issue 8 june

Today when we think aboutwars our mind is taken to Iraq,Afghanistan, Syria or to manyother parts of the world whereconflicts are currently raging. While theimpact of these wars is significant thereis a bigger war that is being foughtdaily against our own planet. The rootsof this conflict are to be found in aneconomic system that does not respectenvironmental and ethical limits.A handful of energy companiescontinue to try to control the resourcesof the Earth and transform this planetinto a supermarket where everything isfor sale. They are ready to sell our water,our genes, cellules, organs, knowledge,culture and future.The architects of wars such as thosein Afghanistan and Iraq not only seekto exchange blood for petrol but alsorepresent an attack on food, genes,biodiversity and water.A warrior-like mentality, underlying amilitary-industrial setup, is evident inthe names of the herbicides produced byMonsanto such as Round-Up, Macheteand Lasso. American Home Products,which has merged with Monsanto,assigns equally aggressive names suchas “Pentagon” and “Squadron” to itsherbicides.War on our Earth starts in the mind.Violent thoughts give shape to violentactions. Violent categories build violentinstruments and all of this finds ultimateexpression in the metaphors andmethods that are at the base of industrialagricultural and food production.Factories that once produced poisonsand explosives to kill people duringwars have been transformed into factoriesthat produce agrochemicals at theend of the wars.The work of Monsanto and similarcompanies in the field of chemicalproduction and Genetically ModifiedOrganisms has for a long time attractedthe attention of environmentalists whoargue that their herbicides devastatesoils, contaminating them with invasivechemicals that make them unable toproduce healthy crops using traditional(or organic) farming methods. Once afarm plot is destroyed, that farmer isforever enslaved to a chemical-basedfarming protocol. It is both unhealthyand a disaster for the environment andthe irony is that in the long term actualcrop yields are lower than with organicfarming,Pesticides, which were initially used aschemical weapons, cannot control parasites.Genetic engineering could haveoffered an alternative to toxic chemicalproducts, but has brought instead anincreased use of pesticides and herbicidessetting off a war against farmers.In developing countries chemicalsubstances lead farmers into the trapof debts, failure and even suicide. Inindustrialised countries the effects ofchemicals are becoming more obvious.Since 2005 farmers and honeyproducers across the world havereported a mysterious disease thathas been killing honey bees en masse,peaking in the last year. Figures speakof a 40-50 per cent wipe-out in somecases. Bees are vital for pollination, andscientific studies have linked pesticidesto huge losses in their numbers.Bees have been described as ‘the wingsof agriculture’. There are innumerablestudies that demonstrate the fundamentalrole of bees and other insectpollinators in the pollination of plantscultivated by man. Bees have existedon this planet for millions of yearsand have always played a fundamentalbiological role in the ecosystem byguaranteeing the survival of a largenumber of plant species. Together withother pollinators, insects help safeguardthe environment of spontaneous floraimproving biodiversity and impedingthe disappearance of botanical speciesnear extinction. Bees play an equallyimportant role as “environmentalsentinels”; their abundance signalsa tranquil environmental condition,while their disappearance from specificecosystems must immediately draw ourattention towards a possible situation ofenvironmental degradation and risk.Yet despite growing evidence, shortterm commercial interests continue toprevail especially when they are aidedby myopic politicians.A recent report in the Observer revealedhow a UK politician expressed hisgovernment’s objections to a proposedEuropean ban on a new brand ofvery aggressive pesticides known asneonicotinoids, a class of neuro-activeinsecticides.The European Food Safety Authoritywas preparing to act on the findings ofstudies conducted by Henry et al andWhitehorn et al published in Sciencemagazine in April 2012.Owen Paterson, UK Secretary of Statefor Environment, Food and RuralAffairs, had written to the chemicalcompany Syngenta, telling them thathe was ‘extremely disappointed’ by theEuropean Commission’s proposed ban.He said: ‘the UK has been very active’in opposing it and ‘our efforts willcontinue and intensify in the comingdays’. Paterson was responding to directlobbing by chemical companies drivenby profit which have much to lose if theban becomes effective.To be at peace with the Earth hasalways been an ethical and ecologicalimperative that has now become one ofsurvival of our own species. We cannotpretend that it is not our problem.Violence against the earth, biodiversity,water, atmosphere, countryside andfarmers is a martial system that targetsthe people of the world. One billionpeople suffer hunger. Two billion sufferpathologies connected to diet: obesity,diabetes, hypertension and cancer.There are three levels of violenceinvolved in unsustainable development.The first is violence against the Earthwhich is manifested in the currentecological crisis. The second is violenceagainst persons, expressed in poverty,misery and mass exodus to escapefamine. The third is violence of war andconflict, when the powerful usurp theresources found in other communitiesor countries to satisfy their limitlessappetites.When every aspect of life is commercialised,living becomes more expensive,resulting in more impoverishment.On the other hand people can beconsidered rich in material terms evenwithout a monetary economy if theyhave access to the earth, if lands arefertile, if rivers are clean, if the culture isrich and there is a tradition of buildinghouses, if there is nice clothing, goodfood, and if there is social cohesion,solidarity and a communitarian spirit.Markets and money as wealth producedby man has been set as a higher organisationalprinciple for society, and hasbecome the only way to quantify ourwell-being leading to the weakeningof those processes that support lifein nature and society. Paradoxically,the richer we become, the poorer webecome ecologically and culturally.The increase in economic well-beingmeasured in money, leads to an increasein poverty in the material, cultural,ecological and spiritual spheres. Thereal currency of life is life itself. Thispoint of view leads us to ask somequestions: how do we see ourselves inthis world? Why do human beings exist?Are we the only machine that producesmoney and devours resources? Or dowe have a higher objective, a superiorpurpose?A “terraqueous democracy” will allowus to create real living democraciesbased on the intrinsic value of allspecies, all peoples, all cultures, anequal and just distribution of thisplanet’s vital resources, as well as thedecision-making processes necessaryto fairly decide how to utilise them. A“terraqueous democracy” protects theecological processes of life and thefundamental human rights that are atthe basis of the right to live, to havewater, food, health, education, work andsustenance.We need to choose. Should we obey thelaws of the market, of corporate greed,or the laws of nature that reflect God’sinstructions to guide us to maintainearthly ecosystems and the diversity ofliving beings?People’s need for food and water can onlybe satisfied if we protect the capacity ofnature to produce food and water. Deadsoil and rivers give us neither.Therefore defending human rights andestablishing social justice has to start bydefending and taking care of the land.Once we all realise that we can launchthe biggest movement on Earth. •Ali Sadeq has an Msc in EnvironmentalEngineering from Melbourne UniversityAustralia3839