Thomas P.M. Barnett

Dateline: above the garage in Portsmouth RI, 10 May

Whenever I give the brief and show the Gap on the map, I get this response from someone in the crowd, meaning they have seen the shape displayed before but with regard to something else.

When I was on Diane Rehm recently, I discussed the causality of the Gap with Steve Roberts. That discussion got me this letter from Walter Parham, Ph.D. from Virginia.

Dear Dr. Barnett,

I heard your interesting radio interview on NPR today. Your discussion of various maps that parallel yours caught my attention. It reminded me of something I wrote a long time ago and, so, I decided to send you a copy for your collection. It is a geological/mineralogical view of the world but it may be of some interest to you anyway. Congratulations on your new book.

As someone very interested in geology who's done a lot of work on the oil industry and agriculture in developing economies, I was very interested. Parham didn't send a map, but did send the following abstract from the World Population Society, dated 1975:

GEOLOGICAL CONTROLS ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES OF THE HUMID TROPICS

Walter E. Parham, Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Developing nations are not scattered haphazardly across the earth's surface but are concentrated mostly in the hot, humid tropics where the land is covered with heavily leached soils. The region's climate and the mineralogic composition of the near-surface rock materials are key elements of the environmental framework of developing nations. A host of problems related to soil fertility, food production, agricultural practices, man and animal nutrition, deforestation, water quality, public health, and erosion are directly related to this region's geologic weathering environment. The common clay minerals of soils of the humid tropics are rich in aluminum, silica and iron and thus are poor for producing high-protein food. Slash-and-burn agriculture relies on ashes of the burned forest for soil nutrients. The soil's low ion exchange capacity results in the loss of most nutrients to runoff during heavy rains, accelerating eutrophication of surrounding waters. Lack of forest cover promotes erosion and siltation. Food needs for rapidly growing populations has resulted in shorter periods for forest regrowth between burnings. Consequently, soil deterioration increases rapidly while food production decreases. The common assumption that most of these nations can "Pull themselves up by their bootstraps" seems unlikely in light of the mineralogical and geological controls of their environment.

This is why I argue that the Core should encourage the use of bioengineered crops optimized to grow in poor soil conditions inside the Gap.

Good input that I thank Dr. Parham for.