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Editorial: Where have all the flours gone?
By Henry H. Bucher, Jr.
Aug 28, 2008

The immediate answer is that only some flours, especially corn, have gone into producing biofuels; and this was done in hope of offsetting oil losses due to the wars now (and possibly more soon) in the Middle East. Demand for biofuels, especially ethanol, has caused food prices to soar here and abroad. Of course, the price of transportation has gone up so there are multiple reasons (including drought and wars), for the price of most items to rise.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, the price of corn has more than doubled from January, 2005 to January, 2008. Since about half of all US corn production is exported, the effect of higher corn prices affects the developing world more than it affects us. Subsidized US farmers can sell corn in Mexico for less than the Mexican farmer can, thus encouraging migration to the US and more hunger in Mexico; thus causing more exodus. If many in the developing world are hit by higher corn and oil prices, as well as weather change, situations that are already bad can only become impossible.

My point is that all these factors are inter-connected to each other and to most other issues of any import. Wars can cause higher prices and migration; but high prices and migration can cause wars. In some areas of the world, we are already seeing the speed up of a “wheel of misfortune” that will become more and more difficult to stop and reverse. The most important step we can take today/now is to think harder while softening our footprint on planet earth. Good planets are hard to find. We need to think more and live with less now.

These are not new ideas. My apologies and thanks to Pete Seeger, folk hero musician of the last generation who dared to sing out for peace when we were “at war” in Vietnam. Then we “escalated,” today in Iraq we “surge.”  In 1955, he testified before the House on Un American Activities (HUAC) and in July,1956 the US House of Representatives voted 373 to 9, to cite Pete Seeger and some other folk for contempt. Pete Seeger’s response was to write the now popular song, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”  The song answers: the girls have plucked them, then married; and their husbands are gone to war; many of whom have gone to graveyards where flowers now bloom. “Oh, when will they ever learn?”

The Smothers Brothers learned that having Pete Seeger sing on their show lost them their TV show; but the planners of wars seem to have learned nothing in the last sixty years. Ask the Dixie Chicks!

The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese philosopher came after Pete Seeger, but has said something similar. One sees a beautiful bouquet of flowers, he notes, and does not imagine they are soon to be in a compost; nor does one look at a compost and imagine that someday they will be beautiful flowers! 

Vegetarians would remind us how much land one cow needs to survive until being butchered. You don’t have to be a feminist to take better care of Mother Earth; indeed, to affirm every day as Mother’s Day.

I don’t know where humanity is today between the garbage and the bouquet or between the bouquet and garbage; but I am encouraged that the grandson of Pete Seeger has not given up. Indeed; he recently sang “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” with his grandfather several times. But today, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger is in a “swords into plowshares” mode by working with other musicians and artists to make AK-47s in Latin America into guitars so that songs of peace can quiet or disquiet the sounds of war.

In Spanish, a shotgun is “escopeta”;-- a guitar is “guitarra.”. Working with fellow musician and Colombian Cesar Lopez, they are planning to make used AK-47s into “Escopetarras” Some still have the etchings that soldiers make for each enemy killed. It is positively scarry to think about what would happen if college students across the USA put as much effort into this peace project as they do into other non-academic matters. Would this not make an enormous “Alternative Spring Break” on or off campus? Pete Seeger’s grandson, Tao has been to nearby Austin College already in 2000, and he would probably come again with an Escopetarra, if he could get it through customs. The planning and follow-up on such a project would be an education in itself.

When will we/they ever learn? Mostly when we are forced to by circumstances and inspired by musicians, artists, and charismatic peacemakers. Where have they all gone?

Henry H. Bucher, Jr.
Adjunct Associate Professor Emeritus / Humanities
Comparative World History / Africa & Middle East
Austin College  # 61555
Sherman, TX 75090-4400
hbucher@austincollege.edu