Seeding the Future

A man known as the Indiana Jones of agriculture may seem an unlikely 21st Century hero. But his work is heroic in every way and I would like to pay tribute to his and others' selfless efforts in this field.

A documentary on Australian TV highlighted his search for the ancient seeds of our staple food crops - wheat, barley, and even the humble chickpea, of which more later. Faced with constraints of time and finance, unreliable transportation and travel across warzones, and reliant only on his team of assistants, knowledge of the world, sheer determination and belief in his mission, Ken Street set out for the mountainous terrain of Tajikistan in search of what he describes as "green gold".

Wars are being fought over oil, he points out, but these ancient seeds are the holy grail that will ensure humanity's survival into the future.

The problem as he sees it, is that we have lost the biodiversity that made our crop gene pool so resilient. Now our only hope is to reintroduce those elements of genetic strength and capacity to withstand disease back into the genetic "soup". In an article he is quoted "We have lost something like 80 per cent of our agri-biodiversity in the last 100 years. That's shocking. Let's not lose any more. China used to have 10,000 different forms of wheat. Now they have only got a thousand of those left. It's the same for all of our major crops, fruit and vegetables. Which means that really useful diversity - unique sequences of DNA - have just gone extinct."

It could be depressing, except that Street and other agricultural scientists are working against the clock to ensure this precious resource is saved for generations to come and ensure that these seeds will produce crops that have the ability to withstand what would spell out a doomsday scenario (drought conditions, extremes of temperatures, etc.) for less robust strains of crops that we rely on now.

And to make sure that these seeds will be safe, somewhere deep under the permafrost in a remote place called Svalbard in Norway, a vault (befittingly nicknamed the Doomsday Vault because it has been built to withstand all manner of disasters) has been built to house them. You have to love the Norwegian government and those who support the foundation that manages it!

But coming back to the chickpeas - what is it about this humble little bean that makes it so valuable? Well it's a great source of protein and carbohydrate for a start. It's low in fat and very high in calcium (equivalent to yoghurt) and zinc.

And they are great to eat - chickpeas form the basis for heavenly hommous and fantastic felafel, and can be cooked in curries, couscous and salads.

Best of all, though, it could mean fewer people in the world will go hungry because it is an excellent source of cheap nutrition. At the moment most of the world's production goes to feeding livestock!

Live simply that others may simply live

It's a maxim we could all do well to adopt if we are serious about the issue of poverty.

I was having a conversation the other day with a friend and we were bemoaning the fact that moving is such a chore because of all the Stuff we accumulate and think is important. It really isn't. The less we have, the less we have to worry about. But more importantly we send a message into the world of increasing consumerism to stop producing so much. If we all reduced by even a fraction what we spend on unnecessary items, we would be making a significant contribution to conserving the earth's resources, and that in turn would have a knock-on effect on other issues.

Moving back to Australia has made me value the simpler things in life. Away from the crass commercialism of the busy shop-till-you-drop hub that Singapore has become, I delight in gazing out over the lie of the land, listening to the silence of the night, seeing nature in close-up. Tonight, as I arrived at the Canberra Baha'i Centre (set in a particularly beautiful location overlooking the surroundings), the sun was painting the sky pink and gold, and as I admired the view, my eye was caught by a group of kangaroos nonchalantly grazing in the nearby grass. They are regular visitors to the grounds apparently. I walked down the slope from the car park where the trees were still in their Spring finery and had to smile at the thought that it was just such small things that bring joy and contentment.

I remember the comments of a group of Junior Youth (12-14 yr olds) who visited a Baha'i community one year in Sarawak. There, conditions were spartan in comparison to Singapore, food was simple and there were relatively few modern conveniences. Yet it was obvious to the visitors that the people there were perfectly happy and really wanted for nothing. It was something of a revelation to the urbanised youth.

This year my friend said she didn't want anyone to give her any gifts. But maybe we could all make better choices when giving. Unicef, for example, has a range of ways to enable us to contribute to making life better for those in need - for $40, for example, you can give the gift of mosquito nets for a family to protect them from malaria. Better than something your relative will chuck into the back of a cupboard after a couple of weeks.

Charities like the Salvation Army or St Vincent de Paul take contributions of clothes, household items, toys and books. I have picked up some really good bargains for next to nothing and I am helping the environment by reusing someone else's discarded items in addition to contributing to helping the less fortunate. It's a double win-win!

Other ways to make a difference range from supporting local businesses, joining the library, buying fruit and vegetables in season, purchasing fairtrade products whenever possible and taking part in service projects.

It's simple really.