Save Our Seeds
Final Thesis
June 2008
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Here is the final version of the thesis I wrote this year, optimized for web. I invite you to read and react as much as you want. The content is protected by a creative common license, therefore you can use it without limitations as long as the purpose is not commercial and that you quote the source.
I wish you a very good reading. Please feel fre to contact me if you have any questions or reactions.
Régis
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This section is dedicated to former versions of my thesis writng; all writings are arranged chronologically.
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CONTENTS
- thesis draft update 8/04/2008
- thesis outline update 3/02/2008
- thesis writing update 15/01/2008
- first formal thesis proposal 14/11/2007
- project proposal 20/10/2007
- abstract 8/10/2007
- abstract 19/09/2007
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thesis draft update 8/04/2008
Feel free to leave any comment about my work !
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thesis outline update 3/02/2008
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thesis writing update 15/01/2008
DISCLAIMER
In this publication I will need to establish grammatical references in order to distinguish different civilizations; while most conventions speak about “developed” and “developing” countries, I purposefully chose not to use such terms, that mark a relative hierarchy of values. I will prefer to use the reference, also widely known, of “south”, as opposed to “north”; I believe these formulae refer more to a difference in the mode of development between civilizations – that is undeniable – than to a difference in their respective level of development.
SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE
Considering the very roots of life is not an easy thing to do. Most of us are used to believe that life is granted. That it comes under no condition. From this misconception we tend not to care about what, indeed, determines our existence.
Plants represent this forgotten condition.
It seems obvious, once evoked, that mankind does not exist apart from other species. The vegetal world has an invaluable utilitarian function, not only regarding human civilization but all living species on the planet. “Plants provide food, timber, and medicines; they contribute to balancing the ecosystems, stabilizing soil, and regulate climate.” Without any doubt, the availability of vegetal resources have influenced human settlements.
Yet plants also have “aesthetic and moral functions”, that have been determining in most civilizations. All mythologies bring special care to plants, as their precepts were often conceived as rules in the use of the latter. As we will see in later stages, this spiritual link between plants and people is of the highest importance even in today’s world.
It is finally important to go beyond the western, anthropocentric vision on nature. The moral notion of Man’s godly dominion over all other natural entities, preeminent in Judeo-Christian philosophy, does not represent the variety of human ideologies; in most beliefs, Man is but one of the many living creatures, whom role relates more to this of a citizen than a ruler.
It seems therefore natural to care about plants not only as instruments to be used by a human hand, or beauty to be seen by a human eye; as the World Charter for Nature puts it, “every form of life is unique, warranting respect regardless of its worth to man”.
Preserving the vegetal diversity that nature developed is, therefore, not only a human need but a moral duty. Would we decide to accept the role of nature’s caretaker, that Taoism defines through the concept of “social harmony”, our first task would be to ensure that the existing balance among vegetal species, but also between reigns, remains. Would we simply look for a way to bring social equity in the world, that task would not change.
BANKS FOR SEEDS
I first came to consider the need to preserve vegetal diversity while hearing about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault; this new seed bank, created in Spitzberg nearby the North Pole, uses extreme cold temperatures to preserve the world’s seeds.
Preserving genetical information is, indeed, necessary in order to give ourselves the possibility to face the current, global loss of diversity. Concerns are mainly oriented towards three issues.
Crop diseases could, due to the increasingly homogenous agricultural patterns, devastate most of the world’s food supply if focused on one of the four main cereals – namely wheat, rice, maize and barley – that currently represent 90 percent of the world’s production of grain. As Ikechi Mgbeoji writes, “[...] the monocultural approach to human dietary preferences, agricultural practices, epistemology, and philosophy that is now in vogue constitutes a formidable threat to the sustenance of the diversity of crops.”
Yet plants are not used only for food supply; it is considered that of the estimated 250000 species of plants, only 10 percent have been tested for medical purpose. Preserving genetic information is, therefore, an important condition for the evolution of medicine.
Finally the need to engineer new species that will adapt to specific contexts justifies the creation of a global seed bank. It is important to underline, even though I will come back to that issue later on, that new species can be created either through crossbreeding which is an ancient agricultural technique, or bioengineering which involves modification of a plant’s genetic patrimony.
However seed banks are not such a pertinent answer to the loss of diversity. The nickname that has spontaneously been given to the Norwegian institution clearly illustrates my opinion; this “Doomsday Vault” keeps seeds to prepare the sixth extinction of species, when a strong emphasis should be put in impeding it from occurring.
Diversity should be utilized, not capitalized. It is by increasing the variety of crops used in agriculture that we can prevent fleas to become pandemic. It is by keeping species alive, not in safes but in the ground, that we can preserve the ecosystem as a whole. It is, finally, by preserving the plants that we can preserve the populations which rely on their use.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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I have not quoted source directly in the text here, if anyone knows a good way to do this I would be grateful about it.
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First formal thesis proposal, 14/11/2007
(also in presentations section)
This represents my current directions about the project. Mainly, how I could turn my researches into concrete and realistic design project.
view 14/11/2007_thesis proposal (pdf,344kb)
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Project proposal, draft from 20/10/2007
preserving vegetal diversity is an issue which is closely related to many broad topics; agriculture; environment; politics; genetic diversity; social diversity; consuming. I believe agriculture is the one element around which the others organize and find their common background.
Indeed agricultural common knowledge provided basis for industry, which is itself protected by politics, thus impacting conventional farming and existing social networks. All these activities are impacting ecosystems – in both good and wrong ways – and through that the availability of genetic resources which might provide, once the industry finds an interest in it, future improvements of medical knowledge.
Quite a knot, as you can see; still, this is a brief overview.
As said before every element of the problematic is inextricably linked with the others, therefore none can be addressed separately from the others if there’s no global understanding if the actual situation. I decided to take one month (until mid-term) to study carefully every of these aspects. I also want to relate the theoric research I’m doing with more practical projects, as are the one I want to work on in frans’ project and the one I’ve been initiating during satyendra’s workshop. I believe doing so can provide different perspectives which I wouldn’t normally consider. For final term I want at least one of these two projects to be at an end (not necessarily definitive but making me able to draw a conclusion).
Also I’ve been contacting people involved in some of these areas, and constantly keep doing so, in order to get fresh news, to match opinions and discover new aspects or ways of looking at a problem. As you know, I’ve created a weblog to make the communication between myself and the contacts easier.
I have already learnt a lot in the few monthes that constitutes my cultural background in the area. I’m seeing things more clearly now, and hope that things will keep evolving in that way.
I have an idea that I can approach the final input in two different manners. Since the issue is more politic than anything else, and that politic decisions are supposedly following social concerns, one option is to raise awareness towards the actual situation, thus taking it on the front scene, until it goes on the governments desks. The other option is to have a practical approach, trying to provide relevant tools so that people can act and improve the situation.
I believe these two solutions are linked though, since tools, if they’re created in a pedagogically-sound way, can raise awareness much better than a communication campaign. I think there’s an opportunity to achieve both these goals through one only project.
I must say I want to remain humble in this process, as there are of course millions of initiatives being held to improve the situation all around the world; I won’t ever pretend that my design aims to bring better options, I see my potential contribution more as a way to combine and relate these initiatives together. I have everything to learn from DIY and activism, and very little to teach.
This research is according to me extremely relevant, I’d even say urgent. Preserving vegetal diversity is the very condition for the maintainance of life on earth, but also on a shorter term is the one political issue which holds the integrity of people all around the world – not only in third-world countries. A strong and fair politic about vegetal diversity must come together with a strong care for water resources, air quality, fauna, climatic conditions or chemical pollution. It would be a good point not to forget that these issues, including the one I’m dealing with, simply relate to the integrity of the planet; which we are all dependent of.
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Abstract 2, 8/10/2007
preserving vegetal diversity is an issue which is closely related to many broad topics; agriculture; environment; politics; genetic diversity; social diversity; consuming. I believe agriculture is the one element around which the others organize and find their common background.
