
The effects of global warming have caused widespread droughts, malnutrition and starvation. An estimated 25,000 people (adults and children) die every day from hunger and related causes accroding to the United Nations Food Programme (2009).
As radio journalist Sam Eaton reported in his segment titled “Sowing seeds that will take the heat” from the “Sustainability Desk” for Marketplace on National Public Radio, “…as a warming climate threatens mainstream agriculture, these unique genes in these little known seeds could turn out to be crucial for feeding the planet. (Eaton 2009).”
Unfortunately, heritage or non-hybrid seeds are becoming rare: in 1981 there were an e

Today, due to industrial monoculture farming, three-quarters of all human food comes from just eight species. And, of those eight species, most come from only three plants: “genetically modified corn, soy, and canola” according to Kingsolver (Kingsolver 2007:49). Furthermore, 98 percent of seed sales worldwide are handled by only six very huge and very politically influential companies: Monsanto, Syngenta, Mitsubishi and Dow (Kingsolver 2007:50). These food plants have been bread for profitable traits such as increased shelf life, uniformity of fruit size and not survival traits such as drought resistance. What is worse, the plants are sterile so (1) they can’t adapt to changes in climate naturally and evolve more successful strains and (2) the plants are a burden to economically disadvantaged communities who depend on these seeds for food and must buy a new batch of them each growing season.
Ethnobiologist Gary Paul Nabhan is one of many scientists, botanists, and backyard gardeners who are committed to saving indigenous plant food varieties by collecting and sharing their heritage seeds. They do this for many reasons: in response to global climate change, to preserve native traditions and foods, for more nutritious plant food varieties, and for potential pharmaceutical discoveries. From a business point of view, heritage seeds answer the market’s current demand for tasty and exotic heirloom/heritage varieties of plant and animal foods.
Nabhan has been writing about the correlation between chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes and the con

Nabhan is the co-founder of the Renewing American’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Alliance, a program of Slow Food USA, and is the Director of Center of Sustainable Environment at the Southwest Center of the University of Arizona (SlowFoodUSA). He is working with other scientists such as the Suzanne Nelson for Native Seeds/SEARCH to distribute seeds of native Southwest crops such as maize and beans to local Native American farmers in the hot Southwest deserts (Eaton 2009).
Another scientist who studies the correlation between diet and indigenous diets is medical doctor Daphne Miller. She

So far, these heritage seeds are thriving in the desert heat while the conventional hybrid varieties have not according to journalist Sam Eaton in his segment titled “Sowing seeds that will take the heat”. Native seeds are once again producing good food in their native land. Sustainably.
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Resources
Easton, Sam
2009 “Sowing seeds that will take the heat”, Marketplace, National Public Radio. http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/08/25/pm-seed-savers/, accessed August 27, 2009.
Kingsolver, Barbara with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver
2007 Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, pp. 370.
Miller, Daphne
2008 The Jungle Effect: the healthiest diets from around the world–why they work and how to make them work for you, New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, pp. 370.
Nabhan, Gary Paul
2004 Some Like It Hot: Food, Genes, and Cultural Diversity, Washington, DC: Island Press, pp. 232.
2009 Southwestern Endangered Aridland Resource Clearing House. http://www.nativeseeds.org/ accessed September 2, 2009.
Seed Savers Exchange
2009 A non-profit organization of gardeners dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds. http://www.seedsavers.org/ accessed September 2, 2009.
Slow Food USA
2009 Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Alliance. http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/details/raft/ accessed August 27, 2009.
United Nations World Food Programme
2009 Hunger Stats. http://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats accessed September 1, 2009.
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