Plants Are Our Future

Cold, bitter, bone chilling cold, that is an apt description of the past two dyas. That's not really a problem. It will get warmer. What worries me is the lack of snow, we are experiencing a winter drought. If snow does not fall, we will experience a sevre forest fire season as well as water restrictions. Plants that need the protection that the snow provides will suffer. People who rely on wells for their water source may have rought year. We need to reconsdier our relationship witht the natural world and stop taking it for granted.

Now is the time to build a new society. A society that does not rely on death and destruction to fuel its factories but one that nurtures all Life . The carbohydrate economy can assist in the building of a sustainable culture. Simply put, this means developing a society that is plant-based, rather than fossil fuel based . Which means we do not have to dig our raw materials out of the earth, thereby devastating large tracts of land, instead we can, organically, grow what we need. No gaping holes in the earth, or massive clearcuts where ancient forests once stood. In fact, we can restore the clearcuts as we create urban forest gardens.

When we use techniques such as permaculture we ensure that the plants we choose are grown in an ecosystem that is healthy and responsive. We will also reduce our waste to almost, if not, zero and say good bye to landfills. Waste becomes resource. Observing Nature will show us how to build and lead us to the plants that can meet our needs while providing for the needs of future generations.

I've written previously about the positive advantages of growing, processing and selling hemp locally. Hemp has a great many uses such as paper, food, oil and fabric, among others.

One of the goals of permaculture is to reduce the demands that are put upon rural land to produce food, fibre and energy so that these lands can return to wilderness and provide living space for the beings who cannot survive in the rural and urban sprawl our present food production system generates.

Plants are abundant and we can grow more, just as we can grow the opportunities for workers' cooperatives, cottage industries and other business systems. These opportunities transform work into livelihood, and become a way of sustaining ourselves and restoring the Earth.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic