Huge scientific breakthrough

Yesterday’s news that British scientists have decoded the genome of wheat is likely to have a massive impact on world food production.  I found it extraordinary to learn that the human genetic code is five times smaller than that of wheat.  Isn’t it weird that what looks like such a simple life form is actually so much more genetically complex than we are?

This news is being heralded as the most important agricultural discovery in 10,000 years, with evidence that wheat was first planted and harvested that long ago.

The breakthrough means that new breeds of disease-resistant crops could be producing higher wheat yields in as little as five years' time, raising the prospect of lower bread prices and greater food security in a more populated world.  The implications could be huge.

With the population having grown from a little over two billion when I was born to 6.5 billion today and an estimated 10 billion by 2050, we urgently need these scientific discoveries if we are going to find a way to feed everyone in the years to come.

While I believe we must always move ahead with caution when it comes to dabbling with nature, it is important for us to find out ways for humankind to benefit from such scientific discoveries.  The key will be to focus this new knowledge on helping people rather than just enriching companies.

In terms of the consequences for the world, this is probably the most important piece of news since your birth, my darling Yael.

Florence Rose Endellion

I’m still in Prague which is surprising but pleasant.  I had been doing so much travelling before the summer that it is relaxing not to have to rush to the airport every day/.  But next week it starts again and looks like I will be going to South East Asia for a few days.

So, my dear Yael; you are three weeks older than Florence Rose Endellion, the new daughter born to the British Prime Minister and his wife Samantha Cameron, who was born yesterday.  Her arrival was early and caught the family by surprise while on holiday in Cornwall.  The baby’s third name originates from the nearby village where the Cameron’s were staying.

She will only be the second baby at 10 Downing Street in 150 years.  Tony Blair and his wife Cherie had a baby there as well.

Don’t worry, I am sure you will be as comfortable at Givat Sha’al!

Grandpa Jonathan

Prague, Czech Republic

Weird weather

Weird weather is prompting further discussion about climate change.  Russia’s record-breaking and long running heat wave, Pakistan’s terrible floods, and now more floods in Niger have again focused attention on the question as to whether humankind is adversely impacting our weather.

I’ve been involved in the issue of climate change ever since I started working for Greenpeace International in the mid-nineties and am convinced that we are producing so-called Greenhouse Gas Emissions that are compromising the future of our planet.  In spite of some doubts, by far the bulk of scientific opinion clearly states that we have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) and find sustainable energy solutions.
 

It is as frustrating for me to see our politicians continue to struggle to achieve an international agreement on reducing GHGs as it must be confusing for the less imitated who must wonder why it taking so long.  I attended the United Nations climate summit in Kyoto, japan in 1997 where the first treaty was agreed.  Since then, in spite of many summits, no agreement has been reached to extend and advance the contents of the treaty when the original one expires next year.

I am an optimist at heart, and am convinced that there will eventually be the political will to take the necessary steps to avert irreversible trend that will damage our climate system beyond repair.  I am sure that you will look back at this moment in history and find it difficult to understand what the debate was all about. 

It is only a matter of time before everyone is convinced that sustainable energy technology will eliminate our use of oil and coal.  No doubt you will find it strange that we sent men down pits to dig for coal and drilled deep to extract oil from beneath the earth’s surface.

I’ve long supported the argument that we have a responsibility to pass along our planet in a healthy condition to our grandchildren.  Now that you are a reality, and I have a wonderful grandchild of my own, my eagerness to wake everyone up to the dangers of climate change and our urgent need to act has been significantly heightened.

Grandpa Jonathan

Prague Czech Republic

New photos, new technology

I can’t wait to see the new photos that I understand your Aunt Rachel, who is still on holiday in Israel, took with you and your parents in a park near to your home in Givat Sha’al.  Rachel is the enthusiastic user of a new digital Cannon Single Lens Reflex camera that I bought for her trip to India last year.  I have long been interested in photography and am happy that Rachel is following in my footsteps.  She takes lovely photos, and I really want to see how you have changed in your first two-and-a-half weeks of life.

 

Digital photography has only been with us for less than a decade.  We previously used traditional film cameras.  A roll of a plastic material would be inserted in the camera.  As you clicked a photo, the roll would record an image called a negative and move on.  When the film was finished, usually taking 36 images,  it would be carefully taken from the camera to avoid exposure to light and sent to a laboratory who processed the films in darkrooms and made prints which could take up to 10 days to be returned, often sent by post.

 

I still find it incredible that we can now see our photos as soon as they have been taken, make near-instant prints, and send them immediately across the world via e-mail.

I wonder what kind of photo technology will you use.

 

 

Grandpa Jonathan

Prague, Czech Republic

Pakistan and Australia

On a lazy day on the farm in Bohemia, I wonder just how long it will take for the world media to lose interest in the now 20 million Pakistanis who have lost their homes in the nation's worst floods in its history.  The dreadful images of human suffering are still in the news, but the terrible conditions facing these poor people will endure far longer than the media's attention.

I was also dismayed to wake up this morning to news of an inconclusive election result in Australia, where I've been spending a considerable amount of time.  Until less than a month ago, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labour Party's popularity was riding high.  But he was deposed by his deputy, Gillian Gillard who called a snap election yesterday.  It backfired with the Australian people expressing their dislilke for her treachery.  The outcome as to whether she or her Conservative opponent Tony Abbot will form a government is now in the hands of four independent members of parliament who are being wooed.  Democracy isn't always perfect by an means.


Grandpa Jonathan
Bohemia, Czech Republic