Where do you get this stuff, anyway?

• Position: Letter to the editor

I should say first of all that I have been subscribing to World Watch for over 10 years and on the whole I find it just simply the best overall environmental magazine I have seen. I work in international environmental affairs, and I have seen many. The article on organic farming ["Can Organic Farming Feed Us All," May/June] is excellent and convincing.

But there is one thing I would like to see changed in the philosophy of the magazine: I think it would be much more credible and convincing if it gave the details of the bibliographic references that are vaguely alluded or referred to, and on which articles are based. This particular article mentions a number of studies but as usual does not provide any specifics; this obviously is the policy of the magazine.

I have noticed, over the years, that World Watch is generally looked down upon and generally ignored by social and other scientists and academics. The ivory tower has much to be blamed for (and yes, sometimes for flimsy referencing), but on the whole it is very clear that it provides in its articles a far superior documentation than more journalistic presentations, and I regret to say, in spite of the high respect I owe to this publication, that also...