Apocalyptic Planet - Chapter 6: Species Vanish, Grundy County, Iowa

Chapter 6 turned out to be not as exotic as some of the other chapters.  No ice covered terrain, nor remote seas, or South American mountains in this chapter; no, this chapter focused on a mid-American corn field.  In this chapter Childs looks at biodiversity and its role in the health of the planet.  He approaches concerns regarding GMOs and both the health of soil and the role it plays in the health of the planet. 

Childs expresses concern regarding how the mid-western corn fields have moved in a century from fields of priceless soil to fields consisting mostly of high-yield petroleum products.  These fields feel more like dirty shoe polish than the fields of our ancestors.  Childs notes how the fields that once hosted 300 species of plants in tall grass and 60 mammals plus 1000s of species of insects now support only a few crops and those only with a lot of help from man.  It is called genetic exhaustion.

And it isn’t just the fields that are affected.  Soil and chemical runoff saturate creeks, then streams, then rivers, rivers that flow to the Gulf of Mexico in this example; this contamination has led to a 50% reduced plankton count in the last 40 years.  Childs notes “ Considering that plankton is one of the primary oxygen producers on this planet, this kind of loss has far-reaching ramifications if it fails to rebound.” 

Moving from the quality of the soil and its far-reaching impact he also looks at the loss of bio-diversity within our current farming practices.  He quotes Edward O. Wilson, a premier sociobiologist who wrote, “The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats.”  Mr. Wilson notes that it would take millions of years for the lost biodiversity to regenerate itself…we don’t have that much time. 

Then looking at the actual chemicals used in farming today, another layer of destruction is added.  Atrazine, one of the most commonly used herbicides on fields today has been found to cause reproductive dysfunction across species.  And that is just one of many chemicals. 

Iowa represents the epitome of human impact, the world completely changed on a landscape scale.  Childs notes that “this is the first time in the history of the earth that one species has dominated and altered all the ecosystems in the world causing global crisis and extinction.”  “Destruction and degradation of habitat are the leading causes of extinction, followed by completion from introduced species, making a modern cornfield a shining example of a worst-case scenario.”