Nothing like airplanes and schools for disease vectors, so Ua and I got a strain of something back to back weekends and it was nasty enough to make me re-think my earlier incredulity about the millions that died in the 1918 influenza pandemic. The world was a much scarier place before anti-biotics. Every time I dragged my aching corpse out to do chores I broke into a cold sweat and retreated back under the covers asap, where I devoured some (more) books to keep my mind off the miserableness of it all. They were some fine books that arrived just in time to save me from what would have been a sure case of Netflix poisoning:
Wandering God - A study in nomadic spirituality/Morris Berman
I've been wanted to read this ever since I read Berman's Coming to our Senses, which was an electrifying book for me Wandering God is as excellent, original, and fascinating as the earlier book. Here Berman builds his case for the change in consciousness from a horizontal alertness associated with hunter-gatherer economies and cultures to a vertically oriented consciousness associated with agricultural economies and civilizations -what he calls the sacred authority complex. Berman is an immensely provocative thinker that will make you look at the world differently after reading him, which is a great gift that he gives the world. Sometimes you have to give him the benefit of the doubt with some of his conceptual leaps, but I like him the better for not being a dry-as-dust, defend-yourself-from-all-directions academic.
The Scarlet Sisters/Myra McPherson - The sisters being Victoria Woodhull and Tennesse Claflyn; these were some awe-inspiring Victorian-age gender-rebels, and all-time fearless women. Victoria was the first woman to run for POTUS, with Frederick Douglas as her running mate, as well as the first woman to address a congressional committee. Before that, the sisters opened a brokerage on Wall St. in 1872, and started a weekly newspaper where the The Communist Manifesto was published for the first time in the US. They got called sluts and prostitutes a LOT, of course. And maybe they were, but who isn't?
Brown Dog/Jim Harrison - I would have laughed out loud a lot more reading this book if it didn't hurt so much to do so. There was a lot of subsonic giggling going on. Who knew there was a (much colder) cultural cousin of Ka'u up in the U.P. (upper peninsula) of Michigan? A subsistence sort of place let's you see the idiocy of our overly-complex civilization much more clearly, and with a sense of humor because you're not right up entangled in it. I usually circle most works of fiction sniffing warily, ready to pullback, because there is an awful lot of trashy fiction in the world, but after a few pages with Jim Harrison, I was just thanking and praising whatever for such a writer and beautiful human being.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Reading List
I guess I've devolved to book reports, not that there's anything wrong with book reports:
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth -- Buckminster Fuller
His Great Pirate theory is juvenile, but a fascinating book, not least for the temporal effects of reading the work of a futurist of long ago. Points out how ignoring the first law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy) as a civilization is just not wise.
Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, and City Farming: Ecology as the Basis of Design -- Nancy and Jack Todd
Cool but somehow superficial, they have a lot of great ideas which never really engage with the nitty-gritty of making a living. There is actually astonishingly little written from a practical perspective on the subject of ecology and design
Ecology and Design: Frameworks for Learning
An anthology of academic essays on education for ecology in the design world. It's academic, so, you know, not very practical.
Dune Messiah -- Frank Herbert
Not as good as Dune, I think, but pretty good. Nobody does multi-layered conversations like Frank Herbert. He was obsessed with ecology; I read a very dark, weird, early novel about our human war on insects called The Green Brain. The cultural bricolage in his science fiction is stupendous.
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth -- Buckminster Fuller
His Great Pirate theory is juvenile, but a fascinating book, not least for the temporal effects of reading the work of a futurist of long ago. Points out how ignoring the first law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy) as a civilization is just not wise.
Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, and City Farming: Ecology as the Basis of Design -- Nancy and Jack Todd
Cool but somehow superficial, they have a lot of great ideas which never really engage with the nitty-gritty of making a living. There is actually astonishingly little written from a practical perspective on the subject of ecology and design
Ecology and Design: Frameworks for Learning
An anthology of academic essays on education for ecology in the design world. It's academic, so, you know, not very practical.
Dune Messiah -- Frank Herbert
Not as good as Dune, I think, but pretty good. Nobody does multi-layered conversations like Frank Herbert. He was obsessed with ecology; I read a very dark, weird, early novel about our human war on insects called The Green Brain. The cultural bricolage in his science fiction is stupendous.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Half A Year Gone By in Minutes, It Seems
I've been so engrossed in my little world.
The east is beginning to lighten and the orphan calves to cry out for their breakfast. I have six this year, all with their tales of woe or mischance. Bruce, Godiva, Cherry, Lilly, Billy, and Dilly. My religion this year is orphan calves, with prayers twice a day.
