Here we are people, right where we should be at exactly the right time! These opposable thumbs are new to it all. Cell phones, iPods, blogging-we're rewriting history every decade. I'm starting now.
The question is common with many of us: youth coming into their path, constantly critical Babylonians, or mid-life crisis survivors: what ought we do to? Where do we go from here? What do we do with our lives? How do we fit into a world with 8 billion people?
In one word: LOVE. In more than one word: local FOOD, local ENERGY, ART, and MUSIC. And lots of beauty in co-generation between them all. That's what "we ought to do," anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?
Living Arts Institute is based on the premise that community supported agriculture and renewable energy should be an institution. It is about serving and engaging the local community, but also about sharing our path (ideas, struggles, successes) with the broader global community so we can build a network of relationships that have a common goal.
The goal could be many different things depending on the formative criteria, but here is mine now: Humanity will never see peace, or an equitable distribution of wealth, until we can come up with a standard of living that is both comfortable and capable of being enjoyed by all 8, 9, 10 billion people that do/will call Earth home. The facts are straight in our face, yet cultural inertia has wicked mass. If just China and India alone catch up with the United States as far as per capita resource demand, THE EARTH CANNOT SUPPORT US ALL. This is not in some far off time, but is happening right now.
So as far as this monkey is concerned, what is required is a huge, gargantuan task of ANTI-ECOLOGY. A paraphrased quote from Wendel Berry says it all, "We are the only species that can plot long term consequences to our present actions." Ecology, or the invisible hand of evolution, will always push us to accept the better tool, the easier path, or the more convenient approach. For 2.5 million years, this human ecology has helped us move away from the only sustainable human industry we've ever practiced: hunting and gathering in small population groups. What was the driver to always take that next step to better technology and more stable food supply? Quite poignantly, the opportunity to practice less infanticide. Any parent might reckon with this, as our ancestors did. It's hard to swallow, but makes sense. Thanks to Dan Flores for answering my question of why humanity is so brilliantly insane.
So, ANTI-ECOLOGY, that which is out of the design of evolution and survival of the fittest for the betterment of the global good. It's the new human industry of fittest of the survivors. Without presuming too much, it will include a cornacopia of approaches in alternative building, renewable energy, and intensive food production. More next time.
The question is common with many of us: youth coming into their path, constantly critical Babylonians, or mid-life crisis survivors: what ought we do to? Where do we go from here? What do we do with our lives? How do we fit into a world with 8 billion people?
In one word: LOVE. In more than one word: local FOOD, local ENERGY, ART, and MUSIC. And lots of beauty in co-generation between them all. That's what "we ought to do," anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?
Living Arts Institute is based on the premise that community supported agriculture and renewable energy should be an institution. It is about serving and engaging the local community, but also about sharing our path (ideas, struggles, successes) with the broader global community so we can build a network of relationships that have a common goal.
The goal could be many different things depending on the formative criteria, but here is mine now: Humanity will never see peace, or an equitable distribution of wealth, until we can come up with a standard of living that is both comfortable and capable of being enjoyed by all 8, 9, 10 billion people that do/will call Earth home. The facts are straight in our face, yet cultural inertia has wicked mass. If just China and India alone catch up with the United States as far as per capita resource demand, THE EARTH CANNOT SUPPORT US ALL. This is not in some far off time, but is happening right now.
So as far as this monkey is concerned, what is required is a huge, gargantuan task of ANTI-ECOLOGY. A paraphrased quote from Wendel Berry says it all, "We are the only species that can plot long term consequences to our present actions." Ecology, or the invisible hand of evolution, will always push us to accept the better tool, the easier path, or the more convenient approach. For 2.5 million years, this human ecology has helped us move away from the only sustainable human industry we've ever practiced: hunting and gathering in small population groups. What was the driver to always take that next step to better technology and more stable food supply? Quite poignantly, the opportunity to practice less infanticide. Any parent might reckon with this, as our ancestors did. It's hard to swallow, but makes sense. Thanks to Dan Flores for answering my question of why humanity is so brilliantly insane.
So, ANTI-ECOLOGY, that which is out of the design of evolution and survival of the fittest for the betterment of the global good. It's the new human industry of fittest of the survivors. Without presuming too much, it will include a cornacopia of approaches in alternative building, renewable energy, and intensive food production. More next time.
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