Winter Bulletin 2006-07 Vol. 22, No.4

Articles:

Introduction
Nutrition Education in Mexico
New Beginnings for Plenty Belize
A GATE Volunteer Tells Her Story
Katrina Relief: The Beat Goes On

Dear Friends of Plenty,

Sixteen years ago, in 1990, Albert Bates, Director of Plenty’s Natural Rights Center, wrote a book titled, Climate in Crisis—The Greenhouse Effect and What We Can Do. The Foreword to the book was contributed by then Senator Albert Gore, Jr. in which he wrote:

“Right now, the rate of global warming may be 100 times faster than it has ever been. Very soon, the Earth will become hotter than at any time in human history. As the continents warm and the ice at the poles melts, oceans will rise, droughts will devastate crops, and entire species of plants and animals will become extinct. It now seems evident that this extremely rapid warming is being caused by us, the humans, rather than by geological or astronomical processes that were going on before we arrived.

As individuals and leaders we must shift the world’s political system into a new state of equilibrium—an eco-librium—characterized by greater cooperation and by a focus on the future. The solutions we seek will be found in a new faith in the future of life on Earth, after our own, a faith in the future that justifies sacrifices in the present, a new moral courage to choose higher values in the conduct of human affairs, and a new reverence for absolute principles that can serve as stars by which to map the future course of our species and our place within creation.”

Albert asked me to write the “Afterword” in which I wrote:

“Even today, in the face of mounting evidence that the continued survival of life on Earth is at stake, world leaders are wavering, scientists are haggling over the numbers, and industries are dragging their feet. If something is going to be done, then surely we the people are going to have to make it happen. We have to start somewhere, and a good place to start is to try and understand what is going on.

Before I read Climate in Crisis I knew the problem was serious, but I didn’t know on what orders of magnitude. After reading it, I got the picture. How serious? Well it looks like if we don’t do the job, we’re history, and the cockroach may say, “Good riddance!” The book makes it abundantly clear: it’s time to wake up, heed the early warnings, and quit our self-destructive ways. It’s not like we’re helpless. We weren’t born yesterday. As a species we need to act our age. If the cold war is ending, it’s none too soon, because this job is going to take all of us, together, at once.”

Of course, no sooner did we wrap up the cold war, than we plunged into the “War on Terrorism,” and Al Gore, 16 years later, is circling the Earth and ringing the alarm with his powerful exposition of An Inconvenient Truth (now available on DVD). How many millions of American babies born in 1990 are now able to get drivers licenses and add their own contributions to atmospheric CO2?

In 1990 it was estimated that the rainforest was being destroyed at the rate of an acre every second. Now the estimate is an acre and a half every second. We’ve managed to destroy half of the rainforest world-wide and many experts believe that, at this rate, it could all be gone in 40 years. A lot of rainforest is being cleared to raise cattle or grow soybeans to feed cattle. At the same time, loss of rainforest contributes to more drought and loss of topsoil, which make raising food harder. Last summer Pine Ridge Reservation got no rain from June to September which was devastating to the home gardens program Plenty has helped to support since 1986.

These are the kinds of considerations that drive Plenty’s project priorities. It takes much less water and land to raise plant-based protein than animal protein hence our Central American Food Security Initiative stresses plant proteins such as soybeans and amaranth for human consumption. The Garden-Based Agriculture for Toledo’s Environment project in Belize teaches organic gardening and crop rotation as a more rainforest-friendly means of growing food than slash and burn. Kids To The Country encourages an appreciation for conservation and the natural world in urban young people. Katrina has shown us what we can expect if we live under the delusion that we can abuse the natural world without paying a steep price. Real change begins with changing minds.

“The changes demanded of us will be motivated by our natural instinct to survive, and by our often even more intense desire to provide for the survival and well-being of our children and grandchildren.” —Albert Gore, Jr. from his Foreword to Climate In Crisis.
May your holidays be healing and filled with the blessings of family and friends.

With gratitude,

Peter Schweitzer
And all of us at Plenty