Poetry week – I’m all ears – a poem about feeding the world.

Posted on by Opher

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I’m All Ears

This was a  bit of fun really. Behind it there is a serious message though. We are seven billion people. It is far too many. In order to feed, house and entertain that many we are steadily encroaching into the wilderness and destroying wildlife. We need to reduce our numbers drastically if we wish to preserve any wilderness. In the meantime we have to feed everyone. About a third of the world – two and a half billion – are starving. To feed them we need to make some strides in food production. If we were to make significant strides in producing significantly more food from the same area then I am all in favour. GM might be the answer.

I am a devout environmentalist but I am not a Luddite. I believe it is sensible to go slowly and test out new inventions properly. I think it is important to check the downsides and not play them down for profit. I believe that the corporations and governments have a long sad history of lying which leaves people distrustful. They will do anything for profit (see VW). But I do believe in Science and I am not automatically against innovation.

For me GM has the potential to be transformative. By putting in the right genes we can make plants resistant, increase yield and enable crops to grow in deserts. I am not foolish. I know that all of this has a downside. But if it enables mankind to feed its hungry mouths while preventing its inexorable steamrollering of nature I am all for it.

This is a poem about that!

I’m All Ears

I’m all ears

When it comes to feeding the skinny and lean.

I’m all ears

When it comes to changing the deserts to green.

I’m all ears

When you speak of the green revolution’s dawn

I’m all ears

But what else would you expect from GM corn?

 

Opher 8.10.2015

6 thoughts on “Poetry week – I’m all ears – a poem about feeding the world.”

  1. I hear what you’re saying, but I stumble around this subject. If our world works together as a complete and perfect system (when we get out of the way and leave it do its job) then I have to believe that the food we grow naturally is formulated to exactly what the body needs. To mess around with the genetic composition just may, in the long run, have unforeseen consequences. I read Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” about the meat packing industry in Chicago and how the people (mostly immigrants) who worked there would buy the company’s meat from the local stores. They thought they were eating well, but in reality they were starving to death because the meat was not good meat. It was all filler. After Sinclair’s book was published the government sat up and took notice and set in place some standards the industry had to work by. In thinking about this I wonder if it might be the same kind of situation. I KNOW GMO’s are already introduced into our diets, but how are they affecting the way our body metabolizes them? (Btw, I am NOT on the “I hate GMO’s bandwagon.” Truthfully I know next to nothing about it. But after reading that book I am cautious about it.

    1. Hi Cheryl. I thought you’d abandoned me!
      Caution is always good. I am cautious. I am particularly doubtful when I see the big corporations moving in to make profit. They are unscrupulous and untrustworthy. But as a scientists who taught about genetic modification I can see no intrinsic dangers. It should be possible to take any advantageous gene from one organism and implant it in another. There should be no unharmful effects. We could take the genes for the manufacture of a nutritious protein and add it to any other organism enriching it as a food source. We should be able to select genes in order to grow crops in desert soil.
      With the world’s population going through the roof and a thrd actively starving it will be necessary to increase food supply and my fear is that they will just cop down more forest until it is all gone, overfish until the seas are barren. GM could provide an answer without destroying the planet. It could be an answer.
      I agree – it is the lesser of two evils. While there is no inherent danger I think that the corporations will likely do it in a way that ends up creating problems – such s introducing herbicide resistance and then spraying prodigiously with poisonous herbicides that will pollute waterways.
      I think there is a debate to be had.
      Nice to hear from you again – all the best – Opher

      1. I’m absolutely sure that’s true what you said about insecticides. We never learn… We had a family here who had a company come out and spray around the outside of their house for spiders. The next day all three of their little girls (5 and under) were dead. Turned out the company was using illegal stuff to do that. We seem to hold life more cheaply all the time. That’s what worries me about how abuse happens.

        No haven’t been ignoring you. Am STILL running a week behind since we got home from our daughter’s. Been fairly glued to the computer trying to catch up. I obviously subscribe to too many blogs! His lordship is about ready to stage an intervention! He’s sorry he bought me the Chromebook as I can take this little sucker ANYWHERE! 😀 Worked great on the plane!

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