Homestead mailing list

[Jerry B <liberty AT kaballero.com>]

Gene Gerue writes:
> What does Earth charity mean? What does that last dollar do? Lots of  
> things; I'll just name a few. It ensures that there are fewer  
> chemicals floating in the air, being breathed by my fellow humans. It  
> means fewer chemicals flowing with eroding soil down to streams,  
> rivers, lakes and ocean, thence to be ingested by the wild fish we  
> eat. It means chicken manure spread by the hens feeds the soil which  
> helps to maintain a thriving soil community, which produces healthier  
> plants for the hens to eat. I'm sure you will think of more. Bottom  
> line: we think Earth charity is a good investment.
>
> I once read a saying that goes something like this: We do not inherit  
> the land from our parents; we borrow it from our children.
>   
Writing at it's best, and most useful, Gene

Might I add, since I think it is an astoundingly important fact going 
unheralded right at the very time we need it most,  another boon of 
"Organic" is that this healthier soil maintaining a thriving soil 
community for healthier plants for hens and humans to eat, also 
sequesters a whole lot more of Carbon than the sterilized, burned out 
soils treated by fossil hydrocarbon products!

In fact, the dynamics of verdant microbiological life and biochemistry 
is how earth became habitable to higher life forms such as we, to begin 
with.  It is hard to imagine now how huge and how bountiful the plants 
and animals grew to be with the fertility of ages past. This life itself 
is what brought down the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 
life sustaining levels of temperature, to say nothing of adding Oxygen 
to breath. All that life was the source of the oil beneath the seas and 
coal under land which stored all this away in safe places until man came 
along and in an 'instant' of time (100 years) pulled it to the surface 
again, burning it back into the atmosphere and dumping and spraying its 
products into the soil, the water and the air. Daily mass extinctions of 
Billions of living cells per teaspoon ! of soil, with tons of drops of 
concentrated poisons. These are not exaggerations, or melodramatic 
images. This is what we are still doing now, day by day, ton after ton 
after ton. Stopping this, and doing the opposite, encouraging again 
life, is the only hope we have to slow down the  reversal of the process 
that made us possible to begin with. It is really pretty simple and 
straightforward, most surprising in how long it has taken us to realize 
what we have done, and to become conscious of each motion we make that 
adds to the frequency and the intensity of the myriad consequences we 
must now face.

Growing and buying organic does go along way in reversing this recent 
death-dealing trend. It  is claimed by Alan Yeoman's of Australia that 
simply by raising the fertility of the already cropped topsoils 1.5 
percent, we could remove all excess Carbon we have introduced  into the 
atmosphere within only  ten years time. Of course we still would have to 
undergo centuries or much more climate changes, but hopefully the 
geometric explosions of feedback systems such as the release of metane 
hydrates from the ocean floors could be prevented.  I had hoped to read 
your analysis of yeomans thesis Gene, but it appears you must not have 
been much impressed, and I am wondering why.

Could anything be more important right now for life on earth? Where does 
one read or hear of this? I would think this should be, could be about 
the most researched and talked about subject now on the bookshelves.  I 
doubt if anyone is going to win Branson's 25 million dollar prize for a 
method to sequester, I think is one billion tons of carbon per year by 
suggesting this again, but damn, it surely would be worth billions to 
the economics and life on this planet if we could help stir up such an 
all out crash program to restore the soils .... actually even more 
effective than just saving forest and jungle lands.

One inch of new topsoil every three years, instead of the 1" per 
thousand years as occurred before man's intervention. Grow huge massive 
green leafed plants again, and tall, thick savannas. We have a lot to 
make up for, and with so many other side benefits as well at no net 
cost.  There is quite a market for food nowadays. The figures and 
science are readily calculable and known.  It is the education and the 
public will that is still lacking, and of course the Vested Interests 
will fight it all the way. And there are efforts in this direction being 
made, such as reclamation of the deserts in Egypt.

Growing and buying organic is a great investment and statement we can 
make now for our children and all forms of life on earth. But I fear at 
the pace we are going, it will not turn the tide in time. Gene, James, 
Bev, Lee,  and all you other very eloquent and insightful writers 
writing from your own hands-in-the-dirt experience ... do please Save 
the bloomin'  planet ! ! !.  I might want to get back in here in a few 
years. It is up to us, you know,  and the time to me does appear quite 
short.
.
Wow. Just had a thought, not entirely unreasonable. You three or four, 
or six, whatever, get together (online?) assemble and present the facts 
.... win the 25 million hands down. Would you all know how to make good 
use of that prize money?  If not, maybe I could be of some help there. 
(g)    jerry b

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