When my good friend, Dr. J.H. – Joe to me – Hulse spoke to me over the telephone, requesting a Foreword for a book that he was writing on “Sustainable Development at Risk: Ignoring the Past”, I readily agreed for many reasons. First and foremost, Joe and I have known each other for a long time; he has been a very good friend; and I have known him as a serious person, honest to his conscience, who thinks deeply. The second and equally important reason is that I regard an understanding of sustainable development as the overwhelming question that we face today.

This phrase comes from T.S. Eliot's Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. in which he writes:

That visit would be a study of this very interesting book by Joe Hulse.

Dr. Hulse is a scientist, who has worked in industry, and with aid agencies, primarily in the promotion of research and development. His area of expertise is the life sciences, particularly relating to food, agriculture and agribusiness. He has frequently visited India and other developing countries. He was chairman of a committee (CASAFA) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), when I was its president. This committee dealt with the application of science on an interdisciplinary basis in the area of food and agriculture, and particularly with reference to the developing countries.