Week Five----The Complexity of Life ....

Can diversification save species? ....The extinction of many species of plants and animals is largely due to human activities. What comes to my mind is agriculture and our tendencies toward monoculture---the harvesting of short-term profit over long-term sustainability. The diversity of crop species is necessary for ensuring the security of our food supply. However, the fact is, we still choose to grow vast fields of only a few species of one crop (if that many), and they will be the most profitable species of this crop. And when this crop is attacked by a disease that threatens to destroy it because it lacks biological resistance, and even our chemical pesticides can not fix the problem ....we have a real problem. The article on Cavendish bananas we read in class is a perfect example of this not so uncommon scenario. At the end of the day, whether we are talking about crops, animals or our habitats---biodiversity breeds interdependence, and interdependence is what connects Everything.

Do you vote for the chicken or the egg? ....Ah, such a dilemma. I will stick with Darwin on this one---the egg. From Darwin's perspective, what qualifies as a "chicken" had to have been bred from two mating creatures that were not qualitatively "chickens," but together, made a "chicken." And this chicken hatched from his very own egg---a chicken egg---that was laid by his not-quite-chicken mother. (Afterall, a chicken can not hatch from a not-quite-chicken egg.) I vote for the egg.

"I always eat my broccoli!" ....I feel that food is medicine. There are foods that can protect against disease ....but there are also foods that can cause disease. We are what we eat---but we are more than that of course. We have our genetic pre-dispositions. We are also affected the environments that we live in, the air we breathe. But it is a no-brainer to me that eating foods as close as possible to their sources (for example, fresh vegetables) is nutritionally superior to the processed, packaged items that qualify as food for most people. My own food choices are primarily based on nutrition. One aspect of our culture that I find astounding is that many people lack knowledge of basic nutrition---do not regard food as their 'fuel'. And many do not respect the healing (and disease causing) aspects of food and realize that they have choices to make.