In a tragic paradox, loss of biodiversity caused by climate change will increase its effects. It seems all of our globalization-monoculture-melting-pot hoo-haa is coming back to haunt us in the form of one more proverbial snowball effect- one that is melting and turning into a flood, of course.

Years ago I worked as an outdoor education group leader- among other things, I would lead workshops with students from the richest areas around Los Angeles- Wilshire Blvd.-schooled, Beverley Hills kids, etc. At that time they liked to show up wearing Paul Frank gear- with the monkey on it, you know. A lot of times we would be in the desert, and I liked asking them what they thought about seeing a monkey in a desert? Of course, their first reaction was to say what a strange, dirty looking hippie I was, but after a few hours of warming up to each other, I would talk to them again about the monkey. Monkeys don’t belong in the desert, right? What does?

And they would almost invariably say something like, “Sand and rocks. That’s it. And there’s a tree over there (We were in Joshua Tree National Park).” Then I would launch into a talk about all the diversity in the desert, how many plants and animals there are there with so many different amazing adaptations and incredible interconnectedness aspects that some had even evolved to actually need each other in what looked at first glance as a barren wasteland.

They were seldom riveted, but I made sure they always went home with a solid grasp that there was far more than just sand, rocks and the occasional tree out in the desert- biodiversity is what makes the desert work. It needs variety to stay healthy.

I read an article about a cook/ food activist who has moved from Britain to one of the most overweight cities in the U.S.A., in West Virginia. Why? They have super high rates of obesity and child onset diabetes. He is trying to work his way into their hearts, hopefully cleaning out the clogs as he teaches them to cooks 3 or 4 easy but elegant meals from scratch, and get them believing that it is normal to cook your own food- not to go and buy fast food all the time. In essence, biodiversity. If you eat fast food all the time, call it what you want, but it’s full of simple sugars and carbohydrates, and little of what we actually need to keep us healthy.

Two examples: the desert and a town in West Virginia, both tell the same story that the world is learning about its food supply on a very fast schedule.

“We have narrowed the genetic range of our endemic foods through agricultural intensification, and concentrated the production systems to varieties and species of food that have short rotation,” said Rodrigo Fuentes, executive director of the Asean Center for Biodiversity.

Diversity of diet keeps people healthy, diversity in an ecosystem keeps it functioning and healthy, and biodiversity around the world allows us to adapt to change.

This is a big reminder that there is not one answer to climate change, there is not one solution- it will come in as many forms as there is life on the Earth it is trying to protect.