We hear a lot these days about preserving the biosphere. And, that's a good thing. The biosphere is essential to life. But, as we think about our fragile biosphere and reflect on the importance of biodiversity, we can take one step to the side and consider how fragile cultural diversity is.

There are about 6,000 languages in the world. 6,000! New Guinea has 1,000 of those languages, some as different from one another as English is from Mandarin Chinese. In fact, Canada has 89 languages, four of which are now extinct. Within a generation, 3,000 of the world's languages will be dead, no longer spoken. Today, as another elder dies without passing on their tongue to the children, more than just a set of grammar rules and curious syntax is lost. The whole history and culture of a people are lost. Libraries of information about human connection to nature. This is because language and culture and intertwined, inseparable. Language carries culture and preserves it.

I've done quite a bit of reflection over languages since I have lived in Catalonia. In Spain there are several autonomous regions, some with their own languages. In fact, there are four main languages in Spain: Basque, Catalan, Galician and Castilian. Castilian is more commonly known as Spanish. But the other languages are officially recognized and official in their respective autonomous regions. Galician, Catalan and Spanish all come from the same family of Latin-derived languages that changed over the centuries due to geographical separation of their peoples. Basque is one of the most unique languages in the world and even today, linguists are not sure where it fits into the evolution of language. In addition to these mentioned languages, there are more, including Aranese, Asturian and Extremaduran. There are more still. I have had the opportunity to learn both Catalan and Spanish since I have been here and at times it is no easy task. But, as you learn the languages, you necessarily learn the culture. One thing I find interesting is the acceptance of language diversity here. It is not uncommon to hear a group of people speaking a mix of Catalan and Spanish (or, increasingly, English) because they just speak the language they are more comfortable expressing themselves in. Same thing happened when I visited Portugal in February. I had a conversation, speaking Spanish and the woman in the Synagogue I was visiting spoke to me in Portuguese. We understood one another. There wasn't the issue of "translation", we just listened and replied quite naturally.

So, I believe we should give some thought (more than just a passing one) to cultural diversity and the preservation of our languages. It's seems tempting to think that, "wouldn't the world be a better place if we all spoke one language". But, as Wade Davis asks, "How would you feel if that language were Kombio or Uda or Chinese Min Bei?".

I believe that one of the biggest steps we can take toward peace on earth is by embracing other cultures and working toward language preservation. Please take a few minutes to watch this entertaining and inspiring video from Wade Davis an anthropologist of the National Geographic Society.

Peace,
Grant

Un Lloc Sagrat...translation: "A Sacred Place" in Catalan

Montserrat is the heart of Catalunya in a lot of ways. Every year people come from all around flock to explore her tranquility and the somewhat eerie feeling (especially when, as commonly happens, the clouds roll in) that envelopes you while you are a guest upon her rocks.

Montserrat is perhaps best known for the Benedictine Abbey and is thought by some to be one of the possible locations ("llocs") of the Holy Grail. Columbus even named the island in the Caribbean after this Catalan landmark. Historically, it has much significance too. Napoleon's troops marched over this mountain to attack Catalonia and it was a hiding place for many conscientious objectors in the Spanish civil war. Nowadays, people line up for hours just to touch the orb held by the baby Jesus of the Virgin of Montserrat. In the long held catholic tradition, Montserrat is indeed a sacred place.

But non-dogmatically too, it is sacred. Geologically, Montserrat is composed of distinct pink conglomerate rock with clasts (inclusions) near boulder size, indicating the immense flow energy involved in its formation. Montserrat is relatively young, geologically speaking. Only a few million years. It was formed as a large river delta. After tectonic uplift, and subsequent shaping by erosive forces, it took on the shape that has been known throughout human history. The name refers to its shape, in fact - as in "Mount Serrated" because of the jagged look its various peaks portray.


