My fast disappearing backyard

Ten years ago, my thoughts on sustainability hovered around the question of overpopulation, resource crunch, peak oil, global warming and the military industrial complex.

Today, those worries are not gone – but more have been added. I am ten years older, and feel almost certain, that, in the west, this is the first generation in more than two centuries that will be worse off in average than the previous generation in terms of financial security, even as this generation spews unbelievably large quantity of junk on the planet.

A nagging feeling that science was being subverted by voodoo economics and snake oil selling politicians did not help. Then came the economic crunch in the making. Average Americans were supposed to be in debt of several thousand each on their credit cards and hundreds of thousands on their home lone. Without being an economist, I could understand that money was being created out of thin air and this was not only creating endless inflation, it was not too different from legalized counterfeiting and ultimately unsustainable. I became intrigued by Ron Paul and his views on money supply, and a warmongering economic philosophy. There were two American politicians that intrigued me – Ron Paul on the Republican side and Dennis Kucinich among the Democrats.  Both were maverick, on the fringes and sidelined.

I developed a healthy suspicion of the Chicago school of economics and Milton Friedman. By the time he passed away in 2006, I had glanced across a few of his books, read up more

on globalization, on WTO on world bank and IMF, and had developed a nagging suspicion of it all.

Early in the new millennia I moved from the US to Canada, one of the best moves I have done in my life that started in India and saw me through all the oceans of the world, and then to Hong Kong and Florida. I came to love the earthliness of Canadians, their sense of balance with nature and their dealings with the first nation people.

Soon, the Iraq war happened, Bush defeated Kerry and got re-elected in the US, and Canada made a serious turn to the right when Stephen Harper came to power at Ottawa.

I lost my parents one by one, and my uncles and aunts. Before long, I was among the most senior of my close relatives and had no one to look up to. My perception of the world started changing. Its terribly lonely, not to have anyone to look up to.

Kolmi, Paul and kids

Through a cousin, I came to know of Quail Spring Permaculture and through Kolmi, learned about AID (Association for India’s development), who were having their annual seminar in Seattle that year. Kolmi connected me up with them, and I ended up attending it in late May of 2011.

It was another eye opener for me. I came to know some inspirational persons in the process and could see how a handful of dedicated people could trigger grassroots level change for the better and from the bottom up. Names that stick with me till this date are Ravi Kuchimanchi, Aravinda, Kiran Vissa, Revathi, Somnath Mukherjee, Jonathan Fine and Kamayani Mahabal among others.

Subsequently came in touch with UBC Social Justice Center and good work done by socially aware student body. They have a Facebook page and I got invited there some years ago.

One thing let to another and friend Arun invited me to the White Rock Social Justice film society and their film shows. Met more Canadians concerned with social justice. From there, and from connection with AID-India I came to realize a new struggle on the horizon on the world food supply and an ongoing effort or Corporate takeover of agri-business away from the farmer. I also learned about Genetically modified crops and animals, and its patenting issue.

Vandana Shiva

I ended up speaking with Ms Vandana Shiva on phone, about corporate theft of community knowledge and about biopiracy. A long one hour talk a few years ago was converted into a podcast. The realization came on the need to preserve seed diversity in the face of rapid annihilation of seed varieties under a mono-culture onslaught of the GM pesticide peddling corporate interest.

I came to understand a fundamental shift in national Governments where corporate interest overshadowed long term interest of citizens, of nature and of the planet.

As my involvement grew on sustainability for the planet, there was a cementing of the belief that the planet was getting globalized on multiple fronts – through corporatocracy on one end, and through a mass movement mushrooming up to resist it on another end. It was a classic class struggle in the making.

I got to know of the farmers march in India through ASHA (Alliance of Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture) and my talks with Kiran Vissa and Kavitha Kuruganti. I also came to know of God’s little acre farm in Surrey, BC and Jas Singh, its farmer.

I came to know of movements to declare Surrey as GM free zone, same as Richmond and a dozen other communities in British Columbia.

I came to know Bobbie Blair, and her work towards GMO free Langley. She invited me to speak for a few minutes at the Langley Town Hall theatre after the show of a movie – One man, One Cow, One Planet, and I did so. It was more or less my first attempt at public speaking on the issue of GMO.

