Re: CONFESSIONS

Interesting thread.

I agree with those who state that we live a very unnatural
life, with all sorts of modifications to the natural order
of things.  I also agree with those who point out that our
continued messing with nature will no doubt yield more of
the same type of unforeseen problems we're dealing with from
prior generations - they were also very sure of what they
thought they were doing.

What I find worrisome about the trends in genetic manipulation
are projects such as introducing genes into crop plants to
make the impervious to herbicides - so that herbicides can be
used with impunity!  This is not the best approach.  I would
have assumed that scientists would be using this technology
to introduce traits that would further adapt the plant to grow
in the environment in which they grow.  Instead, there is this
concept that all crops SHOULD be able to be grown in ANY
environment with the aid of chemicals or genetic modification.

In many of the cases I've seen, 'advancement' in farming
practices usually means a higher cost to produce the same crop.
Some simple technologies yield good results in the short term,
but usually create problems in the future.  Since the people
most easily hit by this are the farmers and consumers, we find
our current situation where only large corporate farmers can
survive and consumers pay higher and higher prices.

One of the most interesting situations I read about was
concerning a village in the Andes of South America.  The people
who lives there are a remnant population from an ancient culture
that is long gone.  Archeologists would come to study the
remains of the ancient people.  Meanwhile, the current villages
were struggling to make a life on this harsh mountain top.  There
was significant poverty and health problems.  Outsides would
routinely try and help this village out, bringing in 'experts'
to try and establish farming practices so that these people
could be self sufficient.  Ultimately, when the outsiders left,
these efforts would fail since they largely depended upon
outside resources (seed, materials, tools, etc.) which the
village could not consistently afford to purchase.

A graduate student here at UC Berkeley was also studying the
farming practices of the ancient culture which previously lived
in this region.  When he can face to face with the problems that
the village was experiencing, he felt they could benefit from
a reintroduction of the methods he was documenting from his
archeological research.  Over a period of a few years, he
trained the villagers to create the special type of planting
beds and irrigation channels these ancient people had used
to cultivate this steep slopes (quite different from our
western methods devised for flat ground!).  He taught them to
use locally available resources for fertilizers (rock powders,
seaweed, compost, etc.).  He reintroduced crops similar to
those grown by the ancients (rather than our standard western
crops).

Now the village has a thriving, self-sustaining farming
practice.  They can feed themselves and now sell some of their
produce to neighboring regions.  With this surplus money, they
can purchase materials needed to improve their circumstances.
All from locally available resources using locally appropriate
methods.

Westerners should drop this concept that we can somehow 'trick'
the natural world into doing our bidding.  Working with nature
is the only way to ensure long-term success.  Haven't we all
seen enough disaster movies to figure this out!

humbly yours,
Sean O.

Sean A. O'Hara                       sean.ohara@groupmail.com
h o r t u l u s   a p t u s          710 Jean Street
'a garden suited to its purpose'     Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
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