Bulletin #2
There have been a number of excellent articles appearing in the serious
press to brief readers for the World Summit on Sustainable Development to
be held in Johannesburg from 26 August to 4 September. The summit has its
own website http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/
The NYT had a masterly overview of the issues by Andrew Revkin on August
20, 2002 under the title Forget Nature, Even Eden Is Engineered. The New
Scientist review articles (in their issue dated 17 August) take a more
activist stance. But I was struck more than anything by the very relevant
line Theodore Roszark wrote in a letter in New Scientist dated 10 August:
<There isnt a single ecological problem that won’t be ameliorated by a
smaller population>.
Basically, the world is becoming, by the minute, less like it was in the
Pleistocene and so more difficult for each of us and all our companion
species to live the optimal way to which we were all gradually evolving
till Civilization (to use the word in the sense used by Daniel Quinn)
began its path of destruction.
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Watch out for the newly released film The Fast Runner / (Atanarjuat). It
is made by Inuit, telling a number of stories in Inuit terms. The review
I read indicated a rich, and memorable film but one which will require
patience from non Inuits to appreciate. Not for people wanting pleasant
entertainment with a happy ending, but for a glimpse at the hunter-
gatherer world it should be rewarding.
--------------------------
Discussion continues in the aftermath of the Gary Taubes article Was It
All A Big Fat Lie? One useful outcome has been the coverage provided to
other Atkins-like diet programs. Here in Australia I came across this on-
line chat with Dr Robert Harris
http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/factsheets/1014.asp who has been developing his
Slim Forever program for about as long as Dr Atkins has been working on
his. Harris has a kit available see
http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/factsheets/1012.asp but the Taubes furore caught
him off guard and his website is down for major upgrading just when a wave
of customers might arrive.
On food, due out today is Dangerous Grains: Why Gluten Cereal Grains May
Be Hazardous to Your Health by James Braly M.D., Ron Hoggan M.A.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583331298/ (link from the
Paleofood list).
On meat, I note that a well-known US author, Peter Lovenheim, has written
a book which covers similar ground to the Michael Pollan article ('Power
Steer', NYT 31 March 2002). Further details are on amazon.com
Portrait of a Burger As a Young Calf: The True Story of One Man, Two Cows,
and the Feeding of a Nation
-------------------------
Scientists have clearer evidence now of the link between Rheumatoid
Arthritis and carbohydrates from grains. The BBC has a report at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2207578.stm
-------------------------
The flood crisis in Europe and Asia continues. In China there was a
report of mud-and-rock slides 10 metres high. 10 metres! That is as high
as a four-storey car park. The Financial Times reported on the Asian
floods at http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?
pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&cid=1028185869343&p=1012571727102,
indicating the political reasons for Chines leaders downplaying the
dangers. Listening to the radio news reports coming in last night from
Eastern Europe, China, India, Indo China and the southern US, I was struck
that they sounded like the fictionalized news reports published 20 and 30
years ago as <what might happen if we dont do something> Well, here we
are in 2002, and we haven’t done anything other than allow it to happen.
Deforestation has made it so much easier for heavy rain (within the normal
range) to super saturate soil and sub soil and produce devastating
landslides.
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The loss of skilled midwives in Britain
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2180682.stm and the rise in costs of
medical indemnity insurance are contributing to fewer opportunities for
natural birthing, despite the good record of natural birthing, even in the
West http://www.abc.net.au/health/minutes/stories/s647715.htm
-----------------------------
Finally, I heard a great interview with Prof Steven Hyman from Harvard who
is in Australia this week. No transcript available, sadly, but he is here
to talk about the role of dopamine in the brain and in human evolution.
The essence of his message is that dopamine secretions make us feel good –
really good – REALLY, REALLY good. They evolved to reward positive,
survival-related behaviour like eating and having sex. But there are a
few plant products that can also deliver a dopamine hit: heroin, alcohol,
nicotine and this is the physical basis for addictions that are killing
the participants and destroying society. Smokers are not just weak-
willed, they are evolutionarily true to the natural dopamine surge.
Keith
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