David Peat

Re-envisioning the Planet 179scientists are designing crops that will meet optimum criteria, regardingnot only their nutrient content but also their ease of harvesting andpacking, shelf life, resistance to spoilage, uniformity of size, and so on.In more and more cases only one variety of seed is used. But this makesthe entire crop more vulnerable to disease and insect damage. In addition,these new crops require the use of pesticides and herbicides, aswell as fertilizers and ripeners. As a result modern farming methodsare making much of the third world dependent on the products of thechemical industry. In turn, this requires a change in traditional farmingmethods, an alteration of entire social structures and reliance onthe products and assistance of the industrial nations.When it comes to animals, intensive farming, with large numbersof animals kept in close confinement, encourages the rapid spread ofdiseases and therefore requires the use of antibiotics. Hormones alsospeed up weight-gain and increase milk production. In addition, intensivefarming produces environmental damage through soil erosionand pollution of lakes and rivers.Both complexity theory and common sense tell us that diversity isthe key to survival in the natural world. Yet more and more today weseem to be forced by circumstances to put all our eggs in single baskets.This can only spell disaster down the line. Natural systems have a builtinredundancy. If one part fails, others can take over. Block an artery inthe human body and blood will continue to flow through smaller vesselsthat rapidly adapt to the increased blood flow. Plant several varietiesof potatoes in a field and when a fungus or a virus strikes down onevariety at least the others will survive. But when there is only a singlesystem in the game then any failure or difficulty could be catastrophic.Take as a particular example the hard disc on your computer. Whileyou are writing an essay or an email message, information is beingstored at particular locations (addresses) on this hard disc. When youthen reread what you have written, the computer jumps to those addressesand displays the information on the screen. However, whenlocal damage occurs on your disc, as sometimes happens, some of theseaddresses become unreadable and part of your work is lost—the harddisc has no built-in redundancy. Contrast this with the human brain.The words of a song, the memory of a face, and the tacit knowledge of