Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
We talk with Jim Gale to discuss his organization Food Forest Abundance, dedicated to food ecosystems for the individual and family through establishing yards and urban fields for growing agricultural provisions, to improve self-reliance and connection with the land.
Allen Williams of Understanding Ag discusses the importance of abiding by healthy, regenerative soil principles in agriculture. He advocates for farming and ranching in synchrony with nature to repair, rebuild, revitalize and restore ecosystem function starting with all life in the soil and moving to all life above the soil.
We have forgotten the flocks of passenger pigeons that blotted out the sun, the herds of bison that shook the ground, and the untamed places in which we destroyed them. This is ecological amnesia. This capacity to forget, this fluidity of memory, has dire implications in a world dense with people, all desperate to satisfy their immediate material needs. Yet, the way forward is land and water protection and regeneration, permaculture, and community reconnection with the wild.
Bayer’s multi-billion dollar GMO herbicide is one of the most toxic substances ever launched on the public, responsible for cancers and other diseases, and has significant negative effects on ecosystems across the world. California has agreed to add glyphosate, the main ingredient of Monsanto’s Roundup, to the list of known carcinogens.
Everyone needs vitamins and minerals like potassium, calcium, magnesium and others to stay strong and healthy. Courtney White describes in an excerpt from his book Grass, Soil, Hope how industrial farming has decreased these essential nutrients in our food and using regenerative agriculture practices we can get them back while offsetting a large amount of greenhouse gases.
Bill Mollison (born 1928 in Tasmania, Australia) is a researcher, author, scientist, teacher and naturalist, and one of the foremost advocates for permaculture, or permanent agriculture. Following is a documentary on Mollison and his ideas.
A community of coffee farmers in Uganda has formed the Peace Kawomera Fair Trade Cooperative, focused on people of different faiths putting aside their differences to overcome generations of conflict and poverty. Now a Smithsonian Folkways recording has been released to celebrate their achievements.