Film review of Power of Community

The video "The Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" was shown at the Carrington Monday, 17 March, 2008 by BMPN.

Peak Oil is the point where oil prices inexorably go up because of rising production costs due to declining reserves. It has been predicted to hit globally about now, and indeed we are seeing oil prices rising. Since much of our society is based on having cheaply available fuel for transportation, peak oil will affect all of our lives dramatically. So I was interested to see how Cuba coped with the sudden severe drop in the oil that was available to them after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.

The transition was very difficult. For four to five years there were severe food shortages, so much so that some pregnant mothers were malnourished, children were underweight, and the average adult lost about 24 pounds. The government imposed food rationing, thus making sure that everybody got a minimum amount of food. During the ‘Special Period’, as Cubans call it, providing food for survival was an obvious priority.

No longer having access to industrial fertilizer and the fuel to transport farm produce, Cubans began to learn how to garden organically on urban plots in Havana, and on private land that the State released to local groups. They were aided in this by a group of permaculture teachers from Australia. Oxen were reintroduced for plowing; their manure helping to build soil fertility. Agriculture became much more labour intensive, and in time agricultural workers were among the highest paid workers. It took four to five years for soil fertility to build and for ample locally produced fresh vegetables and fruits to be available.

None of this is surprising. Permaculturists and Peak Oil activists have been thinking (and acting) along these lines for years, and the Slow Food Movement is helping people get started with workshops showing people how to grow their own food. http://www.katoombachamber.com/content/view/19/34/.

However, seeing the images of Havana and the on-site interviews with Cubans who had been through the Special Period made the prospect of coping with Peak Oil seem more real. (Roberto Perez was an enthusiastic Cuban permaculturalist featured in the film and he recently visited Australia.)
Cuba's drop in oil availability was sudden. Ours will be a slow decline, and the transition will be affected by the introduction of renewable energy, energy-efficient cars and buildings, and related thrusts towards sustainability. Techno-optimists say we will be okay but others are doubtful. I found myself wishing that people from the NSW Department of Planning would see the video, since some of the stress of the transition from abundant oil to high-priced oil, with all that it entails, could be mitigated by advanced preparation. Andrew Gaines

Naturally Growing Garden Course

An introductory short course in growing an integrated garden of fruit, vegetables and flowers using the principles of organic growing and permaculture, is to be held at "Dayspring", 85 Winbourne Rd, Hazelbrook with Jan Goodlet.

Saturday mornings in May 3rd, 10th & 17th . (12 hours in total)
COST: $120

Jan Goodlet and her family have transformed ‘Dayspring’ into a productive organic and permaculture garden for over 30 years. She enjoys sharing these gardening principles with others.

For more information contact Jan on 4758 6591 or Carolyn on 0425 314 863 or livingwell@pnc.com.au

Seedsavers Conference 2008

Seedsavers held their 20th conference at Gulgong Showground (near Mudgee) on the 29th and 30th March, 2008. You can find out more at the Seedsavers Website

Genetic Modification and Epigenetics: How GM Malfunctions

What is the fundamental problem with genetic plant modification (GE/GM)? The answer is relatively simple. The DNA of cotton, corn, soy, canola and other plants can all be made resistant to specific herbicide/s, or otherwise changed in an attempt to harvest from them fuel oils, drugs etc.

Many plants are already resistant to certain herbicides, e.g. many grasses are unaffected by broadleaf herbicides (BH), so BH-resistant cereals are 'oversprayed' with BH on to the crop without killing them. The extent to which conventional, non-GM, non-organic farmers rely on these is something many organic growers may not realise.

Indeed, some of our most vocal opponents of GM are actually these same 'conventional' non-organic farmers (eg anti-GM spokesperson Julie Newman from WA). But many farmers do not realise the ultimate threat emanting from GM: loss of food security, and possible financial security, arising from potential contamination/cross-pollination from adjacent GM crops.

Giant GM monopolies hold individual farmers responsible for any contamination arising, setting the scene for drawn-out 'David and Goliath'-style legal conflicts (such as the infamous case Monsanto vs. Percy Schmeiser (photo).

Whether it be an environmental factor (drought, wet, heat, cold, soil type) or a disease (fungal, viral, bacterial etc) or a chemical (ie herbicide), there will always be an individual member of a species (be it human, animal or plant) which has, or develops, a resistance to something in order to enhance its survival chances. It may be only 1:100 to begin with.

The reason for this is a function of epigenetics. Epigenetics means a change in gene function. In genetic modification this adaption is artificially engineered, i,e it is not a natural function which would lead to selection for plant beeding. Epigenetics means that an individual organism adjusts itself in that environment, due to non-genetic factors that influence the behaviour of cells traits and functions. At any one time, maybe only a small number of genes are actually "switched on" as a response to external factors. Most genes are simply dormant, but will switch on, if and when required to respond to the environment.

A good example is when a species shrinks in size as a response to shrinking resources. It is known that horses did this in North America about 55 million years ago in response to the altered environment of high CO2 and subsequent soaring temperatures. The environmental causation may vary, but the result is similar, and other examples have been found. In approx. 8,000 years of plant breeding, selections have been made which have led to specific crosses (or hybrids) which can also be naturally occurring.

However, in GM there is a 'forced mutation', whereby a gene is inserted by a 'shotgun' method into plant DNA. Sometimes this gene comes from a virus, bacteria or other non-plant species. The method creates a 'forced entry' and it is energetically unstable. Epigenetics, on the other hand is 'crosstalk' between the genes and the environment.

A genome is a 'full complement of genetic material within an organism'; it can change within one generation (called a fluid genome). This assists a species to develop natural resistance to new diseases, insects, weed competitors, etc. Fusarium wilt is becoming more endemic in crops sprayed with, and resistant to, glyphosate. As these GM glyphosate-resistant plants are just one genotype, they may not be able to develop a resistance to fusarium. They are really only one individual multiplied, and GM scenarios can only further reduce the biodiversity of crop seed stocks.

A film titled "Outfoxed" explores the 'missing link' between production and environmental understanding, ie reductionist science and technological power dominating ecological understanding and human wisdom. The result of business interest steering technology is GM, the stated aims of which are reduction of chemical use and increasing crop yields, neither of which have materialised.

The real agenda is business promotion. GE/GM however is an extraordinarily experimental procedure. Unravelling DNA cannot explain how it works, so shooting or injecting foreign DNA at random into other DNA carries a risk. If you don't know how it works, how can you be assured of a specific outcome? As life is biologically active, the outcome cannot be guaranteed. GM is altered DNA, but it is far from clear what exactly has been altered.

The above article is partly sourced from notes taken during a talk by Dr Maarten Stapper, ex-CSIRO, BSc, AgEng,PhD, Adelaide, Tuesday 18th September 2007

Deb Guildner

You might also want to visit http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm for futher information.

Engineers adopt Permaculture

There is university competition for first year engineering students called "Engineers Without Borders Challenge." It is a national design competition based on a sustainable development project.

In 2007, the 3rd prize was awarded to RMIT for a water supply and treatment, permaculture design. The final 41 short listed designs will assist the Uluru Childrens Home in Alampara in southern India improve the waste water treatment, water supply, sanitation, permaculture, agriculture, rural electrification, bridges, household and medical technology.

Information sourced from Water Engineering 2(1) March 2008. No link to article but you can read more about Engineers Without Borders. Picture from EWB site.