…. more to come here later …

A letter to an MLA

To Ms. Lana Popham, MLA, Sanich South, BC, Canada (by email)

4v082_LanaPopham

March 11, 2013

Dear Ms. Popham

I support your opposition to GM apple and would like to add my signature to the campaign.

Science’s understanding of genetics is in its infancy. How gene tampering might ultimately work out long term is not known. How the patenting process works for this Apple, and if it could cross pollinate with other apples and how those natural apples might or might not be affected, is not known.

If at all patent should be granted for life forms, where the gene was not “invented” but simply taken from one place and put into another, is a serious question – not to mention the ethical issue of owning life forms. Apple that browns has a natural function – it is an indication that it is beginning to rot at the edges. Rotting itself is a natural process which we as humans may not like, but is nonetheless a process that involves many other cohabiting organisms. So, what is the implication of an apple that will not brown? Is it because it will hide the fact that it is rotting ? That can have serious health problems.

Could it be that this GM apple simply will not rot so easily ? Why not? Since rotting is in itself a natural process where organisms consume and proces the apple, artificial gene tampering that repels microorganisms from this apple thus prevents it from rotting, can have even more serious implications. We need to know far more than simplistic explanations of a non-browning apple before it should be allowed on an unsuspecting person’s table.

I do not know if it is possible to raise all these issues with the local Government, but it is suggested that a moratorium be placed on marketing of all Genetically modified non-processed foods such as fruits, and a restriction be imposed on any further genetic modification of processed food such as cereals till sufficient information is gathered on their long term effect on humans, on soil, on biodiversity and on sustainability.


Thanking you
Tony Mitra
10891 Cherry Lane, Delta, BC, V4E 3L7, Canada
604-649 7535
Tony.mitra@gmail.com

—————————

13th March 2013

Hi Tony,

 Thank you for this – and for the retweets and your blog post. I really appreciate your support. You ask very thoughtful questions and make a very sensible proposal at the end of your message. Great input!

 Lana

——————————————————————-

April 7th: Lana Popham, NDP Agriculture Critic, speaks in North Vancouver. Lana  introduced our petition against the GMO apple with 5500 names on it into the BC legislature in late March 2013.

Venue : Buddha-Full 106 1st St W #101, Time: 4.30-6.30 PM

For more information contact: gefreebc07@yahoo.ca
Pls try and attend if possible. Bring friends.
———————————————————————-
Small typo and grammar corrections done on the orignal letter – to clean up the language.

A few videos about Debal Deb

Dr. Debal Deb on Golden Rice. Dr Debal Deb is the true essence of a scientist. A scientist turned farmer who has the ability to understand issues and environments not only on an intellectual level but as importantly, on an emotional one. He understands what is taking place globally and has come to his own conclusions in how best to correct the damage taking place, scientifically and practically. He understands that science can be used as a solution to our food crisis, just that it needs to be functioning holistically, working with the natural systems and almost as importantly, with the farmers and their generations of agricultural knowledge.

This maverick scientist working against the corporate and institutional grain, dedicating his life to scientifically prove that nature already had the answers and what we were being sold has little to do with sustainability and everything to do with control. Debal, I was told, was one of four scientists working on what is known as the ‘Food Web Theory’. Rather than trying to destroy life around agriculture, Debal argues that we need to understand and then simulate an efficient bio-diverse environment, a more holistic approach to agriculture, one that has existed for many thousands of years. He is involved in preservation of over 1,000 strains of rice, apart from training others how to do so.

I decided to include here a few videos uploaded on U tube on my talks with Debal, that deserve to be on my blog. These are

1. Dr. Debal Deb – on Golden Rice

[youtube TFVCmlYVbRM]

 

 

2. Dr. Debal Deb on GM crop – part 2

[youtube mcBs_iTGn6M]

 

 

3. Dr. Debal Deb on GM crop – part 3

[youtube JtRep13D8mw]

 

 

4. Dr. Debal Deb on Rabindranath Tagore, Santiniketan, and the corrosive effects of Bengaliana

[youtube bf7G48H6oFY]

And now I shall include below a video on not created by me, but also of Debal Deb talking about food security and against Golden rice. The video is titled – Asian Farmers Say No to Golden Rice.

[youtube E_y2Xfl3-ok]

Tonu (তনু)