Do you remember Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, a 1985 Australian post-apocalyptic film about
survivalists run amok in search of oil and water, and Conspiracy
Theory is a 1997
American action thriller where the US government creates assassins through mind
control drugs? Seemingly there are some people who are convinced this is our
future and the future is now. They are busy building survivalist communities,
hoarding guns and canned food, and practicing military tactics to protect their
chosen group of friends. They are anti-collectivism except for their own elite
collective.
I see nothing wrong with caring about the collective
good, which is essential to the Christ ethic. We need to remember Christ was
inclusive not exclusive. Although there are many descriptions of violence in
the Bible, no acts of violence were perpetrated by Christ.
The choice of the kind of world we create to live in
is ours. We can live a fear-based life, survival of the fittest, (very
Darwinian) assuming
every one we meet is taking what is ours. Or we can assume stewardship where
there is a valued place for everyone and everything.
"We are all stewards and have dominion of God’s
creation whether we accept this or not. God has honored us and has given us
great responsibilities. As stewards of God’s property, we have a responsibility
to care and nurture the things that are of God. If we are good stewards, we
show we are faithful to God and he does reward us. If we are bad stewards, we
show that we are unfaithful and only have allegiance to our own selfish
desires. As bad stewards, we may have dominion of God’s resources, but it will
not end well". http://www.access-jesus.com/Psalms/Psalms_8_6
I come from a very pragmatic family. During the
1950’s Cold War, I asked my Dad if we were going to build a bomb shelter. He
said, No, Who would want to live in that kind of bombed out radioactive
world?
We should be working together as stewards creating a
sustainable world. I believe the answer is permaculture. Permaculture is a
combination of the words "permanent," "agriculture,” and
“culture.” Bill Mollison, Australian ecologist and University of Tasmania professor
in the 1970’s, initiated the concept of permaculture. From the original focus
of sustainable food production, the philosophy of permaculture has evolved and
expanded to encompass economic and social systems. Some individuals
integrating spirituality and personal growth work into the framework.
Mollison believed sustainable living needed to be
based on the patterns observed in nature. Natural systems, such as forests and
wetlands, are sustainable providing for their own energy needs and recycle
their own wastes. All of the different parts of a natural ecosystem work
together and each unit of the system perform important tasks. By applying an
integrated understanding of the ecosystem in to his design a sustainable
agricultural systems is created.
Bill Wilson, of
Midwest Permaculture, states "our cities and suburbs have value and
advantages but they are also incredibly dependent upon support from the
outside. Except for the air and sun, possibly water, almost every other
need is generated and collected elsewhere and brought into the cities and
suburbs, everything from food, to clothing, to building materials, to power, to
transportation…everything. Within
the coming generation (coming years possibly) the imbalances we have created in
the world economies, the supply systems and the natural world will become even
more apparent, more immediate. There are stresses everywhere in our culture
with peak oil, peak water, peak soil and climate change pushing us even more".
We are facing dwindling natural resources. We can stick our
collective heads in the oil sand and ignore the problem? Do we pick up a gun
and live on a limited supply of canned food and bottled water? Do we accept
Mother Nature’s cycle of life and say all things come to an end, farewell to
this epoch of humanity? Do we make a conscious effort to modify our behavior
and adapt to new challenges?
I vote for adapting. If you are like me, you are wondering
how does permaculture work in a suburban or urban environment? Erik Ohlsen of Permaculture Artisans permacultureartisans.com.
gives us an excellent introduction to permaculture
design principles, which features a stunning, abundant food forest design. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT_2VVXA7SY
The permaculture specialists are aware that many of us are
not naturally gardeners. The design approach is to integrate the surrounding
natural areas with our homes, apartments and other buildings that will produce
an abundance of food, shelter, energy and other services with a minimum of
work. Ultimately the system is set up to function with a minimum of effort and
should be more like recreation than work. In fact even now there is a growing
cadre of urban farmers. You can contract with these farmers to plant and maintain
your backyard garden.
Slow Food is an international organization, which defends
biodiversity in our food supply,
promotes food and taste education and
connects sustainable producers to co-producers through events and building
networks. They identify themselves
as Slow Food because the emphasis is on taking your time when dining where the
act of eating a meal together stands at the "crossroads of ecology and
gastronomy, ethics and pleasure".
The Slow Food website states "It
opposes the standardization of taste and culture, and the unrestrained power of
the food industry multinationals and industrial agriculture. We believe that
everyone has a fundamental right to the pleasure of good food and consequently
the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that
make this pleasure possible". Many
cities in the US and world wide have Slow Food groups you can attend. They even
sponsor travel experiences.
I am of the opinion the
survivalist communities we need to build really should be based on permaculture
design. We need to fulfill our roles of stewardship with a perfectly designed ecosystem,
which integrates the surrounding natural areas with our homes,
apartments and other buildings and produces an abundance of food, shelter,
energy and other services with a minimum of work. This is achievable when we
give up the negative attitudes of lack and selfishness. Invention, creativity and
collective cooperation always result in
abundance.
http://slowfood.com/
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