You have to believe, even if it makes no sense "economically" to be up at dawn every day for months tending to their infant needs. Believe in the unarticulated bond between your life of your kind and theirs. You have to believe that you are serving life, making a small place of beauty.
I think about this idea of "leadership" that has become so popular lately. What does it mean? I thought for a long time that it was about having a vision and being able to articulate it to others effectively. You know, politics. Now I think it is much simpler than that. It is in the making. Making just about anything. That's all.
The east is beginning to lighten and the orphan calves to cry out for their breakfast. I have six this year, all with their tales of woe or mischance. Bruce, Godiva, Cherry, Lilly, Billy, and Dilly. My religion this year is orphan calves, with prayers twice a day.
You have to believe, even if it makes no sense "economically" to be up at dawn every day for months tending to their infant needs. Believe in the unarticulated bond between your life of your kind and theirs. You have to believe that you are serving life, making a small place of beauty.
I think about this idea of "leadership" that has become so popular lately. What does it mean? I thought for a long time that it was about having a vision and being able to articulate it to others effectively. You know, politics. Now I think it is much simpler than that. It is in the making. Making just about anything. That's all.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Just Keep Soldiering On
The other day I went to a meeting about the lawsuit that will seek to invalidate Bill 113, the Big Island's anti-GMO bill, based on federal pre-emption. It's just sad that we all have to go through this pain, conflict, and expense with everyone having the best intentions, just different best intentions.
How will the future turn out? Will we gradually convert to more organic/sustainable kinds of agricultural production systems? I think and hope so. Will GM crops be part of the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050? Probably. It will be a little bit of both.
It is good that we think long and hard about the risks of GM technology. The critics of GM are right in that there are great risks in altering biology at a genetic level, in my opinion. But they are also a bit hysterical about that risk. Automobiles pose a much greater threat to individual bodily health and to the health of the planet. By orders of magnitude. But we keep driving on and on.
It isn't what's written or spoken that matters at the end of the day. It's what gets done, it's what we do with our bodies. So we must live the life that seems best to us, that perhaps makes things a little better for everyone, both human and non-human, and keep soldiering on.
How will the future turn out? Will we gradually convert to more organic/sustainable kinds of agricultural production systems? I think and hope so. Will GM crops be part of the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050? Probably. It will be a little bit of both.
It is good that we think long and hard about the risks of GM technology. The critics of GM are right in that there are great risks in altering biology at a genetic level, in my opinion. But they are also a bit hysterical about that risk. Automobiles pose a much greater threat to individual bodily health and to the health of the planet. By orders of magnitude. But we keep driving on and on.
It isn't what's written or spoken that matters at the end of the day. It's what gets done, it's what we do with our bodies. So we must live the life that seems best to us, that perhaps makes things a little better for everyone, both human and non-human, and keep soldiering on.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Some Mistakes Farmers and Ranchers Are Making Out of Pure Annoyance
Being a farmer or rancher in today's world takes wit, courage, determination. It is to take on an almost impossible challenge with one's fragile physical body, . And because there are so few of us, less than 2% of the American population, it often seems as if no one else gets it.
It takes something akin to wizardry to keep the powers of nature aligned so as to produce the material that keeps the wheels and wires of civilization humming along, to fill the shipping containers week after week. It takes an agile wit to keep one's agricultural production system fine-tune to constantly evolving environmental, cultural, and commercial conditions. It takes intellect, labor, and technology to feeds one's fellow citizens. Yes, technology is indispensable, even to the most ardent of organic producers, as any thoughtful one will tell you. Whether it's a solar charger for an electric fence or plastic film for floating row covers, or soil tests to determine fertility, science and technology are essential to commercial agricultural production, given the fact that 2% are feeding 98%.
We're some of the busiest people in a busy society, but it's not social-media busy, it's not political busy, it's not financial manipulation busy, it's not in a meeting busy. It's producing food busy. So we get a little grouchy when we feel like we are being attacked for what we do. Because we do exactly what the other 98% tell us to do.
Farmers and ranchers don't get to choose what we produce or even how we produce it. We can propose a crop or a method of production, but it is the market that always decides and determines what we do. If there is a market then we can and will do it. If there is no market, no possibility of the tiny margins of profitability that we will accept as success, then no matter how strongly we may feel about a crop or production method, it goes by the wayside.
So we get annoyed when people accuse us of only wanting to make money, of not caring about the health of the planet, about being cruel to the animals in our care, about growing crops or using chemicals that supposedly cause cancer. We get annoyed because we don't get to choose what we produce. The other 98% chooses and we deliver, if we can.
