Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Pete Vukovich <pvukovic1@yahoo.com>]

I don't know if I mentioned this already, but I just finished reading Berry's book
'what matters?' , he argues we belong to two economies. One he calls the great economy which is primarily nature (what he says Wes Jackson calls the kingdom of god) and one he calls the little economy which is based on explotation of resources and people . According to Wendell Berry we have no choice about belonging to the big one. Somewhere along the way we forgotten that and we've created the little one which we've separated from the big one by undervaluing the great economy while simultaneously emphasizing our own 'value added' little economy. Scientists and businesses  don't create soil or soil communities, make wood from by recycling carbon, or make the sun shine the big economy does that. What we need according to his thesis is to bring the little economy back under the umbrella of the big economy.

The book was a decent read, the gist of his argument is restated by different people all the time, but at least its within a context that most of the believers in the 'little economy' might begin to understand a way out of their predicament that doesn't include a government or corporate 'fix'.


--- On Mon, 7/19/10, John D'hondt <dhondt@eircom.net> wrote:

From: John D'hondt <dhondt@eircom.net>
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] "let us cultivate our garden"
To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Monday, July 19, 2010, 2:07 PM

The world doesn't need an "economy." We need to get out of the economy, not wait for it to improve. Candide had the right idea.

<<<Not much point in waiting for it to get better when all indications I am seeing is for it to get worse. Martin Luther once said that he would plant apple trees if he knew he would die the following day. That too seems a similar right idea.
john

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