Point Reyes lonely house

Point house, a photo by jgreenphotos on Flickr.

double exposure forest III

double exposure forest III, a photo by jgreenphotos on Flickr.

in the year 2023

It seems that we think about the future at every point of our lives.

The moment we start talking about climate change, our economy, even a life crisis, we harp on the inevitable but mostly unpredicted future of tomorrow. We think about "the saving of the planet," and how we need to act now for that future, the future for a living planet, and to make sure we protect those rain forests "for our children's, children's, children's, children".

too much of this would burn me out, and growing up with a lot of it, has.

i mentioned before about not being an eco warrior, and how i might have mentioned, a little harshly, against the general liking of the environmental movement.

For the past 25 years of my life, and almost another 20 before that, we were becoming self aware of our environment and what kind of effect/affect modern, industrialized civilization, has had on both us and the planet.

in less then half a century, our planet became less a far off world, and all at once a very small home to a creature with very big aspirations (Humans).

our oceans started to feel the strain of too much harvest, forests turn to pasture::small towns::paved communities::and cities. our air quality and environmental quality

have quickly depleted. the resources that have fed all of this, are doing the same.

so we know all this. its very sad. in fact, its entirely the best of dooms day any literature, film (even radio show) has yet had to offer.

the small forces (and sometimes very large organizations) working to save it, i think, tend to go about it all wrong: we have tried to address this horrible out look on the future with an approach, business like, on all its levels. we have tried to use the same method of organization and capital that has caused the exact dooms day scenario we are looking at.

when we try and predict and draw an outline to this dooms day-

10 years 5 degrees warmer? 20 years there is not enough food? peak oil now, or in 50 years?

we forget about the exact meaning of "now." the most important part of all this, is living in the now, and starting on a path to living as a being. as being one. as being self reliable. as being part of other beings. community, human power, and the ability to come together and figure it out piece by piece.

build water tanks to collect water.

grow food in any space possible.

share a car, tools, stories, skills, even a fork and knife.

DIY: classes, books, and volunteering.

build a chicken coop and rescue birds from industries.

forage for food, and etc.

so live now. by approaching everything you need as being, you can tackle even the biggest problems you think is entirely out of your control.

think of the roots, and imagine the branches in which they lead-

everything starts with you.

you are the sole consumer/creator of [your] life.

the greatest resource we have of all: our bodies, our minds, and most of all our hands.

everything after that does not matter, because it all comes back to us. we.

if its change we need and want, then the roots will have to be unbound and allowed to grow into the proper space. without the room to grow and change, we will wither away within our own soil, with no room to be human. it seems to me we need a good transplant, and something better then a concrete pot....

Bolinas and the PDC

As of Friday, i will be up in Bolinas CA for a two week permaculture intensive, to be certified as a permaculturalist.

what is permaculture?

In the mid 1970's Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, in response to the horrid destruction of top soil due to industrialized agriculture and the poisoning of biodiversity, water and land in Australia-

had coined from earlier definitions of permanent agriculture or forest culture at the turn of the 1900s, "permanent culture" or permaculture, defining both land and people in the practice of a more permanent sustainability of resources and biome.

at right, ( a quick and poor drawing)is just a quick visual of the 3 key principals of permaculture:

earth care-

this is recognizing that earth is first. we are a part of it, not apart from it, and it takes input of energy just as much as we take from it.. in fact we should be putting more energy back into it.

people care-

we live with each other, so that we live within our means and the earth's means. we prioritize earth care so that it becomes own by default. care of our environment for us, not for the sake of saving the earth; we seem to forget that this planet lived on quite nicely without us for millennia.

we are only destroying it for our selves, and no one else. that is a BIG DEAL PEOPLE! (i do not consider my self some eco warrior- go hug a tree, i couldn't care less- people need to realize that there will be plenty of life long after we go extinct... it is entirely in our control whether we live on and have a human friendly planet. remember the T-rex and friends lived in a much hotter, more CO2 rich atmosphere/planet then we did- they went extinct because that atmosphere lost its heat that sustained their cold blooded life style, and it happened over millions of years. im sure if they could have helped it, they would have. this is just one example of a cycle that our planet naturally is a part of, and we have altered our environment on every level since our brains have allowed us to. why our smart and very self conscience brains have not recognized the inevitable finite nature of resources is going to be the punch line of our tool using, and amazing evolution.)

fair share-

by recognizing the limits of resources and consumption, and maximizing their outputs, we can put more back into those resources and energies then we take out of both the earth and for our selves.

these three principles are key, all cycling back into one another, and creating a balance and organization that allows the abundance that is needed for all three- earth, human, and fair share.

if we do not share or work together within this cycle, then we create a isolated, closed system.

imagine a fish tank: we want to keep water and oxygen flowing through the filter and pump, populate it with some plants, invertebrates, and add only a few larger fish that can add to that cycle. every once and a while we must tend to it, clean it, and make sure everything has what it needs and is kept in balance.

permaculture is our solution to our own fish tank (earth) and if we don't start treating it as such, we will all be floating belly up like that gold fish we once had long and ago. might as well flush us down the toilet....