So we get annoyed, and we make mistakes out of anger:
1. Getting Annoyed at Ignorance
We all need to write out a little message to ourselves and tape it to our bathroom mirrors: AT LEAST THEY ARE INTERESTED NOW. Because not so long ago if I registered a software product I couldn't even find "Agriculture" in the list of professions. We were a big joke ten years ago. Farmer, ha, ha. How quaint. Right. We'll see how quaint it is when you have to grow your own food. Did I mention we get annoyed? But we can't let our annoyance keep us from thinking clearly, which is what is happening.
2. Talking Down to Our Customers
A lot of the time we're like Jack Nicholson's character in a A Few Good Men: "You can't handle the truth!" So we've been guilty of blandishment and double-speak. Of referring to "sound science" and "abattoirs." But people want to know the truth. They'll even go undercover with secret recording equipment to get at it. So let's just give it to them straight and let the cards fall where they will. It'll be healthier for everyone.
3. Opposing GMO-labelling
Following on above, let's just get it over with already. Most Americans have been eating the products of genetically modified crops for years with small evidence of ill effects. Which is not to say the same as saying that GMO technology is a good or necessary way to go about facing the challenges of our burgeoning human population. It's just the truth. And people want to know the truth, so let's give it to them.
4. Not Taking Advantage of the Interest
People want to know where their food comes from. This is great. They want it to be raised humanely and grown with respect for the soil and the environment. Guess what? This is what we want too. We're closer to the soil and the animals than anyone. But for the longest time our marching orders have been: Lots of Food, Mostly Animal, As Cheap as Possible, We Don't Want to Know How. That's what the market/consumers was telling us to serve up, and so that's what we did. Now, thankfully, things are changing. So let's run with it, let's get out in front of it, let's give the people what they want and ask them in return to pay the un-subsidized cost. Let's charge people what it costs to do what they are asking us to do and let's tell them exactly how we do it. Let's educate our customers, not fight with them. Let's train our workers on responsible pesticide use and humane handling and pay them as skilled workers. Give farm tours and charge for our time to do it. Let's give them high-quality, environmentally responsible, humanely raised products and charge the true cost. That's what they want, it seems, and giving people the food they want is what we do.
It takes something akin to wizardry to keep the powers of nature aligned so as to produce the material that keeps the wheels and wires of civilization humming along, to fill the shipping containers week after week. It takes an agile wit to keep one's agricultural production system fine-tune to constantly evolving environmental, cultural, and commercial conditions. It takes intellect, labor, and technology to feeds one's fellow citizens. Yes, technology is indispensable, even to the most ardent of organic producers, as any thoughtful one will tell you. Whether it's a solar charger for an electric fence or plastic film for floating row covers, or soil tests to determine fertility, science and technology are essential to commercial agricultural production, given the fact that 2% are feeding 98%.
We're some of the busiest people in a busy society, but it's not social-media busy, it's not political busy, it's not financial manipulation busy, it's not in a meeting busy. It's producing food busy. So we get a little grouchy when we feel like we are being attacked for what we do. Because we do exactly what the other 98% tell us to do.
Farmers and ranchers don't get to choose what we produce or even how we produce it. We can propose a crop or a method of production, but it is the market that always decides and determines what we do. If there is a market then we can and will do it. If there is no market, no possibility of the tiny margins of profitability that we will accept as success, then no matter how strongly we may feel about a crop or production method, it goes by the wayside.
So we get annoyed when people accuse us of only wanting to make money, of not caring about the health of the planet, about being cruel to the animals in our care, about growing crops or using chemicals that supposedly cause cancer. We get annoyed because we don't get to choose what we produce. The other 98% chooses and we deliver, if we can.
So we get annoyed, and we make mistakes out of anger:
1. Getting Annoyed at Ignorance
We all need to write out a little message to ourselves and tape it to our bathroom mirrors: AT LEAST THEY ARE INTERESTED NOW. Because not so long ago if I registered a software product I couldn't even find "Agriculture" in the list of professions. We were a big joke ten years ago. Farmer, ha, ha. How quaint. Right. We'll see how quaint it is when you have to grow your own food. Did I mention we get annoyed? But we can't let our annoyance keep us from thinking clearly, which is what is happening.
2. Talking Down to Our Customers
A lot of the time we're like Jack Nicholson's character in a A Few Good Men: "You can't handle the truth!" So we've been guilty of blandishment and double-speak. Of referring to "sound science" and "abattoirs." But people want to know the truth. They'll even go undercover with secret recording equipment to get at it. So let's just give it to them straight and let the cards fall where they will. It'll be healthier for everyone.
