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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Derrick Jensen

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Liz <liz@allslash.org>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Derrick Jensen
  • Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 10:04:25 -0500

At 11:05 PM 12/26/2007, you wrote:

"If your experience is that your water comes from the tap and that your
food comes from the grocery store then you are going to defend to the
death the system that brings those to you because your life depends on
that; if your experience is that your water comes from a river and that
your food comes from a land base then you will defend those to the death
because your life depends on them. So part of the problem is that we have
become so dependent upon this system that is killing and exploiting us, it
has become almost impossible for us to imagine living outside of it and
it's very difficult physically for us to live outside of it."

Unfortunately, knowing that your water comes from a river and your food from a land base has led to many wars of expansion over the centuries. But at least they were mostly localized conflict waged with relatively primitive weaponry. Now we're exploiting and killing the very planet that used to sustain us.

This is one reason that on the solar energy lists you hear questions like "I have a four bedroom house with central heat and a/c, refrigerator, freezer, electric stove, washer, dryer, three tv's and three computers--how many solar panels do I need to power this?" And when the reply is, "You need to reduce your consumption first," the person asking the question usually just goes away, because they can't imagine living differently.

When a significant percentage of people begins to ask "How can I change my life so it affects the world less?" rather than "How do we change the world so I can continue my current lifestyle?" only then will we begin to see a real difference. But I think it's going to take a crisis for that to happen.

Liz in SW VA
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com




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