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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Power plants
The Scotsman Saturday 08 Nov 2003 In the 21st century the survival of everyone on Earth, from businessmen to bushmen, depends on plants." From the outset, Anna Lewington's Plants for People makes it clear that whether or not we know it, plants are an integral part of our lives. Essential oils used in perfumes, woodpulp in clothing or the sunflower seeds that provide cleaner fuel for our cars: Lewington's mission has been to make us stop, think and appreciate our debt to the plant world. Plants for People was originally published a decade ago and has been credited with providing much of the inspiration for the Eden Project. Ten years on, the revised edition has been updated to reflect our current relationship with the plants that clothe, feed, cure and support us in so many ways. Although we rely on plants, it seems the way in which we manage them can seriously harm people and environments worldwide. "I didn't want to be too negative but there are so many horror stories about the way we're using the environment, particularly for mass-produced, cheap commodities, and that's probably got worse," says Lewington. "But at the same time I became aware of a lot of small-scale, interesting projects that are optimistic in that communities are working together to try to use their natural resources in a sustainable way." According to Lewington, the real price of products is never printed on our till receipts. An obvious example is the bar of soap. In Britain alone, £203 million was spent on bar and liquid soaps in 2000. The actual price of soap could be seen as the massive destruction of natural ecosystems (mainly tropical rainforests) in order to plant African palm plants, vital for producing palm oil, a major ingredient in soap. But as Lewington's aim is not to dwell on the problems, she also relishes in the details about the versatility of plants. Take the coconut. The thick layer of fibrous husk that lies beneath the outer skin is combed out and sold as coir, to be used in ropes and matting. The meat and milk are of course edible, while the trunks of palm trees provide building timbers and the leaves material for thatch. The wood and leaves are also used as fuel, while the oil produced from the flesh is used in processed foods as well as household soap. In Thailand, a major coconut producer, it is reported that a small amount of kerosene mixed with coconut oil is a good substitute for diesel fuel. Around the world, a diverse selection of plants are used in equally ingenious ways. If you have ever noticed organic cotton clothing for sale, you might have thought it was taking the concept just a little far. But the cotton industry is estimated to account for one quarter of all the insecticides used around the world - a fact that makes buying organic seem like a perfectly reasonable choice. For the world's estimated 140 million cotton workers, the chemical exposure from pesticides has devastating health repercussions. Part of the challenge is to change attitudes born of our throwaway culture. Few realise that the first jeans produced by Levi Strauss were made from hemp, one of the plants being heralded as a champion raw material for the 21st century. The stem fibres are much stronger than cotton and four times more durable - and the plant needs no fertiliser or pesticides to grow. In most aspects of our lives, new ideas are being formulated to help combat environmental damage. In the face of global warming, for example, anticipated problems of keeping urban buildings cool in Tokyo (where temperatures are predicted to reach 43 degrees Celsius in the next 50 years) have led the authorities to order businesses to plant bushes, trees and lawns on their roofs to help cool down the city. One area where plants have long been valued is in medicine. Conventional medicines such an antibiotics, ulcer treatments and even laxatives are derived from plants. Often used as a starting point or blueprint for medicines, one in four modern prescription drugs are estimated to contain at least one compound derived from plants. Lewington describes plants as "living chemical factories", but points out that very few of the world's plant species have had their full pharmaceutical potential tested. The World Health Organisation estimates that up to 80 per cent of the world's population relies entirely or in part on locally produced medicines, mostly produced from plants. On the shores of Lake Tanganyika, it's not just local people who are said to use Aspilia species, members of the daisy family, to get rid of intestinal parasites. Chimps are seen to use them too. The use of such natural remedies raises the contentious issue of bio-prospecting and patenting. "I think it's become very sinister and it's something we all need to be aware of," Lewington says. "Many people believe that there is a movement to privatise our major raw materials." For the international pharmaceutical industry, medicinal plants are a potential goldmine, especially if they can be patented. Although it may seem there is little the individual can do to influence these global issues, Lewington says: "the whole feeling behind what I was trying to do was to say to people, if we can get away from this tremendous dependence on mass-produced things to try and source things locally, it can help". When it comes to local produce, we may not have to look much further than our own gardens. Helen Gestwicki, herbalist at Napiers in Edinburgh, says that many common plants are used because of their range of actions. "A very good example would be marigold, which is very popular herb with herbalists because it's got very wide spectrum anti-microbial action," she says, "so it works against bacteria, viruses and fungus as well." Even a plant such as the nettle, which most people would treat as a garden weed, can be used to treat allergies, hay fever and arthritis, she says. Both Gestwicki and Lewington support the idea that we need to revitalise the knowledge we have accrued over centuries of how to use plants. In an increasingly synthetic, mass-produced world, plants still have the ability to repair and inspire. Plants for People by Anna Lewington is published by Eden Project Books, £20
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