Economic interests of Paul Cherubini

[Jeffrey A. Caldwell]

Paul Cherubini wrote:

> Jeffrey A. Caldwell wrote:
>
> > What sort of pesticides do you sell, and
> > to what clientele?  I think it would be interesting to know a little about
> > your academic background as well.
>
> I represent the product line of a small, family owned,
> ag chemical distributor and sell (and often help initially apply)
> a wide variety of insecticides,  fungicides and herbicides to both
> end users and other ag chem dealers. End users include some
> farmers, but mainly post harvest interests such as food processing plants,
> food storage warehouses, seed companies, greenhouses,
> grain elevators, etc.  I've also had experience as a licensed
> ag pest control adviser selling pesticides to growers - the
> materials that go on the growing crop. Finally, I once worked
> in the urban pest control scene, both as an applicator
> and salesman selling to exterminators, mosquito
> abatement districts, golf courses, that sort of thing.
>
> My BS degree is in entomology.
>
> Paul Cherubini

Thank you -- puts a human face on your life.

I'm a fellow who once wanted to be an organic farmer and read many books about
it -- and once, for a little while, I managed a few acres of organic crops for a
health resort.  However, for more than twenty years I've worked in conventional
ornamental landscapes or on revegetation projects that required the occasional
use of pesticides -- which, like any conscientious person, I've tried to use
carefully.

As a teenager, when Rachel Carson's Silent Spring came out, I read it and every
other book pro or con on the issue of pesticides for years, trying to understand
the truth about this sometimes controversial aspect of our times. Between my
reading and my experiences I find myself able to tolerate and appreciate a wide
spectrum of points-of-view about pesticides, and the people who hold them.

Having rubbed shoulders with both environmental activists and would-be
developers as a sometimes biological consultant, I've seen a spectrum of
attitudes regarding the endangered species sorts of issues, also.

My BA degree is in biology (with emphasis on botany) from Pomona College,
Claremont, CA.  My PhD friends consider me self-taught far beyond that level.
I've read and studied countless books and taken other opportunities to study all
sorts of lifeforms, from microbes to charismatic mega-fauna.  I love all living
things and am concerned about them all.  But I believe that humans are the
proper concern of highest priority.

Jeffrey A. Caldwell
Garden Habitat Network