It is a natural park and everyone who visits Montserrat pays her respect. Surrounded by so much human history and settlements Montserrat is a quiet place to escape the human zoo that is the city... and reflect. It is awash with many forms of life such as goats, bats, lizards and other small mammals. For them it is sacred too.
And, there are caves. Plenty of them. Les Coves de Salnitre (The Salnitre Caves) are a well visited attraction. These caves are massive inside and you can get a guided tour of the mountain from inside out. The cave is so grand when you first enter that there are commonly held musical events, owing to the wonderful natural acoustics. Peaceful tranquility, complete with a few bats flying overhead, seemingly dancing to the rhythm.

But, every year a pilgrimage sets forth from surrounding villages to Montserrat and this year was no exception. Old and young, we departed home at 4 am, groggy from lack of sleep and weary of the long 6 hour walk ahead. We traveled over many a hill and dried out river valley, newly sprouting vineyard and urbanization... still pitch dark. With head lamps and flashlights we searched for the slowly brightening horizon. We passed a land fill sight and noted the distinct smell of garbage and reflected on our over-consumption lifestyles. Still before light, we climbed a steep hill through a village and awoke what must have been 20 various types of dogs, all aggressively barking at us to leave their territory, tout de suite.

At the top of the village, we breakfasted. The time was now about 6am and the hardest part of the journey was yet to come. After fueling up, we began the considerable downhill to the base of the mountain. We started the steep climb to the Monastery on the other side of the mountain. Finally, we felt 'out in nature' and the surroundings became more peaceful and natural, the sunrise casting its light in rarely seen ways.

At the base of Montserrat, the jagged rocks began and, now still only 7am, the sun rising brightly on the other side of the mountain, lighting up the Collserola at the back of Barcelona in the far distance. It was a beautiful sight, no doubt. We continued to hike into the changing weather conditions until reaching the local summit, turned around the edge and felt a sense of accomplishment upon finally walking out of the shadow of this enormous, incredible pile of million year old rocks. The sun in our eyes gave us our "second wind" and we began the long trail down to the Monastery. At our destination, the street was crowded with tourists as usual, but this time more because it was the Saint day of Montserrat. We had a glorious café and took the train down the other side and back home.

So what was the moral of this pilgrimage... this nature walk? We were not sure at the start, I think. But, at the end, it's the feeling of scaling the heights and no matter if you fall just short of fame, you have got to known the planet just a little more. Nature hikes, no matter if on a mountain, or in your backyard, make the planet more visceral to you, more tangible. We don't do this enough. We often say we should stop and smell the roses, but all to often the roses are in a vase in an over-crowded office cubicle. We spend most of our lives in this high-tech world not thinking that we are actually part of the planet, just passengers on a giant blue, white and green spaceship.

So, what did I learn? What is nature? That's what I learned. "What is Nature?" I didn't learn what nature IS, for that, I have much more exploring to do. But the question has at least been posed. And that is all that really matters...

Peace,
Grant

One of the worst proposed alternatives to petroleum are biofuels. Yes, I know the beautiful green and yellow logos with the sunflower on the gas pump too. Kind of makes you think, "I'm doing my part, I'm gassing up AND helping the environment". Gas 1, Guilt 0. Of course that is what we are led to believe. This is the oil industry's attempt to appease the "environmentalists" and at the same time continue to assure that we all remain addicted to our cars and car dependent lifestyles. Oh yeah, and that we buy their commodities. By the way I am not totally decrying cars. I use one. But that's the problem: there's little plausible alternative. I bike, yes, I take the train, metro, the bus, etc... but sometimes I drive. But, the one choice I can easily make is not to buy biodiesel. Why?

There are two main types of biodiesel, that made from non-edible organic matter (switchgrass, etc...) and that made from food. Presently, technology is not at the point of making the non-edible plants into a potent fuel, at least at a mass produced scale. And, until it is, FOOD is being grown to fuel our cars. See the problem yet? Whoever thought that your gas station would be competing with your grocery store for corn on the cob? I saw a lecture online recently by a well-meaning American venture capitalist who had the right idea, that is, that our planet is in serious peril and our lifestyles are to blame. But, he was quick to tout Brazil's wonderful switch to biofuels. Strike 1.

