in anti-war, women's and environmental struggles since the 1970s.

Many of the biggest protest demonstrations of the past decade, such as thos one in Costa Rica, have been in opposition to "Free Trade" policies promulgated by major corporations, many of them US-based.

The driving of the Golden Spike, uniting the first trqnscontinental railroad (below), was a pivotal moment in the history of the American west.

The North Bay Report with co-authors Jane Neilson and Howard Wilshire continues here:

The American West at Risk summarizes the dominant human-generated environmental challenges in the 11 contiguous arid western United States - America's legendary, even mythical, frontier. When discovered by European explorers and later settlers, the west boasted rich soils, bountiful fisheries, immense, dense forests, sparkling streams, untapped ore deposits, and oil bonanzas. It now faces depletion of many of these resources, and potentially serious threats to its few "renewable" resources. (more)

To read more about the book and its authors, click here.

For information about an upcoming book discussion with two of the authors at Four-Eyed Frog Books in Gualala, click here.

Not long after Neil Armstrong took his giant step, John Francis also began taking some purposeful strides of his own:

John Francis has documented his history and his travels in a newly published memoir, which is available directly from his website .

Francis explains his belief that how we relate to to each other as human beings also has an effect on the environment in the following adudio clip:

Old school American comic books are getting made into movies, but Japanese-styled manga is capturing a new generation of graphic novel readers. If you're not acquainted with this burgeoning publishing trend, this North Bay Report offers an introduction.

Many bookstores now carry shelves full of manga titles, which are often published in extended series. But with so much product available, how are discerning readers to tell which ones are worth their money or time? One way is to consult Jason Thompson's book .

Visually, manga is much like the Japanese style of animation known as anime. An explanation of the differences and similarities between Manga and Anime can be found here .

Follow this link for a basic history of manga