Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Pego Rice <firekeeper38@yahoo.com>]

Thanks for this article.  I really appreciated the
extensive list of general solutions and have given
many of them some thought, if you would care to chew
them over with me.


1) City and county zoning needs to reflect the need
for people to live near their co-operative partners
(people they need to sell to/buy from, people they
need to work with, etc. and their work.  Instead of
zoning one spot for industry and another for "single
family housing" Codes, like the ZED Standards, that
encourage this and living near public transit avenues
like trains, that readily port people and farm goods. 
Building codes that require solid materials also
seriously cut down the need for fire department
vehicles.  A fire that will not spread saves everyone.
 This may be one of the first, best easiest steps for
people to take.  Construction companies and the like
have had free reign to lobby and write such ordinances
and regs, but out community codes are the easiest for
locals to tackle and change.  The end result of this
kind of change is HUGE.

http://www.zedstandards.com/

2) micro farms.  Also if we return to village living
it is easier to roust small groups of people to attend
to emergency needs like like facing late frosts and
fires.  My family still remembers coming out from town
to help on the farm when the season was up and none of
the equipment had gas.  30 mule teams needed helpers.

3) What CAN be done is to transit suburbs to large
villages that use their lawns as crop areas.  reality
is such a pain, but there are some ecovillages and
co-housing groups that are actually trying to
retrofit, so there is at least the seed.  With
intensive farming and gardening methods a LOT of food
can come out of previously useless lawns.  At a
minimum, we can start planting food trees like Pecans,
throughout our neighborhoods.


5) villages, trains

6) Drugs are a particularly critical issue here, most
of our drugs are sourced from overseas, either whole,
materials or at least in manufacture.  What ever
comment I may have for Viagra and hair whatever, many
drugs are critical to prevent catastrophic damage to
health.  The drugs associated with that should,
perhaps, be brought back to the US, at a minimum.

7)  OK, give it up, Twister is coming back

8)  Take a good look at Sudbury Valley and Circle
school systems.  http://www.sudval.org/free.html These
people are small-group and varied age oriented. 
Adults are present primarily to be advisers and assist
in healthy interplay, helping the kids to learn and
work with a democratic and judicial life, (this
actually is extra important for a society that has
largely lost the art of living in a small community)
and the kids teach themselves to a great degree, and
quite successfully.  What is critical to this is a
large and comprehensive data base.  Then teachers can
be fully developed and come in on a more sporadic
basis to teach kids (and adults) intensive courses
that have been requested.

Yours, Pego


 
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