One of the reasons food prices are skyrocketing lately is because our cars are starting to compete with us for sustenance. The others are that the economic growth in Asia is allowing them to eat more meat, which consumes a lot of grain in the form of feed. And also, of course... you guessed it... the price of oil.

There have been demonstrations and some riots around the world in the poorer countries. Farmers are easily tempted to accept oil company subsidies rather than to sell to grocery stores, simply because of the higher net profit. But, for western countries, we have thus far been able to absorb the 20% increase in food prices, which has been caused mainly by this biofuel dilemma as well as the rise in oil prices. Today it is near $122 a barrel. Compare that with $10 a barrel in 1998. Sad news is, it isn't going back down that way. Ever. In any case, for the poorer countries, a rise in food price can be a matter of life or death. Biofuels have even been called a "crime against humanity" by one UN official.

So, starving people in poorer countries (and those in richer ones too) are buying rice at inflated prices because we all want to drive our SUVs AND save the environment. Good one.

Not only are biodiesels bad for humanity in the short term, but they are bad in the medium term too. For the world biofuel leader, Brazil, unregulated companies are simply cutting down old growth forests to put up a crop of corn or sugar to sell to our cars and reap the short term reward. So, any minimal offset that biofuels might have had by being less carbon intensive (questionable), is offset by far by the loss of the rain forests they replace. We would do much more for the climate crisis if we simply didn't cut the trees down to begin with. Or better yet, planted some more, just for their (and our) own sakes.

Thirdly, biofuels are only possible on the scale that they are grown and distributed because we have been fertilizing our soils with petroleum based fertilizers for decades now. Without it, crop yields would be much lower. This so called "green revolution" which started in the mid-20th century and has indeed doubled the amount of grain yield globally. Yet, poverty has not halved. Why is this? Well, it's a very complex matrix of interconnectedness with markets and corporate ownership, transportation, distribution and political control and I won't pretend to fully understand it. But, nonetheless, why are we (western countries) "donating" food to underdeveloped countries. A wise man once said, "give someone a fish..., teach someone to fish..." Figuratively, I mean. But, literally, we are an impediment to third world growth and poverty reduction by our own over-consumption lifestyles. For a better take on the complex relationship, check out this great video: The Story of Stuff

What's more, massive agribusiness companies such as Monsanto have developed what are known as "terminator seeds", which are seeds that are genetically modified to not reproduce. Therefore, poorer countries which buy or are given this grain, cannot plant it again in the next season. They have to get it from Monsanto again. If this is not the definition of lunacy, I don't know what is! That, my friends, is a crime against humanity.

So, now hunger is spiraling out of control in the world. The worst food crisis in a generation they say. What can you do?

Number 1, stop demanding biofuels by simply boycotting them.

Number 2, do what you can to spread the word about dangerous terminator technology.

Number 3, eat less meat.

Number 4, plant a garden.

Peace,
Grant

There has been a lot of talk about "fixing" the environment and "fixing" the economy, like they are two unrelated things. The fact is that without a healthy environment, not only will the economy not function, but neither will we. As David Suzuki so eloquently explains in the following lecture given a few years ago, we ARE the air. You are not only what you eat, you are what you breath. Whatever is in the air, goes into our lungs, our bloodstream, is incorporated into our cells and quite literally becomes part of us. In his book The Sacred Balance, which, I highly recommend, Dr. Suzuki breaks down the environment into its basic elements, earth (soil), air, fire (sun) and water. These, along with biodiversity are essential to our continued survival as a species.

We have to get past the idea that "the environment" is "out there" somewhere, detached from us. It is not. It is everything around us, our life support system. We are as much a part of it as anything else on the planet. Creating a healthy environment can be profitable too, if we do it right.

The answer to the economy-environment collision is to live within your means, to leave a small footprint for future generations. Now, we are borrowing from the future by ruining the environment to get our raw resources. We need to learn from our elders, both living and dead. Currently, we are not paying the true costs of environmental cleanup and protection. But, our children and grandchildren must. Check out this lecture (in 6 parts). I saw him give this talk in Ottawa and this one from Vancouver is more or less the same. It was an eye opener.














Peace,
Grant