One Shot: Trees as Our Last Chance for Survival

by John Leary

Over the last forty years, entire countries have been stripped of a primary natural resource: trees. Most of this deforestation occurred to make room for agriculture. Yet, in the coming decade, there will be nearly two billion undernourished people. There is a constant pressure to trade more forests for food. ONE Shot: Trees as Our Last Chance for Survival provides a compelling look at the state of the world’s agriculture and its evolving impact on people and the environment. ONE Shot takes readers on an evolving journey from the peanut fields of Africa to the corn fields of America; connecting seven of the world’s most pressing challenges to farming practices, and offering the revival of forest gardens as a core agricultural solution.

Drawing on fifteen years of humanitarian work with communities on the verge of collapse, John Leary conveys how restoring agricultural lands with a diverse combination of trees and crops is the answer to reversing desertification, water scarcity, hunger, poverty, climate change and forced migration. In the coming decades, we have One Shot to work together to rebuild our dying food systems and ecosystems. Discover how trees are our last chance for survival.

Genres: Nature

246 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2017

Reviews

[Ming Wei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books like these are needed, if one day only to make Humans take action against climate change, a eye opening book, well presented, enjoyable in a way despite talking about a serious topic. No editorial issues that I could find.

[Billy Gomes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was eye opening to how unsustainable the green revolution was, and still is to rural African farmers. At times it feels like an extension of the blog on trees.org (some of the stories are definitely shared) but it doesn't detract from the main theme of the book, that marginal farmers can have a much better life by poly-cropping with "forest gardens", rather than using the more common, ever decreasing yields of mono-cropping.

I look forward to seeing the impact this charity has on those disadvantaged communities.

[Mike Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

13) diet deterioration
29) cedar forests of Middle East (decline from Bible times)
36) "living fence"
46) footnote #39
49) AGRA --> Gates
54) chap 4 note #67 (pg 194) TftF "Technical Reference Guide"
64) chap 5 note #39 (pg 197) data centers' water use
142) Rotimi Williams (Nigerian Rice Mogul)
156) hair records your diet
160) 1% - farming vs food production?
161) SharedEarth.com - shared garden plots
161) CSA / food waste??
165) how to grow a forest garden where a forest exists?

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

One Shot looks at a new way of tackling what we think know about climate change, poverty and food security. Would definitely recommend this book if you are looking or thinking about some the most pressing challenges in the world today.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

[Edward Culp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eat like you mean it:)

"There are a thousand hacking at thebranches of evil to one who is striking at theroot, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve."
John Leary asks us to soar like eagles, and to eat with purpose to transcend Thoreau's criticism of hypocritical philanthropy.
Focus on eating organically, locally and sustainably. Promote the Forest Garden!

[Alexander Chetkovich · Rating 3 out of 5]

down with the concept. first half could have used some rigour/numbers/charts. second half a little polemical

[Brandy Lellou · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been following the work of Trees for the Future for almost a decade and I was curious to see how they tied tree planting to the state of the world's agriculture. This was a surprising and interesting read. The author gives a historical context to the interwoven social and environmental problems we see today. He uses personal stories and the stories of others to make the information interesting and relatable. His statements are well documented and leave me wanting to discover more. I have read several environmental books on the topics of water, deforestation and rural to urban migration, but this is the first account I've seen that ties all these issues together and shows how destructive agriculture systems are the underlying problem. My favorite chapter was Chapter 6 - Written in Stone, where the author details all the ways we are destroying biodiversity and how the story of these deeds is being slowly and silently written in the sediments that become rock. "Rock doesn't lie," he states. I found this a compelling way to think of deforestation, air pollution and species extinction, as something we can't cover up or hide. The book ends with a call to action that made me consider what I was buying at the supermarket last night. I would recommend this book as an interesting read for anyone who wants to understand how what they eat is directly tied to the social and environmental problems that fill our news headlines.