Hi everyone, I am gearing up to write some in-depth essays about some urgent topics: Artificial Intelligence, Peace, and the accelerating economic and ecological crises. Each seems more urgent than the others, and each will require considerable time and thought to do well. I want them to reach not just the general reader, but also influencers and policy-makers, so I will spend extra time making sure they are solid. So, while I’m researching and writing them I won’t be publishing the short pieces I’ve been posting the last few weeks.
I really appreciate what you said about the imperative of re-claiming our human connection to the process of cultivating and preparing food in part 1 your conversation with Shantena Sabbadini and Cruz Mañas. I whole heartedly agree with what you said about how the process of making the production and cooking of food into standardized industrialized commodities means that our health and well being will end up suffering.
I want to offer people sign posts on a path to re-localize and decentralized food production, inviting them to form an intimate connection with the land and nurture food culture locally through embracing the creative process in the garden and in the kitchen.
I think that Sandor Katz said it best when he wrote:
"Reclaiming our food and our participation in cultivation is a means of cultural revival, taking action to break out of the confining and infantilizing dependency of the role of consumer (user) and taking back our dignity and power to become producers and creators. Though affluent people have more food choices than the people of the past could ever dream of, and one persons labor can produce more 'food' today than ever before, the large scale, commercial methods and systems that enable these phenomena are destroying our Earth, destroying our health, and depriving us of dignity. With respect to food, the vast majority of people are completely dependent for survival upon a fragile global infrastructure of monocultures, synthetic chemicals, biotechnology, and transportation.
Moving towards a more harmonious way of life and greater resilience requires our active participation. This means finding ways to become more aware of and connected to the other forms of life that are around us and that constitute our food---plants and animals--- as well as bacteria and fungi--- and to the resources, such as water, fuel, materials, tools and transportation, upon which we depend. We can become creators of a better world, of better and more regenerative food choices, of greater awareness of resources, and of community based upon sharing. For culture to be strong and resilient, it must be a creative realm in which skills, information, and values are engaged and transmitted; culture cannot thrive as a consumer paradise or spectator sport. Daily life offers constant opportunities for participatory action. Seize them."
― Sandor Ellix Katz (Author of "The Art of Fermentation" )
The Independent National Convention sounds very interesting. And disheartening because that one paragraph talks about uniting independents, depolarizing the country, and finding common ground and then divides and polarizes people into haves and have nots in the process of finding common ground only among the haves.
"Love and Politics" panel? Is that the one followed by "Cooking With Dogsh*t"?
"Love" and "politics" are being discussed as symbiotic. Oh man. We are so far gone at this point.
You know, i used to have to dig around and read through things here before I found something to have fun with. Now they just fall right into my lap at first glance. Heck, I might even get bored and leave all you tepid souls be.
I listened to the "What's the Next Story?" conversation. I found the statistics on modern medicine interesting (12% of children with chronic conditions in the 1980s, 54% now). I definitely believe that the way Western medicine works (fostering a circle of dependence) plays a role in that. But it goes way beyond that, I believe. Part of it is the excessive reliance on technology. While, as someone who works online and makes a living from anywhere in the world thanks to technology, I believe it can bring us a lot of benefits, it is an overused tool. Right now, I see that so many people no longer know how to communicate anything in person. They hide behind a screen. The result, in the long run, is a robot-like existence, with a lot of stuffed emotions underneath. This is a ticking bomb scenario, and from a metaphysical perspective, it also manifests as illness. Of course, not knowing how to deal with it, we then resort to some of the magic pills that pharmaceutical companies offer, and other "conveniences" that gradually diminish our quality of life. What are your ideas as to how we can increase self-awareness in this regard? I believe that, by doing so, more people will wake up on their own, and see technology, medicine, and everything else for what it is, a tool that yes, if used properly, can make our life better, as long as we are mindful and it is us who use it, and not the other way around.
Thank you for providing all those wonderful links -- I’ve bookmarked them for later 😄 Good luck writing your essays, I’m really looking forward to them!
