Wake up and Smell the Coffee!

At ‘Stupid o’clock’ this morning I heard a commentator on the BBC World Service say that, instead of the predicted 0.8m sea level rise expected by 2100, it’s likely to be closer to 2.0m. The next programme examined the plight of cattle farmers in Colombia where forest has been cleared on the foothills of the Andes to provide land for grazing. But the resulting erosion has greatly depleted soil nutrition and increased topsoil runoff. Most of the cattle raised here are emaciated and sick. What a dreadful start to a day to be poisoned by ‘Fear Porn’ before breakfast! I returned to bed, not just to ignore this nightmare scenario, but genuinely hoping to get some more sleep. But as I lay there it occurred to me that there are strong parallels between agricultural practice in Colombia and everyday life in the UK. – Let me explain. Not long ago the standard of care within the UK’s NHS would have been to prescribe an antibiotic to reduce the inflammation and pain from an infant’s ear infection. I remember as a young parent frequently seeking such relief so that the household could sleep. The short term expedient ignored the long term consequences, which are now coming home to roost. Around the world all types of chronic disease have been growing rapidly as the human immune system weakens. Our monoculture approach to food production, and modern agricultural methods in general, are largely to blame. Most of the human immune system is due to the microbiome in the gut so that anything that weakens the microbiome wreaks havoc on our health. Antibiotics are weapons of mass destruction to the microbiome and herbicides used to ease harvesting, such as glyphosate - a patented antibiotic, also attack the microbiome through the Shikimate Pathway. The loss of millions of bacterial species from the microbiome prevents the production and absorption of many of the nutrients necessary for our immune system to function. So residues of agricultural chemicals on our food are slowly poisoning us. Just as the deforested Andean foothills are disfigured with rainwater gullies, our intestinal linings get damaged by gluten so that undigested food molecules enter our bloodstream stimulating an immune response. It seems that on all fronts we are attacking ourselves, from our unique gut microbiomes to the very fabric of the planet that sustains us. This is a very poor bedtime story; I’ve just produced some Fear Porn of my own. But surely it’s better to face the truth and to change course than to keep taking Soma tablets and distracting ourselves? It’s unlikely to be my problem in 50 years but at least it’s easier to be dead and 2m underground than trying to live 2m underwater.