A Precautionary Tale

How One Small Town Banned Pesticides, Preserved Its Food Heritage, and Inspired a Movement

By: Philip Ackerman-Leist

Narrated by: Will Damron

Mals, Italy, has long been known as the breadbasket of the Tyrol. But recently the tiny town became known for something else entirely. A Precautionary Tale tells us why, introducing readers to an unlikely group of activists and a forward-thinking mayor who came together to ban pesticides in Mals by a referendum vote, making it the first place on Earth to accomplish such a feat, and a model for other towns and regions to follow. For hundreds of years, the people of Mals had cherished their traditional foodways and kept their local agriculture organic. Their town had become a mecca for tourists drawn by the alpine landscape, the rural and historic character of the villages, and the fine breads, wines, cheeses, herbs, vegetables, and the other traditional foods they produced.

Yet Mals is located high up in the eastern Alps, and the valley below was being steadily overtaken by big apple producers, heavily dependent on pesticides. As Big Apple crept further and further up the region's mountainsides, their toxic spray drifted with the valley's ever-present winds and began to fall on the farms and fields of Mals?threatening their organic certifications, as well as their health and that of their livestock.

As Ackerman-Leist recounts the locals' uprising, we meet an organic dairy farmer who decides to speak up when his hay is poisoned by drift; a pediatrician who engaged other medical professionals to protect the soil, water, and air that the health of her patients depends upon; a hairdresser whose salon conversations mobilized the town's women in an extraordinarily conceived campaign; and others who together orchestrated one of the rare revolutionary successes of our time and inspired a movement now snaking its way through Europe and across the world. The audiobook is narrated with characteristic mastery by Will Damron.

©2017 Philip Ackerman-Leist (P)2017 Chelsea Green Publishing

inspiring!

Inspiring book on what is possible when determined people band together for a noble cause of life.

Annoying narration

I was hoping this book would give a little more depth about the process and the science used to get this area pesticide free. I didn't enjoy the story line as I was more interested in the facts. The narration was especially annoying when it came to the numbers. Giving every dollar vs euro, acre vs hectare, mile vs kilometer, not to mention the random phrase read in another language then again in English. I wanted to hear the conclusion of what happened but did not enjoy the book at all.