Books & Monographs

Beyond Biotechnology: The Barren Promise of Genetic Engineering. Co-authored with Steve Talbott. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2008.

The Giraffe's Long Neck: From Evolutionary Fable to Whole Organism.
Ghent, NY: The Nature Institute, 2005.
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The Flexible Giant: Seeing the Elephant Whole.
Ghent NY: The Nature Institute, 2003.
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The Dynamic Heart and Circulation. Edited by Craig Holdrege.
Fair Oaks, CA: AWSNA Publications, 2002.
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Genetics and the Manipulation of Life: The Forgotten Factor of Context.
Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1996.
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Book Chapters

"Can We See with Fresh Eyes? Beyond a Culture of Abstraction." In The Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge. Edited by Bill Vitek and Wes Jackson. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2008.

"Genetically Engineered Crops Will Not End World Hunger." In Current Controversies: Genetic Engineering. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale; 2006.

"Gentechnik: Keine Lösung des Hungerproblems." Gefahr Gentechnik. Edited by M. Grössler. Mariahof, Austria: Concord Verlag, 2005.

"Science Evolving: The Case of the Peppered Moth." In Writing the Future: Progress and Evolution. Edited by David Rothenburg and Wandee Pryor. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004.

"The Art of Thinking: Helping Students to Develop Their Faculties of Thinking and Observation." In Educating as an Art (Edited by Carol Ann Bärtges and Nick Lyons. New York: The Rudolf Steiner School, Inc. 2003). Also published in the journal Renewal (in two parts, Fall/Winter 2001 and Spring/Summer 2002).

"The Heart: A Pulsing and Perceptive Center." In The Dynamic Heart and Circulation. Edited by Craig Holdrege. Fair Oaks, CA: AWSNA Publications, 2002.

Forward to Thinking Beyond Darwin: The Idea of the Type as a Key to Vertebrate Evolution. by E.M. Kranich. Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1999, pp. vii-xxviii.

"Seeing the Animal Whole: The Example of Horse and Lion." In Goethe's Way of Science, edited by D. Seamon and A. Zajonc. Albany: SUNY Press, 1998, pp. 213-232.

"Plasticity in Human Heredity." In The Future of DNA. Edited by Johannes Wirz & Edith Lammerts van Beuren. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997, pp. 150-154.

Articles listed by topic - Back to top

On Genetics and Genetic Engineering in Food and Agriculture

"Will Biotech Feed the World? The Broader Context" 2005.
In this article Craig Holdrege describes the broader ecological, agricultural, and social context of feeding the hungry. The often heard claim that biotechnology is needed to feed the world's growing population shows itself to be rooted more in hype than in reality.

"From Wonder Bread to GM Lettuce." In Context #11, Spring 2004
No food is a mere aggregation of individual, isolated elements. The living organism has a unity of its own reflected in how all its parts relate to each other. These relationships not only make the organism what it is, but they also make the organism into the food it is. So, too, in the human and social realm: it makes no sense to treat our food as a collection of isolated ingredients, ignoring the integrity of the processes by which the food is grown, transported, processed, and sold.

"The Trouble With Genetically Modified Crops." In Context #11, Spring 2004
The plight of Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian organic farmer sued by Monsanto after genetically modified Canola plants appeared on his farm, poses many issues for farmers and for the integrity of our food supply. But one county (in California) has now chosen to ban genetically modified crops.

"Sowing Technology." Co-authored with Steve Talbott. NetFuture #123, Oct. 9, 2001; a version of this article appeared in Sierra (July/August 2001)
This article discusses current developments in agricultural biotechnology within an ecological context and shows the pitfalls of this approach to revolutionizing agriculture.

"Golden Genes and World Hunger: Let Them Eat Transgenic Rice?" Co-authored with Steve Talbott. NetFuture #108, July 6, 2000
You may have heard that genetically engineered crops will enable us to feed the millions of hungry people on the planet. This article, which focuses on carotene-enriched rice, shows the shortsightedness of seeking purely technological fixes to complex issues.

"Should Genetically Modified Foods Be Labeled?" NetFuture #135, Aug. 29, 2002
An in-depth article covering FDA food-labeling policies and presenting a cogent argument for the mandatory labeling of GM food.

"We Label Orange Juice, Why Not Genetically Modified Food? An Op-ed published in the Progressive Populist (November 15, 2002), The Land Report (Fall 2002) and other publications.

"The Tyranny of the Gene." NetFuture #80, Nov. 24, 1998
This article highlights some illusions associated with the belief that genetic engineering can definitively control processes in organisms.

"Pharming the Cow." NetFuture # 43, March 20, 1997
Is the cow a complex genetic mechanism that we can manipulate at will for human ends, or is it an organism with its own integrity that warrants our respect? This article exemplifies the power of a holistic, contextual approach to tackle complex issues of technology and animal welfare.

Genes in a Larger Context - Back to top

"The Question Science Won’t Ask."  (Co-authored with Steve Talbott) Orion Magazine July/August 2006. (A somewhat different version of this essay was published under the title “Science’s Forbidden Question” in NetFuture #166, January 16, 2007: http://www.netfuture.org/2007/Jan1607_166.html#2)

"The Gene: A Needed Revolution." In Context #14, Fall 2005.
The history of the concept of the gene dramatically belies the contemporary rhetoric that treats the gene as a fixed, well-defined thing that controls the organism and makes it what it is. Here the evolving concept of the gene is traced through the words of many of those who played a central role in elucidating the concept.

