permaculture

["Kishan Mehta" <kisansbc@vsnl.com>]

Dear Colleagues,

This issue no: 8), it appears, is devoted to Miscanthus, a 
vegetation about which a lot of misunderstanding and 
nonunderstanding prevails. Yet there is a growing feeling 
for large scale planting to meet the increasing wasteful 
energy consumption.  Now that oil has hit the peak levels,  
nations and people are looking for alternate energy sources.   

Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, waves freely 
available in plenty are one group of reource.  Miscanthus, 
Jetropha are another vegetative produce is another 
group that depends on land, soil, water nad other natural 
but finite sources to grow. The difference is that the first 
group is limitless while the second dependent on given 
nautral sources scarce in supply.

We look to this issue from a slightly different angle.   
Many poor countries, India and China included,  
highly populated, need to attend to food neds hence 
any diversion to non-food activity would affect the 
food security of the country.   True,  quantum of food 
availabilty globally is adequate. The USA for instance
can feed the entire world.   The question is whether 
poor countries should  depend on highly industrialised 
and precariously subsidised food production (farms 
without farmers approach) to take out hardly 
adequate land from producing food for their  
millions for cultivating energy vegetation to 
maintain the same level of wastefyll life style 
that damages the earth and its envirinment?  
Should this generation of Homo Sapiens Erectus 
use up everything to quicken the disappearance of 
life from hte earth?

Two apporaches one of spenidng everything to 
meet materialistic level of living and another 
of reducing the level of living to sustain the 
earth.  We would prefer the second which 
demands of every human to live responsibily.

Would like to receive reactions nad comments 
from the Permaculture angle from avowed 
permaculturists that you all are. Best wishes ,
Kisan Mehta        Priya Salvi       Rajiv Bhatt

PRAKRUTI
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