Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej has won the Norman E. Borlaug Medallion, issued by the controversial World Food Prize Foundation, an Iowa-based organization honoring those who’ve made major contributions to nutrition and sustainable agriculture (but it also applauded the "green revolution," whose new strains of rice yield much higher harvests but often at the expense of the environment). In his 60 years on the throne, His Majesty has sponsored numerous development projects, many of which have focused on organic farming and alternative crops to opium. Earlier this year, the United Nations Development Program honored the king with its Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award. In Thailand, there is no greater respect than that lavished on His Majesty. Sertl’s Note: I’ll never forget going to the movies in Bangkok and settling in for what I thought would be the coming attractions. Instead, the short film preceding the feature was an homage to the king, and the audience was asked (in Thai and in English) to stand in his honor. I was stunned and also rather charmed.
And the Award for Best King Goes to…
10.27.06
- Keywords
- farms + fish,
- environment,
- asia,
- thailand,
- karen coates
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