"More Taxonomy, Not DNA Barcoding." BioScience vol. 55 (October) 2005, pp. :822-823. (Co-authored with Malte Ebach)

"DNA Barcoding is No Substitute For Taxonomy." Nature vol. 434 (7 April) 2005, p. 697. (Co-authored with Malte Ebach)

"Genes are Not Immune to Context." In Context #12, Fall 2004
The "lowly" bacteria are among our best instructors in the high art of genetic flexibility and adaptation. What we've been learning about bacteria illustrates the fact that the organism, along with its environment, provides the context that gives genes their meaning.

"Genes and Life: The Need for Qualitative Understanding." In Context # 1, Spring 1999
Reflections on the question, "Which of our genes make us human?" None of them and all of them. The question, it turns out, betrays a grave misunderstanding of genes and people.

"Life Beyond Genes: Reflections on the Human Genome Project." Co-authored with Johannes Wirz. In Context #5, Spring 2001
More than showing that genes determine life, the human genome project and other advances in genetics show that the organism itself determines what genes are and do.

"What Forms an Animal?" In Context #6, Fall 2001
An animal is formed by more than the interaction of genes and environment as this article about lions and their skulls shows.

"Cloning: A Symptom of Our Times." Anthroposophical Journal of Medicine, Fall 1997

On Seeing Nature Whole: A Goethean Approach - Back to top

"Transformation in Adult Learning." In Context # 18 (Fall, 2007). 
This article looks in detail at the kind of learning that deeply changes who we are.

"Can We See with Fresh Eyes: Beyond a Culture of Abstraction."  In Context #16 (Fall 2006).
Can we gain our scientific concepts through openness to the world instead of imposing them on the world? It's the difference between a living thinking that respects the phenomena, on one hand, and a habitual thinking that cuts us off from the phenomena, on the other.

"Learning to See Life: Developing the Goethean Approach to Science." Renewal, Fall 2005.
This article gives a brief introduction to the Goethean approach in relation to science education.

"Doing Goethean Science." Janus Head, Vol. 8.1, 2005
In this article Holdrege describes his own practice of the Goethean approach to science. Describing this work as a kind of conversation with nature, he illustrates his methodology using the example of his research on the plant skunk cabbage.

"The Forming Tree." In Context #14, Fall 2005.
This article is a lesson in context-how the form of a tree develops over time and in relation to its habitat.

"The Giraffe in its World." In Context #12, Fall 2004
What sort of creature is the giraffe? It reaches upward with seemingly every bone of its body. From its lofty height it exhibits social aloofness. And when it gallops over the African plain, it almost seems to float. Become acquainted with one of Africa's most remarkable creatures by reading this excerpt from a forthcoming booklet.

"The Giraffe's Short Neck." In Context #10, Fall 2003

"How Does a Mole View the World?" In Context #9, Spring 2003

"Portraying a Meadow." In Context #8, Fall 2002

"Elephantine Intelligence." In Context #5, Spring 2001

"What Forms an Animal?" In Context #6, Fall 2001

"Skunk Cabbage." In Context #4, Fall 2000

"Where Do Organisms End?" In Context #2, Spring, 2000

"Genes and Life: The Need for Qualitative Understanding." In Context #1, Spring/Summer 1999

"Science as Process or Dogma? The Case of the Peppered Moth." Elemente der Naturwissenschaft, Vol. 70, 1999

"What Does it Mean to be a Sloth?" NetFuture #97, Nov. 3, 1999

"Seeing the Animal Whole: The Example of Horse and Lion." In Goethe's Way of Science, edited by D. Seamon and A. Zajonc Albany: SUNY Press, 1998, pp. 213-232

"Pharming the Cow." NetFuture #43, March 20, 1997

"Seeing Things Right-side Up: The Implications of Kurt Goldstein's Holism." In Context, Fall/Winter 1999 (German Translation: Konsequenter Holismus: Die Ganzheitliche Anschauungsweise Kurt Goldsteins. Die Drei, April 2000)

Evolution and Ecology - Back to top

"Science as Process or Dogma? The Case of the Peppered Moth." Elemente der Naturwissenschaft, Vol. 70, 1999

"The Giraffe's Short Neck." In Context #10, Fall 2003

"What Forms an Animal?" In Context #6, Fall 2001

"Where Do Organisms End?" In Context #2, Spring, 2000

"African Impressions." In Context #9, Spring 2003 and In Context #8, Fall 2002.

"African Impressions." In Context #8, Fall 2002.

"The Farm in the Landscape: A Place-Based Ecology Course."

Science Education - Back to top

"Transformation in Adult Learning." In Context # 18 (Fall, 2007). 
This article looks in detail at the kind of learning that deeply changes who we are.

"Can We See with Fresh Eyes: Beyond a Culture of Abstraction."  In Context #16 (Fall 2006).
Can we gain our scientific concepts through openness to the world instead of imposing them on the world? It's the difference between a living thinking that respects the phenomena, on one hand, and a habitual thinking that cuts us off from the phenomena, on the other.

"Learning to See Life: Developing the Goethean Approach to Science", Renewal, Fall 2005.

"The Art of Thinking: Helping Students to Develop Their Faculties of Thinking and Observation." Renewal: Part I, Fall 2001; Part II, Spring 2002

"Addressing Contemporary Issues in the High School: The Example of Human Cloning." Renewal Fall/Winter, 2000.

"Science as Process or Dogma? The Case of the Peppered Moth." Elemente der Naturwissenschaft, Vol. 70, 1999. A shorter version of this article appeared in Whole Earth Magazine.

"The Farm in the Landscape: A Place-Based Ecology Course."

"Metamorphosis and Metamorphic Thinking." In Colloquium on Life Science and Environmental Studies, AWSNA Research Projects # 5, 2002.

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