Peace, War, and Veggies Too: We’re All in This Together

Commentary by Mary Liston Liepold

 

Earth Day is still a few weeks away, but it’s officially springtime in Washington, DC. That’s Mother Nature’s time to shine. A number of this week’s news stories suited her flowering mood, starting with coverage of the brand new vegetable garden on the White House lawn.

 This garden that belongs to a nation is one conspicuous version of a communal gardening trend that is popping up in France, Canada, and England as well as the US. It’s fun! It’s what women in other parts of the world have always done. And it’s about time, since yesterday the dangers of eating red meat made headlines, in the US and Canada and beyond.

Most of us have known at least since Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet appeared in 1971 that eating low on the food chain is kindest to Mother Earth and all her children. Even vegetables have their problems, though. In the US, overproduction of corn and soy has drastically reduced biodiversity and (when they end up in snack foods and greasy fast foods) contributed to obesity as well.

In Argentina, Cristina Kirchner Fernandez is in trouble with the farmers for refusing to lower what they see as a punitive tax on soybeans, that country’s main export crop. Overall, global trade is expected to fall off by 9% this year, so meat-loving Argentineans and Americans both will be tightening their belts. Add a global drop in prices paid to farmers while consumer prices increase, a global financial crisis, and a drought here and there, and a harvest of violence becomes more likely.

Mother Earth loves peace even more than she loves flowers. Financial equity and adequate nutrition are among the things that make for peace. And malnutrition disposes to disease. Yesterday, World TB Day, the World Health Organization released shocking statistics on the link between TB and HIV/AIDS. It is most grievous in hungry Zimbabwe, to no one’s surprise. But last week, DC’s HIV/AIDS office broke the news that at least 3% of the population here is HIV-positive, putting the capitol of the world’s wealthiest superpower on a level with parts of West Africa.

It’s just one more reminder that on our round green planet, everything comes around. We’re all in this together. Fortunately, small things can have mighty impact when we do them together. That’s the inspiration for www.planetarysurvival.net, which is aiming for a billion signatures on an earth manifesto to be presented at the UN. It’s also the inspiration for This Week’s Peace Action, at

http://www.peacexpeace.org. The current suggestion brings us back to the table: Sharing a meal with someone you don’t usually break bread with. Call a friend or relative who you have lost touch with right away. And don’t forget to eat your vegetables!