Super Bowl, and how the game just was-
n't the same anymore. I realized it didn’t
interest me either—it never really has. In
fact, I don’t remember watching it until
I turned 19, or drinking age, at which
time I chose a team and pretended as
though they were my favourite all along.
This year, ’m not even sure which of
my friends watched it, so I guess it’s the
first time Ifiaven’t used the Super Bowl
as the “get drunk and avoid homework”
excuse I’ve come to know it as.

In lieu of the game, | am grateful for
the time I can spend with my tired and
frail Grandmother. I enjoy our visits.
Usually, we start by talking about the
weather before progressing to the dog
that is waiting outside in my truck. She
acknowledges that he is handsome. This
makes me happy. Then, I get her to
recite a grace by Robbie Burns to bless
our meal. On this particular Sunday, the
three of us carried a slow, typical, and
comfortable conversation over the
course of the meal, progressing along
from topic to topic. But each time I
asked Grandma if she’d like to eat some
more of her lunch—a pea soup-looking
dish—she replied with four words: “Oh,
what is it?”

“It’s not pea soup,” the nurse cor-
rected me, “it’s the same lunch you’re
having.” But our lunch, my brother’s and
mine, was a classic turkey dinner with
gravy and cranberries on the side, not
the green mush that I had assumed was
pea soup. Grandma wasn’t interested in
eating pea soup, and though she is never
fussy with me, she has been known to be
a fussy eater. As soon as I explained to
her that this bowl of mush wasn’t pea
soup, and that it was a fine purée of
turkey, mashed potatoes, and Brussels
sprouts (hence the green colour), she
resumed eating at once.

After eating 94 years’ worth of
Sunday dinners, her mouth can no
longer host false teeth, and all of her
meals have to be blended. She’s losing
interest in the diverse flavours and tex-
tures of a meal, though she still enjoys
soft desserts. Since she moved into the
cate home four years ago, I haven’t
called or visited as often as I'd have
liked, but a phone call in mid-January
prompted me to share more time with
her. My brother and I have now made it
out to see her two consecutive Sundays,
and plan on making it three.

“Want to try some more lunch,
Grandma?”

“What is it?”

I could repeat myself, but why not
play along? “It’s, uhh, mashed potatoes!”

“Oh, okay.”

FEBRUARY 16/2005

 

 

aH
elas

David Suzuki,
David Suzuki
Foundation

Diversity Creates
Stability and Security

In the late 1950s, geneticists began to
analyze individual genes in plants, fruit
flies, and mice. Instead of finding
genetic homogeneity or uniformity
within such specialized species, scien-
tists discovered that genes controlling
specific proteins existed in many differ-
ent forms. This phenomenon is called
“genetic polymorphism” and we now
recognize such variability is characteris-
tic of vibrant, vigorous species. But
diversity is actually important on many
levels.

Over the 3.8 billion years that life
has existed on earth, there have been
enormous changes—the sun _ has
increased intensity by 30 percent, the
atmosphere has changed from CO*-rich
to high-oxygen content, mountains and

oceans have risen and disappeared,
warm periods have punctuated ice
ages—yet all the while, life has flour-
ished. The key to that persistence has
been diversity at the gene, species, and
ecosystem levels within the biosphere.
As conditions change, the “pool” of
variability provides more options for
adaptation to the new environment.
We’ve learned from experience in agri-
culture, forestry, and fisheries that
monoculture (the widespread growth of
a single species or genetic strain) creates
vulnerability to new diseases, pests, or
environmental conditions.

Human beings have evolved another
level of diversity—culture—that has
enabled us to flourish in diverse sur-
roundings like the arctic, deserts,
mountains, and tropical forests.
Unfortunately, globalization and the
advancement of a single-world eco-
nomic model have created conditions
that discourage diversity and encourage
in oftder to
favourable economies of scale. In other
words, a Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart is a
Wal-Mart. This has the effect of

homogenizing the local cultures and

homogeneity create

diversity that may otherwise help pro-
vide resilience as conditions around us
change. And this is why it is vital to
encourage diversity within and among
human societies—to maintain different
worldviews and ways of thinking.
When the Iron Curtain fell, for
example, we learned that Soviet secrecy

and isolation resulted in different

 

 

approaches to problems. As we report-
ed on The Nature of Things, one
technique involved surgical alterations
of the cornea that has since been adapt-
ed as laser eye surgery. The Soviets also
developed an immense boat-plane that
skims just above water surfaces and is
based on very different principles of lift
and drag from conventional aircraft.
And Soviet scientists exploited viruses
that infect and kill specific bacteria as a
way to fight disease. These develop-
ments arte a reflection of original
approaches and applications.

I recently visited Cuba, a nation that
has been deliberately blocked from the
global economy by the US, and saw
enough to know they have much to
teach us. The Soviet collapse suddenly
deprived Cuba of their main market for
sugar and source of cheap oil.
Pesticides, fertilizers, and big farm
machinery became prohibitively expen-
sive. It was a catastrophic economic
crisis, which necessitated new solutions.
Today, four fifths of Cuban agriculture
is organic, and they are working towards
100 percent. Vacant lots, lawns, and
yards now grow food so today, 80 per-
cent of leafy (non-grain) vegetables are
grown and consumed within cities and
towns.

I visited an urban garden of three
hectares in Havana that was started by
four people in 1999 and now supports
76 paid workers who all live nearby.
They grow worms to provide fertilizer
for the soil, insects and bacteria to con-
trol pests, and plant species to attract
pests or support insects that will prey
on pests. Human muscles are the pri-
maty source of energy to tend the
crops, yet yields per hectare are as high
as industrial scale agriculture. Local
people buy the produce (which is fresh,
varied, and free of chemicals), dozens
of people are fully employed, the envi-
ronment is cleaner, and people develop
a deeper appreciation of their relation-
ship with food. By criteria of literacy,
medical care, infant mortality, extreme
poverty, and homelessness, the United
Nations rates Cuba as a developed
nation. This, from a country that is in
many ways cut off from the outside
world.

As human population swells and our
climate changes in the 21st century, we
will encounter the limits of the
resources our planet is capable of sup-
plying. If we are to feed humanity and
provide a high quality of life for our
people, we should try to protect diversi-
ty at every level now, because we are
going to need all the help we can get.

Take the Nature Challenge and learn
more at www.davidsuzuki.org.

www.theotherpress.ca | 11