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.

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