I think it may be official that we have now had the wettest spring on record. Criminy. Well, since it's the only time I feel compelled to actually sit down and write, I guess that's okay, and what can I do about it, anyway. What can anyone do about it, actually? It's kinda like insomnia, just embrace it and let it work for you. That's my Modus operandi, when it doesn't depress me, outright, anyway.
It occurred to me over the weekend, that as a culture, we are still having an awfully lot of trouble, putting ourselves in a place where we will stretch our understanding of the cosmos and embrace the fact that we could be wrong about everything. On that note, however, I feel pretty safe saying that I may be wrong about these upcoming assumptions and opinions, but I am going to go ahead and vent them, anyhow, on account of it's my blog, and that's partly why I set it up. (To vent when I am disturbed).
I have been taking some wild edible courses now, with the same school, and it occurred to me yesterday, that even the people setting themselves up as our leaders/guru's/elders, have some serious personal issues of fallibility. For instance, the place I go is at the end of a very long dirt road, and sits on what looks to be at least ten acres of land, at the top of a hill, with no electricity. That last part is at least ethical, when you do the environmental footprint numbers. Unfortunately, it also occurred to me, when I did the math and studied the situation thoroughly, that there are some serious and significant gaps in the awareness of the school leaders, concerning sustainability.
Environmental footprint numbers (at least the ones put out by Sierra Club, who probably are also fallible), say that there is only enough land for everyone on earth to have/use 1.3 acres of resources, each. There is enough, though, truly, to feed, clothe and house, every man, woman and child on earth, if only gluttony and self-interest could be set aside to embrace the concept of true sustainability (which is good news, if you think about it). What that means to me, when I translate it directly, and tangibly, is that nobody, and I mean nobody, could own more then 1.3 acres of land. Period. Or conversely, that means that anybody who does own substantial acreage, would have to be willing to give up that acreage, or at least feed 1.3 people (for free), for every acre they do own, by putting that acreage into food production.
This is a concept that most people (who have acreage), cannot even seem to grasp, let alone embrace.
Another issue that I encountered was that of wild-crafting. The owner/teacher of the school insisted that it was okay for people who know what they are doing, to go out and wild-harvest food, and then sell it to people who don't know how to do it. In my mind, there's some serious miscalculation here. If everyone all of a sudden learned, tomorrow, how to wildcraft food, even ethically, there would definitely NOT be enough for selling, only for eating. If we look at the old ways, (which is what I think the teachers at this school are trying to teach), then food provided by mother nature, was never 'sold' for profit. Never, not once in Native American history, or any other native population's history, was food considered a commodity. It was only when colonialism collided with indigenous tribes, that food became available for sale.
Moving right along with trying to get back to the earth, then, and avail ourselves of all the bounty that mother nature has available, and at the same time, trying to move back to the old ways, it does not then make sense to say that "some" can sell food that is free, just because they are somehow more knowledgeable and/or given the gift of largess. Like I said, if everyone-all-of-a sudden-like, went out into the woods and started wildcrafting, the same thing would happen, that happened with ginseng. Most of the food would be depleted within a generation.
That's NOT sustainable, not by any stretch of the imagination. So, once again, I am bumping up against what I know to be the case, (or at least, what the numbers show to be the case), and what people are saying/doing, that is in direct conflict with the facts. To give the benefit of the doubt, I think the teachers ARE trying to teach the walk, they just are having trouble balancing their need for income, with the concepts they are trying to instill in the students. Which just brings to mind, how very, very difficult it is, for most people to not only talk the walk, but to walk the walk, as well.
And hey, I could be wrong. :) (Which is what this vid. is about). If you can't get it to load without the little circle loading symbol; go right to the TED site and do a search for: On Being Wrong. Her name is Kathryn Shultz. This was posted on FB this a.m. by my friend Erica, and was so apropos, I decided to include it, here. Enjoy!
It occurred to me over the weekend, that as a culture, we are still having an awfully lot of trouble, putting ourselves in a place where we will stretch our understanding of the cosmos and embrace the fact that we could be wrong about everything. On that note, however, I feel pretty safe saying that I may be wrong about these upcoming assumptions and opinions, but I am going to go ahead and vent them, anyhow, on account of it's my blog, and that's partly why I set it up. (To vent when I am disturbed).
I have been taking some wild edible courses now, with the same school, and it occurred to me yesterday, that even the people setting themselves up as our leaders/guru's/elders, have some serious personal issues of fallibility. For instance, the place I go is at the end of a very long dirt road, and sits on what looks to be at least ten acres of land, at the top of a hill, with no electricity. That last part is at least ethical, when you do the environmental footprint numbers. Unfortunately, it also occurred to me, when I did the math and studied the situation thoroughly, that there are some serious and significant gaps in the awareness of the school leaders, concerning sustainability.
Environmental footprint numbers (at least the ones put out by Sierra Club, who probably are also fallible), say that there is only enough land for everyone on earth to have/use 1.3 acres of resources, each. There is enough, though, truly, to feed, clothe and house, every man, woman and child on earth, if only gluttony and self-interest could be set aside to embrace the concept of true sustainability (which is good news, if you think about it). What that means to me, when I translate it directly, and tangibly, is that nobody, and I mean nobody, could own more then 1.3 acres of land. Period. Or conversely, that means that anybody who does own substantial acreage, would have to be willing to give up that acreage, or at least feed 1.3 people (for free), for every acre they do own, by putting that acreage into food production.
This is a concept that most people (who have acreage), cannot even seem to grasp, let alone embrace.
Another issue that I encountered was that of wild-crafting. The owner/teacher of the school insisted that it was okay for people who know what they are doing, to go out and wild-harvest food, and then sell it to people who don't know how to do it. In my mind, there's some serious miscalculation here. If everyone all of a sudden learned, tomorrow, how to wildcraft food, even ethically, there would definitely NOT be enough for selling, only for eating. If we look at the old ways, (which is what I think the teachers at this school are trying to teach), then food provided by mother nature, was never 'sold' for profit. Never, not once in Native American history, or any other native population's history, was food considered a commodity. It was only when colonialism collided with indigenous tribes, that food became available for sale.
Moving right along with trying to get back to the earth, then, and avail ourselves of all the bounty that mother nature has available, and at the same time, trying to move back to the old ways, it does not then make sense to say that "some" can sell food that is free, just because they are somehow more knowledgeable and/or given the gift of largess. Like I said, if everyone-all-of-a sudden-like, went out into the woods and started wildcrafting, the same thing would happen, that happened with ginseng. Most of the food would be depleted within a generation.
That's NOT sustainable, not by any stretch of the imagination. So, once again, I am bumping up against what I know to be the case, (or at least, what the numbers show to be the case), and what people are saying/doing, that is in direct conflict with the facts. To give the benefit of the doubt, I think the teachers ARE trying to teach the walk, they just are having trouble balancing their need for income, with the concepts they are trying to instill in the students. Which just brings to mind, how very, very difficult it is, for most people to not only talk the walk, but to walk the walk, as well.
And hey, I could be wrong. :) (Which is what this vid. is about). If you can't get it to load without the little circle loading symbol; go right to the TED site and do a search for: On Being Wrong. Her name is Kathryn Shultz. This was posted on FB this a.m. by my friend Erica, and was so apropos, I decided to include it, here. Enjoy!
1 comment:
as far as the fallibility of the Sierra Club goes, they did at one point take an anti-immigration stance, because immigrants would have contributed to ruining "OUR" natural spaces. lol.
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