health thru biodiversity

[jimmylegs]

so, i'm writing this essay on the importance of biodiversity to the healthy function of ecosystems. the issue has its critics i know, but that's my assignment. so anyway, i'm reading on the david suzuki site:

"The world food supply today is derived from 30 crops which supply about 90 per cent of calories to the human diet. And just 14 animal species make up 90 per cent of the livestock we raise" and he goes on to say that with this limited amount of diversity, we are vulnerable to crop disease etc.

and i thought, of course, screw vulnerable to CROP disease, our internal ecosystems aren't getting the biodiversity THEY need for healthy functioning! the japanese food guide idea of 29 different foods per day is making clear sense to me now. i mean i know this is not really news but i never thought of it this way before. so i put "dietary biodiversity" in google, and ya. it's all over the place. awesome!