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  • From: "georg parlow" <georg@websuxxess.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] footprint (was: Re: Major histocompatibility complex )
  • Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 16:37:47 +0100

hi mike:

no worries, we are on the same side here. but "concerns for the planet"
sounds so grand, while it actually is all about our little lives, our
descendants, the beauties our eyes and lungs and hearts will miss. we are an
egocentered species, and i believe it is high time that we admit to it.
maybe this way we willbe able to muster the necessary zest needed to shift
from selfdestructive, shallow egotism to farsighted, profound egotism.


> Wow! You really take the long view when it comes to Gaia, don't you?

i grew up the son of a geologist, who considered humanity merely an index
fossil for a quite brief period.



> The problem is that not enough ways to make decent
> money from farming this way have been developed.
....
> We also need some
> people who can convince Big Agri-business that they can make
> better money by using better methods.

i am afraid that is is the idea of agri-business itself, that is flawed, not
only the techniques it is using. you said correctly, that the "american"
(rich western) way of life is the problem. an important part of that
lifestyle is to NOT grow your own food and to NOT take care of your own
wastes on site. this includes nearly all agribusinessmen. at least around my
place the socalled farmers buy at least 95% of their daily food in
megastores themselves.

it isnt so much the problem to drive a sixseater 4x drive - it is driving
anything at all. you know, i drive less than once a month with a borrowed
car, grow some of my own food, flew in my life on average less than 5 hours
a year, resulting in my ecological footprint being only 27,1 % of the
average american (according to wackernagels calculator at
http://www.lead.org/leadnet/footprint/intro.htm), and if we all lived as i
did, we would still use up 1,5 planets....


keep growing in peace
georg




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