Here we are at Item four, which is not fourth most important one but perhaps the most primary. To be honest, all five items I am covering have to happen pretty much at the same time, but the order of which to prioritize depend a lot on the urgency of Read more…
“Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were Read more…
I recently saw an online post that emphasized toxic problems with the Industrial Agricultural system and the need to go more into permaculture. What struck me was the series of comments that emphasized how many people were locked into the myth of the ‘Green Revolution’ as the only way to Read more…
“Fairy tales in childhood are stepping stones throughout life, leading the way through trouble and trial. The value of fairy tales lies not in a brief literary escape from reality, but in the gift of hope that goodness truly is more powerful than evil and that even the darkest reality Read more…
“An organic farmer is the best peacemaker today, because there is more violence, more death, more destruction, more wars, through a violent industrial agricultural system. And to shift away from that into an agriculture of peace is what organic farming is doing” Vandana Shiva The second essential aspect of developing Read more…
The problem with industrial farming is that it is a one size fits all kind of situation, but different areas with different ecosystems and microecosystems do not really lend themselves to that mentality. In the last post, I mentioned that large scale agriculture will still be needed in the future, Read more…
Most people do not associate food with their sovereignty, but it is one of the most crucial freedoms we have. For most people it is a simple process of going to the grocery store, but stop and think about the process that controls the food you find on the shelves. Read more…
“Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control people” Henry Kisinger. I fully intended to just do a localized food growing post, but I watched a short news interview with noted Indian sustainability scholar-activist Vandana Shiva, and ended up exploring yet another rabbit hole – that of Read more…
In my last post I talked about the need for a positive mind frame to create a sense of well-being. While mindset is one of the factors for a healthy life, there are many others. As I have been travelling recently I was surprised at how difficult it is in Read more…
An obvious, yet poignant question I used to ask my students to get them thinking – “What does the term Sustainable Agriculture imply about modern industrial agriculture?” I am always amazed how so many people talk about sustainability but still practice unsustainability as something that is commonplace and acceptable. As Read more…
In the previous post I talked about the 10% rule of energetics within the food chain. The potentially most efficient way to eat is to consume the vegetables directly so that we get 10% of the vegetables energy. Eating an animal that ate the vegetable only gives us 1% of Read more…
“The primary mode of cognition that the practitioners of science have used during the past century – Analytic, Linear, Reductionist, Deterministic, Mechanical – has begun to reach the limits of its assumptions. For this particular mode of cognition and the system to which that mode has given rise, can only Read more…
Earth is not a platform for human life. It’s a living being. We’re not on it but part of it. Its health is our health. Thomas Moore (archetypal psychologist and mythologist). I really do not think that indigenous peoples go around saying I love nature. To people that live within Read more…
I have read several times now from different sources, “who thought it was a good idea to put poison on our food and think it would have no consequences?” Two of the largest chemical companies (Bayer and Monsanto) in the world have been given the go ahead from the US Read more…
Let’s face it, we all like food. It has been the primary human occupation throughout humanities history. It is the primary drive for all of nature. Yet how many of us in the MDCs could actually find food if it wasn’t neatly packaged in a grocery store? Once we were Read more…
Over the years, during lectures and many talks I have given, one question that always comes up is could we actually make the transition to sustainability or is it just a pipe-dream. Obviously the question usually comes from people who think a sustainable future is some half-life of a harsh Read more…
I’m busy ice-climbing this week enjoying the beauty of the mountains of Colorado! More regular posts once I get back from playing. I live comfortably in a house much to big for my needs, although it is one of the more modest ones in my neighborhood subject to Home Owners Read more…