In the last 100 years the diversity within each crop has decreased drastically. Added with the pressure of crop production at the expense of the soil and land. Today they're only 5 different types of potatoes compared to over 300 hundred just centuries ago. This has left it more susceptible to uncontrollable disease, like we saw in many potato famine.
The mistreatment of the United States Economy did not start today. Just like the potato famine was caused by many layers, the US Economy has suffered from years of focusing on quick dollar instead of the consideration of its affect and the big picture.
1 comment:
Shocking loss of diversity.
Interactions and cross-fertilizations is one means of attempting to bring into existence mutations with different strengths, different skills of adaptation, more species possibilities, some of which might be(come) more skilled (or just apparently luckier) at survival.
This may be one reason that over time, (ability to) change has become vital to success, success being relative, of course; success for one entity perhaps part of a system of decline or compromise for another entity.
You are so right in your assessment of the many layers recipe for collapse and failure; a number of small contributors over time (so easy to ignore something so subtly adverse in a single isolated moment or small moment sequence) may become a profound system of change.
To step out of a situation and reframe it for its larger impact and implications is not necessarily attempted routinely. Nor is it routinely encouraged to view every action as part of a system of interactions; a study of how things interact with any other things is not a regular part of how thinking has been/is encouraged by a majority of the US population, especially those whose work involves determining how systems and perceptions of systems are framed.
Thank you for this very useful look at personal connection to global situations. I like your look at the local root system of global events.
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