I really appreciate what you said about the imperative of re-claiming our human connection to the process of cultivating and preparing food in part 1 your conversation with Shantena Sabbadini and Cruz Mañas. I whole heartedly agree with what you said about how the process of making the production and cooking of food into standardized industrialized commodities means that our health and well being will end up suffering.
This is the reason why I share posts like this https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/amaranth-seed-trail-of-tears-and
I want to offer people sign posts on a path to re-localize and decentralized food production, inviting them to form an intimate connection with the land and nurture food culture locally through embracing the creative process in the garden and in the kitchen.
I think that Sandor Katz said it best when he wrote:
"Reclaiming our food and our participation in cultivation is a means of cultural revival, taking action to break out of the confining and infantilizing dependency of the role of consumer (user) and taking back our dignity and power to become producers and creators. Though affluent people have more food choices than the people of the past could ever dream of, and one persons labor can produce more 'food' today than ever before, the large scale, commercial methods and systems that enable these phenomena are destroying our Earth, destroying our health, and depriving us of dignity. With respect to food, the vast majority of people are completely dependent for survival upon a fragile global infrastructure of monocultures, synthetic chemicals, biotechnology, and transportation.
Moving towards a more harmonious way of life and greater resilience requires our active participation. This means finding ways to become more aware of and connected to the other forms of life that are around us and that constitute our food---plants and animals--- as well as bacteria and fungi--- and to the resources, such as water, fuel, materials, tools and transportation, upon which we depend. We can become creators of a better world, of better and more regenerative food choices, of greater awareness of resources, and of community based upon sharing. For culture to be strong and resilient, it must be a creative realm in which skills, information, and values are engaged and transmitted; culture cannot thrive as a consumer paradise or spectator sport. Daily life offers constant opportunities for participatory action. Seize them."
― Sandor Ellix Katz (Author of "The Art of Fermentation" )
The Independent National Convention sounds very interesting. And disheartening because that one paragraph talks about uniting independents, depolarizing the country, and finding common ground and then divides and polarizes people into haves and have nots in the process of finding common ground only among the haves.
Don't take any shot. You can't trust the medical establishment at all.
"Love and Politics" panel? Is that the one followed by "Cooking With Dogsh*t"?
"Love" and "politics" are being discussed as symbiotic. Oh man. We are so far gone at this point.
You know, i used to have to dig around and read through things here before I found something to have fun with. Now they just fall right into my lap at first glance. Heck, I might even get bored and leave all you tepid souls be.
I listened to the "What's the Next Story?" conversation. I found the statistics on modern medicine interesting (12% of children with chronic conditions in the 1980s, 54% now). I definitely believe that the way Western medicine works (fostering a circle of dependence) plays a role in that. But it goes way beyond that, I believe. Part of it is the excessive reliance on technology. While, as someone who works online and makes a living from anywhere in the world thanks to technology, I believe it can bring us a lot of benefits, it is an overused tool. Right now, I see that so many people no longer know how to communicate anything in person. They hide behind a screen. The result, in the long run, is a robot-like existence, with a lot of stuffed emotions underneath. This is a ticking bomb scenario, and from a metaphysical perspective, it also manifests as illness. Of course, not knowing how to deal with it, we then resort to some of the magic pills that pharmaceutical companies offer, and other "conveniences" that gradually diminish our quality of life. What are your ideas as to how we can increase self-awareness in this regard? I believe that, by doing so, more people will wake up on their own, and see technology, medicine, and everything else for what it is, a tool that yes, if used properly, can make our life better, as long as we are mindful and it is us who use it, and not the other way around.
Looking forward to reading your next essays.
Thank you for providing all those wonderful links -- I’ve bookmarked them for later 😄 Good luck writing your essays, I’m really looking forward to them!
Thank you so much for this, I'm delighted to read you'll be thinking deeply about those topics and writing on them.
I'll read/watch the results very intently. And thanks for the waiting room links in the meantime, all much appreciated 🙏🏼
Thank you for all the links!
Thanks for the mention of the EarthCare Summit!! Excited for your presentation on The Body of Earth!