Well, actually, that's why there are more Irish in the USA (or was that just Chicago) than in Ireland.

The potato famine wouldn't have happened if potatoes were grown from seed. But they are clones, so one bug can wipe out an entire island's crop. Or planet's, if it comes to that.

Biodiversity isn't just for the poetic jollies of people who are unpoetic enough to invent a word as lame as "biodiversity". It is a matter of survival.