Indeed agricultural common knowledge provided basis for industry, which is itself protected by politics, thus impacting conventional farming and existing social networks. All these activities are impacting ecosystems – in both good and wrong ways – and through that the availability of genetic resources which might provide, once the industry finds an interest in it, future improvements of medical knowledge.
Quite a knot, as you can see; still, this is a brief overview.
As said before every element of the problematic is inextricably linked with the others, therefore none can be addressed separately from the others if there’s no global understanding if the actual situation. I decided to take one month (until mid-term) to study carefully every of these aspects. I also want to relate the theoric research I’m doing with more practical projects, as are the one I want to work on in frans’ project and the one I’ve been initiating during satyendra’s workshop. I believe doing so can provide different perspectives which I wouldn’t normally consider. For final term I want at least one of these two projects to be at an end (not necessarily definitive but making me able to draw a conclusion).
Also I’ve been contacting people involved in some of these areas, and constantly keep doing so, in order to get fresh news, to match opinions and discover new aspects or ways of looking at a problem. As you know, I’ve created a weblog to make the communication between myself and the contacts easier.
I have already learnt a lot in the few monthes that constitutes my cultural background in the area. I’m seeing things more clearly now, and hope that things will keep evolving in that way.
I have an idea that I can approach the final input in two different manners. Since the issue is more politic than anything else, and that politic decisions are supposedly following social concerns, one option is to raise awareness towards the actual situation, thus taking it on the front scene, until it goes on the governments desks. The other option is to have a practical approach, trying to provide relevant tools so that people can act and improve the situation.
I believe these two solutions are linked though, since tools, if they’re created in a pedagogically-sound way, can raise awareness much better than a communication campaign. I think there’s an opportunity to achieve both these goals through one only project.
I must say I want to remain humble in this process, as there are of course millions of initiatives being held to improve the situation all around the world; I won’t ever pretend that my design aims to bring better options, I see my potential contribution more as a way to combine and relate these initiatives together. I have everything to learn from DIY and activism, and very little to teach.
This research is according to me extremely relevant, I’d even say urgent. Preserving vegetal diversity is the very condition for the maintainance of life on earth, but also on a shorter term is the one political issue which holds the integrity of people all around the world – not only in third-world countries. A strong and fair politic about vegetal diversity must come together with a strong care for water resources, air quality, fauna, climatic conditions or chemical pollution. It would be a good point not to forget that these issues, including the one I’m dealing with, simply relate to the integrity of the planet; which we are all dependent of.
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Abstract 1, 19/09/2007
I want to address the issues related to the conservation of vegetal diversity; this concerns the seeds, but also the ecosystems they will have to grow in – natural conditions, interaction with other species – and the people who take care of them – the knowledge, techniques and political decisions linked to their exploitation or conservation.
These issues, since they are multiple, can be addressed on different levels – political, social, cultural, and individual; I wish to be able to understand and integrate the different parties involved. In a second time I will start organizing my thoughts, both on a theoretical – the thesis – and practical – the design – level, hopefully in tight collaboration with the people I’ll have communicated to.
To achieve such a challenge, I want to be able to communicate on my work through intermediary outcome, which would help me imaging my researches, or pointing out a specific income in my researches.
I have already been establishing some theoretical knowledge of my own since I have started researching the topic; I expect, while going further in that process, to learn more, but also to train myself in the – still difficult to me – art of communicating, establishing sustainable and trustworthy relationships with the potential collaborators I will have to contact later on.
Speaking of an outcome in itself, I cannot say I do expect anything formal yet, as I intend this research process to lead me towards a final project. Also, the intermediary outcomes I want to ask myself are a way to avoid keeping ideas for the very end, while realizing them directly would set my mind free to push them further.
This project integrates itself in a wider frame which, though still badly known, gathers many parties which have been dealing with the issue for a long time.
However the topic is more present than ever, mainly due to the critical point both environmental, social and political issues are reaching. Furthermore, this topic is made actual by the emergence of an increasing interest in similar issues from the populations in both developed and developing countries, hence providing an increased visibility and range of action to future actions.
