SHADES OF GREEN

``Green is the color of cultivated fields and the untouched wilderness,'' the Kidds begin, amplifying that observation with an intelligent discussion of the attendant issues that roil in the background. This entry in the Science and Society series illuminates the role played by science in the conflicting priorities of environmentalists and of the producers and consumers of the world food supply. They cite Rachel Carson's landmark Silent Spring and the subsequent ban on DDT as a ready example of the problem of pest control coexisting with sound ecological practices, then launch into a discussion that in no simple terms outlines the difficulties of balancing the needs of the food supply with conservation. Exit the notion of the high- minded, purely objective scientist and enter real people—early preservationists such as John Muir, applied ecologists such as Aldo Leopold (founder of this science), gate-keeping writers such as Carson, and nameless agricultural technologists and wildlife managers. The Kidds present student researchers with a panoply of personalities, from working scientists to people at the krill end of the food chain. A competent, useful volume on a vital topic. (b&w photos, diagrams, index, not seen, glossary, further reading) (Nonfiction. 11-15)