Norman
Ernest Borlaug is the father of the Green Revolution, having dedicated
his life as a scientist to develop high-yielding disease-resistant grains to feed
the hungry. Norman Borlaug's dedication was fueled by his humanitarian passion
- he recognized that having enough food to eat is one of the most basic human
needs and that hunger and poverty greatly contribute to environmental and social
problems, often leading to conflict between people and between nations. Borlaug
and the Green Revolution his work spurred are credited with saving the lives of
over 1 billion starving people. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for
helping to promote world peace by trying to feed the world.
In
recent years, however, the biotechnology methods Dr. Borlaug advocates to reduce
famines have been the center of environmental and socioeconomic controversy. This
is in part due to the way corporations have seized control of the technology and
have used it in ways to eliminate the competition of local farmers around the
world, as well as environmental, health and ethical concerns about the introduction
of genetically-modified plants into native habitats.