3. Opposing GMO-labelling
Following on above, let's just get it over with already. Most Americans have been eating the products of genetically modified crops for years with small evidence of ill effects. Which is not to say the same as saying that GMO technology is a good or necessary way to go about facing the challenges of our burgeoning human population. It's just the truth. And people want to know the truth, so let's give it to them.
4. Not Taking Advantage of the Interest
People want to know where their food comes from. This is great. They want it to be raised humanely and grown with respect for the soil and the environment. Guess what? This is what we want too. We're closer to the soil and the animals than anyone. But for the longest time our marching orders have been: Lots of Food, Mostly Animal, As Cheap as Possible, We Don't Want to Know How. That's what the market/consumers was telling us to serve up, and so that's what we did. Now, thankfully, things are changing. So let's run with it, let's get out in front of it, let's give the people what they want and ask them in return to pay the un-subsidized cost. Let's charge people what it costs to do what they are asking us to do and let's tell them exactly how we do it. Let's educate our customers, not fight with them. Let's train our workers on responsible pesticide use and humane handling and pay them as skilled workers. Give farm tours and charge for our time to do it. Let's give them high-quality, environmentally responsible, humanely raised products and charge the true cost. That's what they want, it seems, and giving people the food they want is what we do.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
What gods do you serve?
That seems to me to be the essential question for humans. If we have any distinguishing characteristic as a species it seems to be the blessing and curse of symbolic thought and that capability culminates in theology. We believe in something, or some idea, that is the guidestar of our everyday life. How we shape our days and ourselves. We all have our personal pantheons.
The God of Love, perhaps, or the God of Money or the God of Power (perennial favorites.) The God of Organic Agriculture, or the God of Efficiency. The God of Global Dominance or of Manifest Destiny, of Time is Money, or of the Perfect Beach. The God of Please Don't Let Me Die Alone or the God of A Possible Future or the God of National Security or any kind of Security. The God of Poetry or the God of Horses (two of my faves) or the God of Climate Change or the God of Perfect Nihilism.
Maybe it's good not to serve gods that you don't believe in just because everyone else does. If you do Zen, maybe you can be free of gods for a few minutes, but then you're right back in the middle of it the moment you uncross your legs. So, to know who the gods you serve actually are, at the very least, that seems to be a good idea. But who can say?
The God of Love, perhaps, or the God of Money or the God of Power (perennial favorites.) The God of Organic Agriculture, or the God of Efficiency. The God of Global Dominance or of Manifest Destiny, of Time is Money, or of the Perfect Beach. The God of Please Don't Let Me Die Alone or the God of A Possible Future or the God of National Security or any kind of Security. The God of Poetry or the God of Horses (two of my faves) or the God of Climate Change or the God of Perfect Nihilism.
Maybe it's good not to serve gods that you don't believe in just because everyone else does. If you do Zen, maybe you can be free of gods for a few minutes, but then you're right back in the middle of it the moment you uncross your legs. So, to know who the gods you serve actually are, at the very least, that seems to be a good idea. But who can say?
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
The power mountains
Ka'u is the largest district on the largest island in Hawai'i. It lies on the sprawling slope of the shield volcano Mauna Loa, which in winter often wears coat of snow upon its perfectly curved summit. Along its slope and standing guard over the heartland of Ka'u are the beloved "power mountains:" Ka`iholena, Makanau, Pu`u Iki, Maka`alia, Pu`u One, Pakua, Wailau, Ka`umaikeohu,among others. They are remnants of the ancient volcano Ninole. In terms of size they are not imposing - over-grown hills really -, but they have a enignmatic presence about them. Their sheer slopes, strange shapes make them, quite clearly, wao akua, realm of the gods. They also harbor some of the best preserved native forests in the district. Even the pig-hunters respect the mountains, and try not to wander on their slopes after dark. Having heard many a story of the spirits - nightmarchers, shape-changers, and obake - in childhood, a mountain is not just a mountain.
Each of the power mountains has its legends. My daughter learnt them from her grandmother while still in pre-school. Makanau, the flat-topped mountain, was where the cruel chief was crushed to death by a great log that he had forced his people to drag up the mountain. Wailau is the mountain where the sweet potato demi-god lived and died. Ka`iholena is where Kumauna, the ancient traveler from Kahiki, planted bananas and was courted by Pele, who turned him into a great stone in her wrath.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
