The industrialization of farming has led to many problems, including global food surpluses and shortages, and the degradation of the environment. This has led to the desertification of the worlds grasslands and to global starvation. Our current model of food production is dependent on chemical based fertilizers and is relies heavily on fossil fuels. The combination of these factors does not optimize the quality of food , or the availability of solar energy. The use of technology has enabled humans to produce more food, leading to expanded populations, at the cost of quality of life and food security. Massive crop failures caused by flooding, drought, and natural disasters are still commonplace. Remember the corn failure in the US last year?
This all leads on to ask: What can be done? Or it leads one to eat a twinky and say "who cares?".
During my time at University, I was often overwhelmed by the impending sense of disaster and panic that the subject matter seemed to contain; every institution was corrupt, every system flawed, every person disordered or needing improvement. This was not equally balanced with solutions to our shared and ongoing global demands for peace, security, and well-being. These requirements apply at the individual level, as well as on a state level. If the individuals of a certain country are starving to death or constantly murdering each other, it doesn't matter what the country's GDP happens to be.
Many of these issues are tied to the food system, either directly or indirectly. As our food system has become more dependent on fossil fuels, this is even more the case. Those pineapples don't fly themselves from mexico!
The problems seem all to familiar, yet effective solutions are few and far between. Instead we use band-aid solutions, like federal buy-outs, farm-aid, massive subsidization, genetic modifications, chemical sprays, food aid to Africa, bombs to Bagdad, pipelines to everywhere, and everything in-between, while the world seems to crumble before us. It is like trying to cover a hole in your boat with one toe, then another hole with an elbow, then you see another one, and you can't cover the first one anymore. You get the picture.
Maybe all the 'problems' are really just consequences of our deeply flawed food production methods, and of a general detachment with our relationship to nature. Perhaps we are denying the essential fact that as humans we are tied inextricably to our earthly environment and to the cycles and forces of Mother Nature. We are trying to force nature to bend to our will, when we need to let go and be guided by the existing natural rhythms. This might sound like cliched hippie-talk from some weirdo in British Columbia, or some other incense-burning tree humper, but it is also the beginning of the answer.
This idea of embracing natural forces to our on-going benefit and not simply harnessing them temporarily for short term gains is crucial to our survival. For example, mimicking natural ecosystems on a farm and tapping into the maximum potential of solar energy on that farm is more sustainable and profitable in the long run, than damming a river upstream for electricity and flooding thousands of acres of forest and farm land for financial gain.
These ideas are not new or original. People have understood these basic principles for thousands of years. Perhaps the 'success' of modern civilization and our mastery of technology has spawned a destructive hubris in mankind which blinds us to our folly. Perhaps our attention is shifting towards little screens and keypads and away from the sunlit fields and streams, which are left to dry up and decay in private. Perhaps there is a global shift in consciousness occurring and we are about to dawn on a new age of prosperity and harmony. Perhaps...
Here are a couple of videos that have inspired these thoughts. Watch them and think about the different perspectives and how their ultimate goals are the same.
" This can't be done industrially, it takes warm bodies, and you can't just leave it to a computer and go off and sip coffee and let engines and machines run it all. It's hands on , it's craft, it's artisinal, it's the potter wheel. We have this cultural stigma against an agrarian existence, that's only good enough for the D and the F students, the redneck-hillbilly-trip-over-the-transmission-in-the-backyard-tobacco-spittin-graa, the grammar assaulting hillbilly; that's the farmer...When was the last time you heard a soccer mom say 'My son's gonna be a farmer!'? We don't do that!"-Joel Salatin
Here is the more 'academic' Ted talk by Allan Savory. Notice he doesn't mention the need for birds and boars, or chickens and pigs, to follow the herding animals and clean up and help finish the cycle. He also ordered the execution of 40, 000 elephants, so I'd listen to the farmer before the professor...Still a great talk. Enjoy!
And farmer Sepp Holtzer, who said:" Co-operat with nature, don't confront it."
This all leads on to ask: What can be done? Or it leads one to eat a twinky and say "who cares?".
During my time at University, I was often overwhelmed by the impending sense of disaster and panic that the subject matter seemed to contain; every institution was corrupt, every system flawed, every person disordered or needing improvement. This was not equally balanced with solutions to our shared and ongoing global demands for peace, security, and well-being. These requirements apply at the individual level, as well as on a state level. If the individuals of a certain country are starving to death or constantly murdering each other, it doesn't matter what the country's GDP happens to be.
Many of these issues are tied to the food system, either directly or indirectly. As our food system has become more dependent on fossil fuels, this is even more the case. Those pineapples don't fly themselves from mexico!
The problems seem all to familiar, yet effective solutions are few and far between. Instead we use band-aid solutions, like federal buy-outs, farm-aid, massive subsidization, genetic modifications, chemical sprays, food aid to Africa, bombs to Bagdad, pipelines to everywhere, and everything in-between, while the world seems to crumble before us. It is like trying to cover a hole in your boat with one toe, then another hole with an elbow, then you see another one, and you can't cover the first one anymore. You get the picture.
Maybe all the 'problems' are really just consequences of our deeply flawed food production methods, and of a general detachment with our relationship to nature. Perhaps we are denying the essential fact that as humans we are tied inextricably to our earthly environment and to the cycles and forces of Mother Nature. We are trying to force nature to bend to our will, when we need to let go and be guided by the existing natural rhythms. This might sound like cliched hippie-talk from some weirdo in British Columbia, or some other incense-burning tree humper, but it is also the beginning of the answer.
This idea of embracing natural forces to our on-going benefit and not simply harnessing them temporarily for short term gains is crucial to our survival. For example, mimicking natural ecosystems on a farm and tapping into the maximum potential of solar energy on that farm is more sustainable and profitable in the long run, than damming a river upstream for electricity and flooding thousands of acres of forest and farm land for financial gain.
These ideas are not new or original. People have understood these basic principles for thousands of years. Perhaps the 'success' of modern civilization and our mastery of technology has spawned a destructive hubris in mankind which blinds us to our folly. Perhaps our attention is shifting towards little screens and keypads and away from the sunlit fields and streams, which are left to dry up and decay in private. Perhaps there is a global shift in consciousness occurring and we are about to dawn on a new age of prosperity and harmony. Perhaps...
Here are a couple of videos that have inspired these thoughts. Watch them and think about the different perspectives and how their ultimate goals are the same.
" This can't be done industrially, it takes warm bodies, and you can't just leave it to a computer and go off and sip coffee and let engines and machines run it all. It's hands on , it's craft, it's artisinal, it's the potter wheel. We have this cultural stigma against an agrarian existence, that's only good enough for the D and the F students, the redneck-hillbilly-trip-over-the-transmission-in-the-backyard-tobacco-spittin-graa, the grammar assaulting hillbilly; that's the farmer...When was the last time you heard a soccer mom say 'My son's gonna be a farmer!'? We don't do that!"-Joel Salatin
And farmer Sepp Holtzer, who said:" Co-operat with nature, don't confront it."
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